Dec. 18, 2019, might be a day Yankees fans remember for a long time to come. It certainly will be for Gerrit Cole.

New York formally introduced Cole as its $324 million ace of the future Wednesday, and the press conference at Yankee Stadium lived up to the hype. Here’s a few of the highlights:

Yes, Cole still has that sign
A picture of an 11-year-old Cole holding a sign reading “YANKEE FAN TODAY TOMORROW FOREVER” during a 2001 World Series game went viral this year, and, wouldn’t you know, Cole still has that sign. He dusted it off and brought it back out -- faded letters, chipped Elmer’s glue and all -- for the day he finally donned a brand-new Yankees cap and pinstripes as their newest ace.

“It's the same one,” Cole said of the sign. “It's 18 years old. I had it on my wall for a few years and I think that's why it faded. I tucked it in my closet and my folks brought it down. I think after we came to terms, at least initially when everyone else found out about it, we went to dinner and they dropped the sign off. I just decided I should probably bring it to New York.”

The beard is gone
The Yankees made Cole the highest-paid pitcher in history, but he still conformed to the team’s famous facial-hair policy, trimming his hair and shaving the beard he wore while placing second in the 2019 American League Cy Young Award vote with the Astros. No one needed to tell Cole to shave; he was plenty familiar with the Yankees’ policy after watching them as much as possible while growing up in Southern California.

"I haven't shaved in like 10 years, but you know what? So be it,” Cole said, sporting clean cheeks and a shorter haircut on Wednesday. “That's the way it is. If you're a Yankee, you shave. That's what's up."

A bottle of red, a bottle of white
How focused were the Yankees on landing Cole? They apparently turned over every leaf while researching their pitch for the star pitcher -- right down to his taste in wine. The Yanks selected an Italian wine for one of their meetings with Cole that nearly left him speechless.

“One of the vintages that they brought was the exact same vintage from the anniversary dinner that my wife [Amy] and I had in Florence,” Cole said. “I was a little bit on my heels. I remember trying to stay focused through the meeting and not think about booze the entire time. I still couldn't figure it out.”

The spirit in question: Bottles of 2004 and ’05 Masseto merlot, which retail for about $800-$900 each.

The Yanks finally got their man
Cole’s introduction brought the Yankees’ decade-plus chase for the right-hander to a close. New York selected Cole with the 28th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft before he spurned them to go UCLA and eventually earn himself top-overall-pick status in the ’11 Draft. The Yanks also tried to trade for Cole after the ’17 season, but the Pirates sent him to Houston instead as part of a five-player swap.

Now that he’s a Yankee, Cole thanked general manager Brian Cashman for “hanging in with me all those years.”

“[Yankees vice president and director of amateur scouting] Damon [Oppenheimer], Brian and [team president] Randy [Levine], in their own way, reached out or stayed in touch and passed along good wishes along the journey until this point,” Cole said. “Nothing represents the brand of the Yankees better than the class that they’ve shown over the years.

“Some people don’t quite take the word, ‘No,’ as well as these guys did, and I would say it paid off. That’s for sure.”