To show just how big a deal the New York Yankees organization thinks the unveiling tonight of a monument for George Steinbrenner is the team has put aside any acrimony with ex-manager Joe Torre and former player and coach Don Mattingly, who will be in attendance.
The monument will be the sixth honoring a member of the Yankees to be placed in Monument Park. There are also 24 plaques.
It will be interesting to hear the reception for Torre and Mattingly, who are both looking forward to returning to the Bronx.
Torre is looking forward to seeing some old friends and to visiting the new Yankee Stadium for the first time.
"That's an add-on for me," he said of the new stadium. "The excitement would have been for the World Series last year [with the Dodgers]. I'm just paying my respects to George and his family because of what they've meant to me and my career. That's never overlooked in my mind. I'm glad to be able to pay my respects."
"Mr. Steinbrenner has been great to me and my family," said Mattingly. "The things he's done that nobody even knows about ... After I was done playing and I had back trouble, he flew me back to New York for the surgery and put me up at a hotel. That's the kind of stuff he does that nobody knows. And they called the other day and made sure we knew that they wanted us there.
"Secondly, I'm excited for Joe, I really am, that they asked him back. ... There's been some, whatever, the last couple years about Joe and the Yankees and the way it ended. I just think this is mending fences and it needs to happen and it did and it's just great."
It will be an emotional night in the Bronx. A lot of it will be for Steinbrenner, the Yankee owner who died this summer at age 80. Best guess is that there will also be a tremendous outpouring of affection for both Torre and Mattingly as well.