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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Joe Girardi's father, Jerry Girardi, died Thursday afternoon. The Yankees' skipper will still manage Game 4 of the ALDS against the O's on Thursday night. (Elsa/Getty Images)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Joe Girardi's father, Jerry Girardi, died\u00A0ESPN reported\u00A0on Thursday afternoon:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Funeral services are pending and will be held in Girardi's hometown of East Peoria, Ill.\u00A0Jerry Girardi had been battling Alzheimer's disease and spent the past several years in an assisted-care facility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Joe Girardi was the fourth of five children and gave his first World Series ring to his father, according to the Peoria Journal Star. In 2008 after a visit to the assisted-care residence, the Yankees manager said of his father:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"He doesn\u2019t talk,\u201D Girardi said. \u201CBut I felt like there were two seconds when I left and said, \u2018I love you, Dad,\u2019 he responded. He said, \u2018I like you.\u2019 I just felt like he looked at me different for two seconds. That\u2019s big for me.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Girardi has yet to make a public statement about his father's death. The news came shortly before the Yankees play the Orioles in Game 4 of the ALDS. According to the NY Post's Joel Sherman, Girardi will reportedly still manage the game.&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/si-wire/2012/10/11/jerry-girardi-dies-at-the-age-of-81>