HOPE Week

I am an out and out "Evil Empire" apologist, as in while I understand Yankee Haters throughout the country, I also feel that someone should be spreading the word whenever they do good things like  HOPE WEEK which, as far as I know, none of the other "noble" teams in MLB participate in.

According to the Yankees press release, eight players were supposed to be on the field for this afternoon’s game with kids from the Beautiful People program, which gets disabled and special needs kids into team sports. Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Lance Berkman, Javier Vazquez, Boone Logan and Austin Kearns were supposed to be there along with Yankees coaches Dave Eiland, Mick Kelleher and Rob Thomson and former Yankee David Cone.

Joe Girardi was also there. So was Alex Rodriguez. Joba Chamberlain was running around having more fun than anyone. There were probably others who I missed. The Yankees seemed to be having a great time, and it was all happening while the writers were finishing their stories in the press box. It was really great to watch the Yankees help — and sometimes be told not to help — these kids play baseball.

Yeah, they're The Evil Empire. But not to everybody.