Jorge Throwing Out The First Pitch Tomorrow

(Courtesy of Debby Wong/US Presswire)

Everybody probably already knows this by now, but if not, BREAKING NEWZ!!!!

Tomorrow is the home opener and the recently-retired Jorge Posada is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  As someone (probably one of the few) who was always on the fence when it came to Jorge and not head-over-heels in fanlove with him like most Yankee fans, I will say that I am pleasantly surprised that this is happening.

Truth be told, I thought there would be a little more time between his retirement and return to Yankee Stadium because of how things ended between Jorge and the Yankees.  There was the whole "taking himself out of the lineup" fiasco last the season, the outright declaration by the Yankees that they weren't going to offer him a new deal, and Jorge basically being forced to retire because no other teams were interested in him.  I got the sense from watching the clips of his retirement press conference and reading some of the quotes that he really didn't WANT to have to hang them up, and I'm glad that there doesn't appear to be any ill will between him and the one organization he called home for so long.

Tomorrow afternoon's game will definitely be in the top 5 for games I wish I could have attended since I moved out to Wisconsin and it's simply because Jorge is going to be there to throw out the first pitch.  The atmosphere is going to be INSANE!  I'm literally getting goosebumps right now at my desk thinking about how loud that ovation is going to be.  After the rough way Jorge went out as a player, it's only right to bring him right back to the place where he is universally loved so he can be reminded of just how important and beloved a member of the Yankee family he is.

** If any AB4AR readers are going to the game tomorrow, take some pictures or video of the days' events and send them to me.  I'd love to get a sense of what the atmosphere was like and I'd love to throw some stuff up in a post. **