Tom Coughlin throws out the first pitch before yesterday’s Yankees game vs. the White Sox. (Neil Miller)
Tom Coughlin wore a Yankees cap and a smile that could have stretched all the way to Waterloo, N.Y., where the champion coach of the New York Football Giants grew up, never imagining one day he would be standing on the mound at Yankee Stadium throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.
“We came to one game, when I was probably a junior or senior in high school,” Coughlin said yesterday after tossing a splitter to Russell Martin. “A friend of mine, who was an offensive tackle, and his dad drove us down, we watched a doubleheader, and we drove back the same day. It was like an endurance contest.”
Four of his 10 grandchildren (Cooper, Dylan, Emma, Shea) and son Tim were in tow.
“Did I ever think I’d stand and throw a pitch? No. I never did,” Coughlin said. “That’s why I brought these guys out.”
Coughlin was congratulated for winning his second Super Bowl in four seasons by Yankees players and manager Joe Girardi. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman moments earlier had escorted Coughlin’s wife Judy through the bowels of the Stadium.
“Brian Cashman allowed us to use his suite,” Coughlin said.
Coughlin mentioned Girardi had done a Saturday night chapel service for the Giants last season.
“I just think he’s level-headed. He’s serious, he’s focused, he’s a smart baseball man,” Coughlin said. “Players like him. He likes the players; he’s a former player.”
Derek Jeter is the Yankees’ version of Eli Manning in so many ways.
“He asked about Eli,” Coughlin said. “He said, ‘I’ve known him for a long, long time.’ And I asked [Jeter] if he knew [Manning] before he was a pro, he said, ‘no,’ but I guess Eli played in his charity golf classic one time.”
Asked to assess his pitch, Coughlin said: “It was not in the dirt, as they say,” he cracked. “It was probably high and inside, but it was close enough. I might of got the call.”
Coughlin also threw a first pitch at the Stadium (to Jorge Posada) following Super Bowl XLII.
“Jeter said to me, ‘You’re getting up on the mound, right?’, and I said, ‘Yeah I’m getting up on the mound,’ ” Coughlin recalled. “And then one of the guys said, ‘Don’t bounce it!’ ”
The Rumble asked Coughlin if Martin shook him off.
“No, he let me have the split-finger. I threw that one today,” Coughlin said.
Why the split-finger? “I thought maybe, because it was a nice warm day, and I could kind of bring the heat in there, that I would go ahead and do that,” Coughlin said.
He was bouncing the baseball from one hand to the other outside the Yankees clubhouse and talked about the resiliency of the 2012 Yankees as his grandchildren erupted in a chorus of the national anthem.
“When you’re strong, you’re gonna see your way through it, and adversity does make you stronger,” Coughlin said. “They’ve had a couple of setbacks, but they’re prepared for this kind of thing, and I think they’ll come through this very strong.”
It was Syracuse University Day at the Stadium.
“It’s an honor at any time, but it’s a special honor today to represent my school, Syracuse University, and of course a privilege to be here with the Yankees,” Coughlin said.
On his way upstairs, the Coughlin grandchildren hugged the Orange mascot, and Coughlin high-fived the mascot.