Who needs tickets?

Although this story broke a few months ago, the date has officially been released as to when the New York Yankees will travel to Blacksburg, VA during spring training to play an exhibition game with the Virginia Tech Hokies baseball team. The date will be March 18th, about two weeks after the minor leaguers have left and the actual team is suiting up, which could mean the Hokie student body gets to watch a future hall of famer or two play in their own backyard.

Hopefully someone sober mowes the lawn come next March…

As an alumn of Virginia Tech, I find this story fascinating, especially considering the Yankees organization already donated one million dollars to the Hokie Fund one month after the tragedy. The Yankees? The Evil Empire? Growing up an Orioles fan this was essentially my least favorite team, and this hatred has remained despite the fact that I call myself a Nationals fan these days. But now, I find it hard to dislike the most controversial (in the sense that you either love them or hate them) organization in the history of sports. Next spring will be a difficult time of rememberance for the residents of Blacksburg, and it’s the little things like this gratitude that make it easier to go to class and continue the schools proud legacy.

Obviously not much information has been announced regarding the rosters, time of the game, or television programming, but hopefully we can view the game from up here in D.C., as well as the rest of the country. This would be a nice event to attend in person except for the fact that the Hokies baseball stadium (if you want to call it that) only seats a few thousand individuals, all of which should be Hokie students and faculty that day.

What amazes me about the Yankees involvement in this event is that they are doing this simply out of kindness and respect during an important time of their preseason. Maybe this is part of the new regime considering owner George Steinbrenner has begun the process of giving up some of the control of his organization. Or maybe the owner is recalling the gratitude his team received from the country during the playoffs of 2001, when baseball resumed after 9/11. Whatever the reason, it’s a remarkable gesture from a team that is normally on the losing end of the ‘nice guys’ label, and I know all of Hokie Nation will at least change their opinion somewhat whenever they think of the New York Yankees.