I don't think I have seen anyone happier than this guy to end up as a Yankee. He was smiling from ear to ear, and just looked like he might burst. Girardi made sure he mentioned, as he handed him his new jersey, that he was a huge Mattingly fan as a kid growing up, and handed him number 25 (which also happens to be Girardi's number as a Yankee player, he now wears 27).
I thought he might have ended up with number 32, but 25 is okay, too. He was very happy answering all questions, and seemed even more excited that playing here meant that his family could see him play more because he is now closer to home.
That's all I have for now, I shut the tv off after Teixeira was done talking.
P.S. I might jump on the bandwagon earlier than I anticipated on this one.
I watched it as well and thought the same thing. He's just too nice of a guy. He genuinely wants to be a Yankee and the fact that Mattingly was his favorite player makes me like him even more. I agree, I think I'm player-smitten.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? I have a feeling that if he had signed with Baltimore, he would've said that Cal Ripken was his favorite player, if he had signed with Boston it would've been Wade Boggs, etc...
ReplyDeleteCynical Dave.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I did not see the press conference, so I am not jumping on the bandwagon as easily as others, Teixeira wore 23 throughout his career for his favorite player, Don Mattingly.
Ohhh Dave.... It is very well known that he idolized Mattingly throughout his childhood, and thanks to the MLB package over the last few seasons I have seen many out of town broadcasts some of which paid attention to that detail of his uniform number and why.
ReplyDeleteHe said today at the conference that he used to wear Yankee hats to O's games with his dad as a kid.
That's all I need! Another good guy to add to my Yankee collection!! GrrRrRr!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, wasn't 25, more recently, Giambi's number?
It was Giambi's number, but I really couldn't care less about Giambi.
ReplyDeleteGirardi was always one of my favorite players.
The Yankees retired #32 in honor of Elston Howard a while back so that wouldn't have been an option for him.
ReplyDeleteWow, I feel awfully silly now. I've often tried to name all the retired numbers but miss some, clearly this was one of them.
ReplyDelete*Gong* for me
Oh OK, I didn't realize that it was well known. I knew that Teixeira was from Baltimore so I just assumed that he grew up as an Orioles fan. I know that Chris Drury wears #23 in hockey because he was a Mattingly fan. I'm just happy that the first baseman for the team that I root for now wears #23 :)
ReplyDelete