Regardless of what you think of George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees, their decision to donate $1,000,000 to the Hokie Memorial Fund and come play an exhibition game at English Field in Blacksburg, VA is one of the classiest moves ever. The Yankees have to be considered one of the two most famous sports teams in the USA along with the Dallas Cowboys. They could have stopped with the donation, which was impressive enough in its own right. They could have stopped at wearing VT logos on their hats in a regular season game against the red sox. But they didn’t. They came to Blacksburg.

Hard to believe it, but Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were at Virginia Tech today. Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi also played. Most of the starters went three innings and two at-bats. Manager Joe Girardi hung out in the stands with Frank Beamer. The team toured the memorial dedicated to the victims over by Burruss Hall. At one point during the game, A-Rod hung out in the VT dugout. Everyone associated with the Yankees said they were honored to be there, but I think the honor was all ours.

While visiting the memorial, Alex Rodriguez was quoted as saying, “There are certain things that happen that are so devastating that time stops,” he said. “For me, this is one of them. This is probably the proudest day I’ve ever (had) to wear a Yankee uniform.”

During the game, Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay mentioned to President Steger that he thought they could have gotten double the attendance of 5,000. Steger, and I, sort of laughed that off and said he thought they could have filled the football stadium. I certainly think this game could have drawn 66,000 at Lane, especially if on a weekend.

Thank you again, Yankees.

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