Friday, following the news of the death of Nelson Mandela, Detroit TV station WDIV wrongly included a a picture of New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez in their on-air graphic.
A terrible mistake? Yes…but it happens. My guess is that the A-Rod picture was from a different graphic and what we saw was the unfortunate end result of some sloppy copy and pasting.
But, I'll wager those same Yankees won't be making the mistake April 15, when they honor the former South African leader with a plaque in Monument Park. And before you ask…no, Mandela will not be the first non-baseball player immortalized at Yankee Stadium.
Far from it.
Also remembered…Pope Paul VI , Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who, like Mandela, all visited the Yankees home at the some point. The victims of the September 11 attacks are also remembered in the park.
Now, about that Mandela visit.
On June 21, 1990, Mandela, who had just recently been released from a South African prison, visited a packed Yankee Stadium. While addressing the crowd, he donned a Yankees cap on his head. Then-Mayor David Dinkins draped a team jacket over his shoulders, and Mandela declared…“you know who I am. I am a Yankee.”
And now, he will be…enshrined alongside such larger-than-life greats as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Lou Gehrig.
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