Queens boy Jeffery Keiser got his Yankees cap signed by Rivera last month — a hat that was a gift from his great-grandmother, who had died a week earlier. When Jeffery's mother put the hat down on a seat and turned her back for a few seconds, the cap disappeared.
Little Jeffery Keiser wept like his idol Mariano Rivera when a cruel Yankee fan swiped his baseball cap — mere seconds after the future Hall of Famer signed it.
“I was really sad,” the 7-year-old told the Daily News on Friday. “I cried. I never thought I was gonna lose it.”
The steal at Yankee Stadium happened last month when the Queens boy and his mom went to the Bronx with prime seats to see the Bombers play the Blue Jays, courtesy of a Daily News giveaway. They were sitting at field level when Rivera autographed the little boy’s beloved blue Yankees hat before the first pitch of the mid-August tilt.
“I said, ‘Can I get a signature?’” Jeffery said, recalling what he asked the great Yankee closer. “He said, ‘Ok.’ He signed it on the top.”
The hat was a gift to Jeffery from his great-grandmother, who had died just a week earlier.
“I loved it, and I miss it,” he said of his cherished cap.
His mother, Georgette Siciliano, put the signed cap down on a seat and turned her back for 10 seconds to grab a camera.
But the hat had disappeared faster than a Rivera cutter.
The mother felt powerless as she watched her devastated son cry for two hours.
“He was very upset,” said Siciliano, 36. “That hat meant a lot to him.”
The shaken second-grader — whose room is decorated like a mini-Monument Park — stuck around to see the Yankees beat Toronto.
His mom returned to the ballpark during the team’s just-finished homestand to explain her plight. Siciliano said a security guard listened to her tale but turned her away.
She even went back to the Stadium Tuesday with a new beige Yankees hat she bought for her son, explaining the situation and asking if she could get it autographed. Again, she was cast off.
Siciliano said she’s sure the cap was snatched by a heartless fan who had watched Rivera sign it for her son. The thief “had to see it belonged to a little kid,” Siciliano added. “I was really surprised. I never thought anybody was going to take it.”
She suggested the bandit may have been “jealous that Jeffery got his hat signed.”
The Yankee closer ended his Stadium career on Thursday night, crying as he left the mound. His legend of lights-out ninth inning performances makes him a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame — meaning Jeffery’s hat could be worth big bucks to collectors.
Asked if he learned any lessons from the unfortunate incident, Jeffery said, “I should keep my hat on my head.”
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