It is mostly what her crown jewel baseball team does away from the field during HOPE Week that draws cheers from Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal, and tears of joy at the same time.
These are home runs of the heart, when each and every Yankee willingly steps to the plate and launches a Ruthian blast of inspiration and compassion into an unsuspecting field of dreams on which lives and sometimes communities are changed forever, and for the better.
For Swindel, the general partner/vice chairperson, this is the essence of what the Pride of the Yankees means.
“I love people, so I love being with the families and hearing their stories, and sharing that,” she told The Rumble. “That’s the beauty of the Yankees and HOPE Week, is seeing their faces when our players walk in — it still makes me cry. They’ve been so amazing … every one of our players. … I’ve watched special moments — not in the public eye. That’s where it makes me so proud of our team.”
She was positively beaming at the HOPE Week reunion Monday at the Intrepid, mingling with many of the former honorees, then Friday afternoon outside the Yankees dugout wrapping her arms and her championship smile around the story of a boy who cared for his mother, stricken with multiple sclerosis, and grew into an honor student getting ready to play football at the University of Delaware.
“I think I’m always overwhelmed with HOPE Week, and by the time I get to Friday, I’m so tearful — but with joy — of the difference that I’ve seen our players and the Yankees make in these children’s and adults’ lives,” she said. “Every day has been different, and you read it on paper and you think this is really magical, and then you’re actually there greeting these families as they get surprised.”
Derek Jeter was asked why HOPE Week means a lot to him.
“It means a lot to everybody,” Jeter said. “You get an opportunity to recognize people that normally don’t get much recognition but are doing great things, so it’s fun for us to get an opportunity to meet them, talk to them and hear their stories, and acknowledge them for all the good that they’re doing.”
Former Yankees such as David Cone rally to the cause of people helping people, be it emotionally, spiritually or financially.
“To hear all the progress reports from everybody’s been involved, really is a next-level kind of a thing,” Cone said at the reunion. “It helps everybody take their own initiative to the next level. We’re building something here that’s gonna last for a long time.”
Following an extensive and exhausting review of all the worthy human interest candidates, Yankees Executive Director of Communications Jason Zillo and his media relations staff present Swindal with the five winning stories two weeks ahead of time.
“It’s so amazing,” she said, “ because I don’t know how he seems to get every aspect of life in one week.”
Zillo said he treasures the trust she has given him since he started the award-winning initiative in 2009.
“When it comes to this week,” Zillo said, “she’ll move mountains big and small, to make sure that every day goes off without a hitch. All I’ve worked for in my professional career is the Steinbrenner family, and they are the most generous people you’ll find. And you combine that with the fact that they’re also the owners of the New York Yankees, you get to see the rewards of that in a week like HOPE Week.”
Swindel remembers telling her father, George Steinbrenner, about HOPE Week.
“I got to share all the stories with him, and he was just overwhelmed with what a great job Jason Zillo and his staff are doing,” she said. “We feel like the Yankees were just carrying a flag, and we’re so blessed to carry it, and this is a way that we can use that flag to make the world better.”
The Yankees have 27 world championships — 28 counting HOPE Week.
Former Yanks steak dinner is just perfect
The week leading up to Old-Timers’ Day got off to a “perfect” start when Andrew Levy’s Wish You Were Here Productions hosted an annual gathering of friends and family including Don Larsen, David Cone and David Wells, the only three pitchers to pitch a perfect game for the Yankees. This year’s dinner was held at NYY Steak in midtown. The steaks were personalized with an etching of the date of each player’s accomplishment of “27 up and 27 down.”
Golf event to benefit St. Jude
Coastal Advisors,LLC Insurance Consultants CEO Rich”Big Daddy” Salgado is hosting his third Annual Big Daddy Celebrity Golf Classic Monday at Oheka Castle in Huntington, L.I., to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Health Humanitarian Aid Foundation, which provides hospitals and schools in Ghana.
Being honored at the event are Forest City CEO Bruce Ratner and Arizona Beverages CEO Don Vultaggio. The confirmed guest list includes Jason Kidd, Curtis Martin, Justin Tuck, Muhammad Wilkerson, Tiki Barber, Marshall Faulk and many others.
Yanks are Caviezel’s team of interest
Actor Jim Caviezel may have grown up near Seattle mixing it up in hoops with the likes of John Stockton, and his brother-in-law may be Cowboys assistant Scott Linehan, but the star of CBS’ “Person of Interest” bleeds Yankees pinstripes.
Last week Caveziel and ESPN’s Kevin Neghandi were the featured speakers at the Beyond Sport Conference at Yankee Stadium, which gave the Westchester resident plenty to talk about when it came to iconic coaches, especially since he will play one — high school legend Bob Ladoucer, who coached former Giants WR Amani Toomer and Raiders RB Maurice Jones-Drew, among others, in the upcoming film “When The Game Stands Tall.”
“You come into a place like this, even though it’s not the original stadium, and you think about all the great coaches who were also teachers who have been associated with the Yankees over the years,” Caveziel said. “It is that tradition, even though I grew up around the Mariners, that has really tied me to the Yankees, especially since I have been in New York, and being able to speak in the Stadium was an honor for me. Every time I enter the Stadium I am in awe.”
Rangers reach out to help former champ
Former executive Matt Loughran, an integral member of the 1994 Rangers Stanley Cup championship team, recently was dealt a bad hand. The seriously-ill former Rangers team operations manager is being lent a big hand by the likes of Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mike Richter through Steiner Sports’ “Rangers Helping Rangers” online auction. The auction runs through Sunday (www.steinersports.com). A bevy of classic Stanley Cup champion-autographed items are on the auction block, with proceeds helping to benefit Loughran’s treatment.
“Truly one of our key components of our 1994 Stanley Cup team,” Graves said. “Matt was a pillar in our family — our Rangers family. … For Matty, at a time when he needs strength, it’s great to get the entire group back together again. … He will continue to be a huge part of our team.”
Dads, daughters get special treatment from Liberty
The New York Liberty will host Dads and Daughters Day on Sunday when they take on the Atlanta Dream at the Garden. The first 3,000 fans will receive a free Cappie Pondexter bobblehead courtesy of Kia.