Reason to Dislike Steinbrenner #238

Talking about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, if you ever get unlucky (lucky? not really) enough to make one of those wishes, beware of George "Who-Gives-A-Crap-About-Kids-With-Cancer?" Steinbrenner. In 1998, I wished to go meet the Yankees and I was supposed to go onto the field and get to hobnob with the the team during batting practice, but George Steinbrenner showed up at the stadium and put an end to that. Apparently he doesn't like anything "distracting" his players before a game. The Make-A-Wish Foundation worked on their feet quickly, though, so I did still get to sneakily stand outside the clubhouse and get a picture with any players coming in and out, but I'll always hold a grudge again George.

Besides for that, though, the day was awesome. We got tickets about halfway up the stands right behind the plate, plus they paid for us to go out to dinner at "Mickey Mantle's" after the game (which is an incredible restaurant filled to the brim with Yankee memorabilia). The game was against the White Sox and the Yanks won 6-3, thanks to homeruns by Posada and Bernie. Okay, I didn't actually remember the score off the top of my head...I had to go look up the box score on Retrosheet. If you're curious and want to look it up too, the date was July 26th, 1998. But I did remember those two homeruns, especially the one by Bernie since he was my favorite player at the time (and still is to this day).

I suppose times may be changing with George Steinbrenner stepping down and leaving the ballclub in the hands of his sons, but I think the best bet is to ask to meet specific players like Sean Clayton did today. I think any player would be honored to be someone's Make-A-Wish, so you would probably be spoiled quite a bit. Although I really cannot complain at all because that day worked out beautifully. I still got to meet Bernie and O'Neill, which was enough right there to make that the best day of my life. Looking back now, I wish I'd run into Torre as well, but oh well...you can't have everything. Maybe when I go home this summer I'll scan pictures from that day and put them up here. They're definitely really amusing, especially my one with Chuck Knoblauch. Even in the 5th grade, I was taller than him...