Sonia Sotomayor joins Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium for Roll Call
In this cell phone image provided by "Bald Vinny" Milano, Supreme Court justice and Bronx native Sonia Sotomayor, right, and Milano smile for a photo during a baseball game between the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. (Aug. 1, 2012) Credit: AP/"Bald Vinny" Milano
Sonia Sotomayor grew up in the Bronx and attended her share of Yankees games at the old Stadium -- both versions.
But Wednesday afternoon brought a first: the Supreme Court justice joined the Bleacher Creatures in Section 203 for the Roll Call.
"I pay homage to the Bleacher Creatures," she said during a brief meeting with reporters in the seventh inning. "They are the greatest fans . . . they show it every game, every time they come out. And I felt very proud to be with them."
The origin of her joining the Creatures came in June when Sotomayor, who referred to herself as a "shrill of a fan," attended one of the Yankees-Nationals games in June in Washington. Jason Zillo, the team's director of media relations, floated the idea and Sotomayor said she quickly replied, "Absolutely."
Sotomayor attended Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx before going on to Princeton and eventually Yale Law School. Hard-core baseball fans may remember her as the U.S. District Court judge who in 1995 issued an injunction that helped bring the end of the baseball strike.
Sotomayor is a passionate baseball fan but wouldn't characterize herself as the most passionate on the Supreme Court, just one of them.
"Justice [Antonin] Scalia is fond of reminding me that he was the first Yankee fan on the court and that he is still a very loyal Yankee fan," she said.
But Sotomayor has a retort for the Trenton-born Scalia, who was appointed to the court in 1986. "I keep telling him, the only difference is I was born in the Bronx," she said, "and he wasn't."
