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Curtis Granderson #14 of the New York Yankees hits a home run in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins during their game on April 16, 2012 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New Y ork City.
Every April 16, for the past three years, Cutis Granderson has quietly paid tribute to a man he never met. Monday night, the Yankees center fielder again remembered Brian Bluhm on the fifth anniversary of his murder by a gunman in a massacre at Virginia Tech.
Granderson, who homered and had a run-saving catch at the wall in the Yankees 7-3 loss, wore wrist bands and cleats with Bluhms name stitched on them in the game.
Its just something I like to do for his family, Granderson said.
Bluhm, 25, was a teachers assistant at Virginia Tech, working on his masters, when he was killed. As he watched the news of the tragedy, Granderson never imagined he had a connection.
After it happened, I heard that one of the victims was a big Detroit Tigers fan, who had blogged about the minor-leagues coming up through the organization, including myself, said Granderson.
I remember thinking it was like six degrees of separation.< /p>
Granderson didnt think much about it again until he was on a rehab stint with the Tigers Grand Rapids affiliate the next season. He found a bench near the ballpark that was dedicated to
Bluhm, who was from that area. He took a picture of himself at the bench and sent it to Bluhms family.
They sent me a picture of him and weve kind of kept in touch, Granderson said. They have relocated to Maryland, so Ive met them twice in Baltimore.
The cleats will be donated to Bluhms family or his foundation.
PAGING DR. JETER
Derek Jeter will receive an honorary doctorate from Siena College May 13 for his leadership on and off the field and his work with his Turn2 Foundation.
You can call me Dr. Jeter now, the shortstop joked on the field before batting practice. It really is an honor.
Perhaps he should receive honors for his rejuvenated hitting this season. Jeter hit his third home run of the season to lea d off the game Monday night. It was his second in as many nights. With a second-inning single, he had his sixth multihit game. Jeter has gotten a hit in nine of the Yanks 10 games and is batting .378.... After Andy Pettitte threw 47 pitches in his latest outing for Class-A Tampa Sunday night, Girardi was asked whether he thought there would be a Pettitte sighting in the Bronx after the lefty reaches the 90-100 pitch plateau. They have that start where they hit around 95 pitches and thats the fifth start and then you back them up a little but, try to rejuvenate them a little bit, Girardi said. Thats what were shooting for. Girardi said the team will be looking for 60 pitches from Pettitte in his next outing.
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