NewsYanks amazed by White House tour
Players rave about their visit to Oval Office, Rose Garden
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com
04/08/09 7:52 PM ET
BALTIMORE -- The Yankees' tour group was about to set up for a photo opportunity on the White House's South Lawn on Tuesday, when 7-year-old Sasha Obama dashed to her jungle gym with two blocky Secret Service agents in tow.In a flash, the Yankees' cameras were holstered, as the group was ushered off to a more restricted area. But despite that nixed feature of the visit, a 90-minute guided tour of the White House proved to be a memorable and special experience.
"The security, I couldn't believe it," Nick Swisher said. "That made it so real. It was like, 'This is his house. He lives here.'"
Dressed in jackets and ties, a contingent of 22 Yankees players, coaches and personnel departed Baltimore for a special visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., checking out the West Wing, Rose Garden and Oval Office.
President Obama was not in attendance, completing an overseas trip with an unannounced visit to Iraq. But the Yankees did briefly get to look around his office, viewed by many as the highlight of the tour.
"They had it blocked off, so you'd stick your head in and look around," Swisher said. "You see it replicated all the time in movies, and to actually be there in that room -- the biggest decisions get made -- that's pretty cool."
Phil Coke said he spotted a football sitting on a wicker chair in the Oval Office.
"I said, 'No way!'" Coke said. "He's got a pigskin sitting in there, ready to be thrown around!"
Coke said that he had spent part of the offseason watching documentaries about Washington on the History Channel, and he had hoped to see some of the smoke-stained walls that still remain from the 1814 fire at the White House.
"It was great," Coke said. "For something to last that long, one actual structure -- because of the history aspect -- I would have thought that was the coolest thing."
Coke also raved about the bulletproof glass in each window -- "harder than concrete," he said -- and noted that he had been impressed by Abraham Lincoln's china collection.
"It was nice to see what it looked like inside," Jonathan Albaladejo said. "It was kind of like I thought it was; I think I learned a lot about the history of the presidents. It was amazing. I never thought about it, so when they asked, I said that I was definitely going."
Edwar Ramirez said that many of the street names in the Dominican Republic are named after former United States presidents, so he had a new appreciation for some of the stories lifted from the annals.
"There was a lot of history. It was nice," Ramirez said. "I was looking at George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. It was a beautiful experience. I called my mom and my dad and told them I was in the White House."
Thanks to the guided tour, the Yankees arrived at Camden Yards on Wednesday with nuggets of presidential trivia to share, noting that there were risers installed on the desk in the Oval Office to accommodate President Reagan and that James K. Polk was the first president to be introduced to "Hail to the Chief."
"Just to actually see it and understand what goes on in there, and all the history in each of the rooms, it was phenomenal," Joba Chamberlain said. "The part that gets seen the most for us is when he gives speeches on the South Lawn. You try to fathom what goes on, and you can't."
The trip was arranged by Ari Fleischer, once the press secretary for former President George W. Bush and now a public-relations consultant for Major League Baseball.
The Yankees had the day off after opening the season on Monday at Camden Yards with a 10-5 loss to the Orioles. Vice President Joe Biden threw out the ceremonial first pitch that afternoon.
"They were so nice to us in there," Chamberlain said. "It's hard to put into words. It's a museum, it's a place of business and it's a residence. It's amazing that the one place can do that much stuff."
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
