"Yanks honor Rutgers women's team" -- June 16, 2007

By Caleb Breakey/MLB.com


NEW YORK -- The Yankees honored the Rutgers University women's basketball team on Friday, just minutes before Roger Clemens threw his first pitch against the Mets in a Subway Series matchup. The Rutgers women made it to the NCAA Finals for the first time this past season but dropped the championship game to Tennessee, 59-46.

Honors keep piling up for the Scarlet Knights, however, as head coach C. Vivian Stringer and members of the team took the field prior to the Mets-Yankees showdown.

Greg Schiano, Rutgers' head football coach, who led his team to its first victory in a bowl game this past season, threw out the game's ceremonial first pitch.

The Rutgers players, clad in white polo shirts and khaki pants, were all smiles as they stood behind home plate in a half-huddle with their arms stretched over each other's shoulders.

Flashbulbs popped, and then a few of the players who were carrying digital cameras gathered around and giggled. For a few moments, a group of fans about seven rows into the stands to the right of home plate -- led by a man wearing a Rutgers hat and Mets jersey -- chanted, "Let's go Rutgers."

Yankees public-address announcer Bob Sheppard drew the crowd's attention to the big screen at Yankee Stadium as the players turned to watch video highlights of Rutgers' successful season.
Afterward, the team looked a bit shocked as Yankees captain Derek Jeter trotted out to present them with a Yankees jersey signed by the team. The shortstop first hugged Stringer, then worked his way down the line, giving a squeeze to each player.

"It's a good thing that he put that shirt out, put his hand out, because I would have fallen over," Stringer said. "I admire him so much -- just a special guy and a team captain and one that we're all very proud of."

Only forward Heather Zurich raised her hand when the players were asked who had ever attended a Yankees game. So to have Jeter posing for a picture with them felt surreal, Stringer said -- much like the team's entire venture at the ballpark in the Bronx.

"That's certainly something that we didn't expect and something that I will cherish for the rest of my life, and I know that these young ladies will as well," Stringer said. "To have been in George Steinbrenner's suite, to have walked on the floor and on the field, and just to have been associated with [these] special people [is special]."

Stringer made sure she put the trip to extra good use, snuggling up to a Babe Ruth photograph, having her picture taken. She said she's a sports history buff and was ecstatic to meet manager Joe Torre and bench coach Don Mattingly.

"I know what people like that mean to all of us, not just to those who are Yankees fans or Mets fans, but those who are just baseball fans," Stringer said. "Hey, I got to touch his picture and felt good about it."

When Schiano jogged to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, he said that Clemens told him to "get right up on the mound, big guy."

"I was excited," Schiano said. "I don't get nervous about stuff. It was great just to be in Yankee Stadium and on the field, and then to do that."