Mariners’ Robinson Cano set for another return to the Bronx

With each passing season, it gets a little easier for Robinson Cano to go back to New York and Yankee Stadium.

On Friday, the Mariners’ second baseman will return to the place he spent the formative years of his baseball career. Cano earned five All-Star appearances, five Silver Slugger awards, two Gold Gloves and a World Series ring with the Yankees.

“For me it’s always good to go back; it’s a place where I have family and friends, and I went to school in Jersey (in Grades 7-9), so it’s always fun,” he said. “But when I go there, it’s the same as if I’m playing any other team, and I have to do my job.”

Will he be booed by Yankees fans like he was in his first two trips to New York as a Mariner?

It seems likely there will still be a smattering of them throughout the weekend. In 2014 when he returned for the first time after signing a 10-year, $240 million contract with Seattle, Cano was booed loudly at every introduction, every plate appearance and every play he made. The only cheers he received were when he made an out. Cano went 3 for 12 in that first series with a double, three RBIs, two walks and a stolen base.

A year ago in his second return as a Mariner, the booing wasn’t quite as intense or constant. Cano went 3 for 11 in the three games with a pair of homers and four RBIs.

Now three years removed, he expects less jeering.

“You got to understand that I’m not there anymore,” he said. “But I still try to have fun with it. You see me. I’m always smiling and trying to have fun.”

In the third game of the previous trip in Texas, a Rangers fan was jawing at Cano when he was in the on-deck circle. Cano crushed his second home run of the game as the Mariners pulled away. After circling the bases, Cano pointed at the fan as he ran back to the dugout, smiled and said, “That’s for you.”

“I like it when they boo me,” he said. “I have fun with it. Let me find a way to shut them up and see their face after it.”

It’s part of the game and something he learned as one of the best players on one of baseball’s most polarizing teams.

“I like that,” he said. “That’s the same when I went to Boston when I was with New York. They would say all kinds of stuff to you, and they were right next to you and right in your ear. You have fun with those fans. If you show them that you get mad, then they are going to keep doing it and doing it.

“What can you say to fans? As long as they don’t say stuff about my family, I have fun with it. You can say anything you want to me about baseball.”

And no booing that Cano could experience will be anything like what rained down on him at the 2012 Home Run Derby and All-Star Game.

“The worst I ever had was in Kansas City,” he said with a reminiscing smile.

That year, Cano was captain of the American League team in the Home Run Derby. He chose Jose Bautista (27 homers at the time), Mark Trumbo (22) and Prince Fielder (15). He passed on selecting the Royals’ Billy Butler, who had 16. Fans at Kauffman Stadium were not pleased and let him know about it. They booed during his entire session in the derby and cheered when he failed to hit a homer — the first time a player had gone homerless since 2009.

“They were upset,” he said. “What else can you do?”

Cano and the Mariners will be happy to be away from Safeco Field, where runs and wins have been hard to find.