Home > News & Policies > May 2001

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 4, 2001

Remarks by the President at Photo Opportunity with the New York Yankees
The Rose Garden

10:32 A.M. EDT

     THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Please sit down.  Well, it's my honor to welcome the mighty Yanks to the Rose Garden, a team that broke my heart many a time, as the owner of the Texas Rangers.  (Laughter and applause.)

     I'm so glad you all are here, and I appreciate the Mayor being here, the Yankees' number one fan; and members of the congressional delegation who are here as well.  Thank you all for coming.

     It's good to see my old fellow owner, the boss.  (Laughter.)  What a record you've had.  A man who demands excellence and oftentimes gets it. (Laughter.)  But thank you for coming, George.  I know the real boss of the Yankees is here too -- Arthur Richman.  (Laughter and applause.)  How are you, Arthur?  Good to see you.  I told you one of these days we would get to the White House.  Just don't take any silverware, Arthur.  (Laughter and applause.)

     It's good to see Randy and Brian Cashman.  Thank you all for coming. I am -- I understand something about baseball.  It not only takes great players to win a championship, it takes a great manager, too.  And I know all sports fans are impressed by the class of Joe Torre.  What a heck of a man he is.  And, Don Zimmer, you're not so bad, either.  (Laughter.)

     But one of the things everybody forgets about Joe is that he was a pretty darn good player himself.  Thirty years ago, he led the National League with a 363 batting average, 137 RBIs, and it's sure good to welcome you back here, Joe.  (Applause.)

     And there are fellow Texans on this team.  And around here, that counts for something.  (Laughter.)  So it's good to see "the Rocket," a friend of my family's Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch.

     I -- something about the Yankees.  It's one of the greatest names in sport.  It's a tradition, and a powerful tradition.  I mean, you put on a uniform, it's just not work clothes, it's the uniform that Ruth wore, or Gehrig wore.  And you all have kept up that tradition.  And for that, you need to be congratulated.

     It's interesting that we're hosting the great Yanks here in the Rose Garden, and then this Sunday there's a little different celebration taking place.  It's a baseball celebration.  But on the other side of the driveway down there, we've set up a T-ball park.  And it's a chance for moms and dads to bring T-ball teams to celebrate the great sport of baseball, right here on the hallowed grounds of the White House.  Yankee Stadium is hallowed grounds, so is the White House.

     What's going to be interesting about that day is there is going to be some little kid trying to adjust his batting gloves just like Jeter does, or somebody trying to look like Mariano Rivera.  Or somebody trying to emulate the swing of Tino Martinez.  That's what's going to happen.

     And as a reminder for those who are on the field that a lot of kids look at you, they really do.  And there's a lot of parents pulling for the Yanks to be champs not only on the field but off the field.  And there's no question in my mind that these Yanks will rise to both occasions.

     Welcome to the White House.  (Applause.)

                           END               10:39 A.M. EDT