10 seconds ago 2010-01-06T10:26:27-08:00
Sotomayor seems more than comfortable with all the sports analogies popping up in her confirmation hearing -- particularly all the baseball talk. She's also easily fielding the softballs, fastballs and curveballs senators are throwing at her.
It's no wonder.
She grew up near Yankee Stadium and loves the Yankees. So who better to call the balls and strikes in the strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series? As a U.S. district judge, she issued an injunction against team owners on March 31, 1995, ending the 7 1/2-month dispute.
"You can't grow up in the Bronx without knowing about baseball, particularly from a family where their claim to fame is that every member of it has a different team that they have rooted for," she said at the time. "Unwillingly, I have been drafted onto the deck of this field with those of you watching out there, waiting for one of those small moments to happen. I personally would have liked more time to practice my swing."
In announcing her nomination to the Supreme Court, President Obama said her decision showed "a swiftness much appreciated by baseball fans everywhere. ... Some say that Judge Sotomayor saved baseball."
-Larry Margasak, AP reporter, Congress
