Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Another milestone hit in Tech's recovery
Aaron McFarling
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BLACKSBURG -- A child dropped the baseball he had brought to be autographed.
It rolled a few feet, then came to a stop in front of a memorial stone, inscribed with the name of one of the 32 victims. The boy reached down to pick up the ball. He did not look at the name.
Two buses pulled up. "They're here!" someone said. Star-stricken fans moved closer. Collectors moved in with their baseball cards. Television cameras clicked on.
And the New York Yankees -- first Derek Jeter, then Jorge Posada, then star after star after star -- stepped off the buses and onto the campus of Virginia Tech.
They were here to play a baseball game. But before they did, they wanted to honor the victims of April 16.
So each player stood in a semicircle, facing Burruss Hall. Cameras rolled. Fans reached out for autographs. Several Yankees signed them. After a short ceremony, the players boarded the buses again and headed to the field.
Was it a made-for-TV moment? Of course it was. Every move the Yankees make is recorded, and if it's not choreographed properly, things can quickly turn chaotic.
But for the dozens of us who were there Tuesday morning, the Yankees' simple presence at the memorial forced us to do something.
It forced us to look at the names.
They simply didn't have to do it. That's what strikes everybody as so unusual, so moving. When the Yankees wrote a check last year for $1 million, earmarked for the families of the 32 shooting victims, most of us thought that was more than generous.
But the Yankees, led by owner George Steinbrenner, wanted to do more. They wanted to come to Tech themselves, play a game and help however they could.
How exactly would playing an exhibition against the Hokies help? Nobody knew, really.
But after Tuesday, we have an idea.
What this day yielded was a special blend of remembrance, connection and fun. It was a signal that things have gotten better. It was a reward for students and, especially, the Tech baseball team, which stood on the athletic department's front lines after the tragedy.
In short, it was another positive milepost along Tech's recovery road.
They simply had to do it. That's what they remember most. As they pulled on their uniform pants on April 20, just four days after the most deadly campus shooting in U.S. history, the Virginia Tech baseball players felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility.
They want us to play the first game? Then we have no choice, they thought. We'll play the first game. ... Or at least we'll try.
"Like I said then, that was a game I'll never forget," Tech outfielder Jose Cueto said. "And now, almost a year later, I'll say it again: It's definitely something I will never forget. I will never forget the day we played Miami."
Nor will anyone who was there. The response from the community and campus was stirring, as a record crowd of 3,132 showed up at English Field. For many, it was the first chance all week they'd had to get out. It was a night of music and nervous laughter -- was it OK to laugh yet? -- and a dramatic baseball game, which ended with the Miami left fielder robbing a home run in the ninth inning that would have tied the game.
Cueto cried that night for the first time after the tragedy. The weight of it all was too much.
"I just remember it was the hardest day of my coaching life," Tech coach Pete Hughes said Tuesday. "To come out and actually play when you didn't want to play ... just to get a community feeling right again. What an honor to do that."
Even then, you could tell it helped. As Hughes spoke Tuesday, the Yankees were taking batting practice. The fans, 5,300 strong, were jamming into temporary bleachers to get ready for a game.
The difference between the two scenes was undeniable.
"I get asked a lot by people who know I go to school here, and I tell them it's back to where it should be," Tech infielder Matt Hacker said. "Kids are having fun. Faculty are great. I mean, this place is awesome. Nobody can beat this place. We're right back to where we need to be."
The Yankees could have assumed that and never visited. But the fact that they did come helped us to see.
Some fans got autographs. Some didn't. Two Tech players got base hits they will remember forever in the 11-0 Yankees win. Most didn't.
But the thoughts of most everyone were expressed well in a sign a woman held at the memorial. Near the child with the ball, near the collectors, near the 32 names, she lifted it above the crowd.
It read simply: "Thank you."
