After rumours spread throughout the week that NFL quarterback Russell Wilson would not only play in the New York Yankees’ training sessions but could actually play, he did just that on Friday. The star of the Seattle Seahawks played against the Atlanta Braves.
Wilson’s great hour struck at the beginning of the fifth inning. Wilson was replaced as a pinch-hitter for last year’s American League Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge. Opposite him stood relief pitcher Max Fried. Wilson swung right on the first pitch, a high fastball, and missed it just barely – the result was a hard foul ball.
Finally, Wilson worked his way through a 2-2 count before swinging past a fastball for the third strike – Strikeout.
“At that first pitch, I was ready. I barely missed him. If I had met him, he would have flown pretty far,”Wilson explained afterwards.
“I’ll always remember them saying my name and I went to the record and the crowd went crazy. The Yankee fans. I used to play crazy when derek jeter went on the record. And I will never forget to have this feeling and experience,”Wilson said enthusiastically.
Some of his team colleagues were also enthusiastic. Giancarlo Stanton said,”It was cool. We’ve been looking forward to it all day and making sure he was in a good mood in the batting cage and in our batting practice sessions.”
Judge also had words of praise for Wilson:”If you can be near a Super Bowl winner quarterback, it’s always a great opportunity to talk to him about preparation. How he prepares for a game, what he thinks about the game. What he thinks during a game. The little things just to find out how he works. So it was great fun having him there. It was fun to share stories with him.”
For Wilson, on the other hand, it was the culmination of a whole week in the Yankee camp, which had been granted him via trade with the Texas Rangers. It was also the first time that Wilson played professional baseball since his time at Colorado Rockies 2011. He was then pulled by the Seahawks in the NFL draft and began his impressive football career.
This article was published without prior view by the Major League Baseball.