The New York Yankees shouldn’t have too much trouble shrugging off their first series loss of 2010. On Monday, they travel to Washington D.C. to commemorate their 2009 championship, according to multiple sources.
President Barack Obama will welcome the pinstripes to the White House to congratulate the team for last season’s success. The Yankees also will visit wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Malone House, meet with Supreme Court Justice and baseball aficionado Sonia Sotomayor (a native of New York) and eat lunch in the U.S. Senate.
The Yankees are excited about their off-day activities.
"I think everyone enjoys trips to the White House, because not everyone has the opportunity to do it," Derek Jeter told MLB.com. "If you have that opportunity, I think it's something that people remember."
For Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada, this marks the fifth champ celebration at the White House and the third president they will meet. Before George W. Bush hosted their last victorious season in 2001, Bill Clinton welcomed the Yanks in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Jeter, Rivera and Mark Teixeira met Obama last summer at the All-Star Game in St. Louis.
Joe Girardi has made three trips to the White House, but Monday's visit will be his first as manager of a champion team. Girardi looks forward to the trip because he, like Obama, is from Chicago, but unlike the president, Girardi is a longtime Cubs fan while Obama roots for the White Sox.
"We've both spent a lot of time in Chicago, and we've rooted for different teams," Girardi told the New York Daily News. "I'm sure that will come up."
Whether it is a repeat trip to the capital or the first championship tour, players all agree that visiting the White House and meeting with the president is an exciting honor.
"It's a privilege you get whenever you win the World Series," Pettitte said. "It's definitely going to be fun, for sure.
"Growing up, seeing the Oval Office, you see the president talking and stuff like that. All of a sudden, you're standing there. It's like the first time you go to Fenway [Park] or the first time you go to Wrigley Field — that's what it kind of was for me."
