Dan Hurley to throw out first pitch at Yankees game, UConn’s national champs also to be honored by Red Sox
The UConn men’s basketball national championship tour will continue this month, playing both sides of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, fitting for Connecticut’s confused baseball fandom.
The program announced Wednesday that the Huskies will be honored by the Boston Red Sox on July 21, prior to their 7:10 p.m. game against the New York Mets, and by the New York Yankees on July 23, where head coach Dan Hurley will throw out the first pitch before the 1:35 p.m. game against his favorite team, the Kansas City Royals. (Speaking of confused baseball fandom).
“George Brett, favorite athlete of all time – all sports,” Hurley said at Citi Field after Andre Jackson Jr. threw out the first pitch at a Mets game on May 1. “I just fell in love with Brett, Dan Quisenberry… I remember one of the first games I ever watched was that pine tar game. I’m a fiery guy so George Brett running out of the dugout kind of was a hook for me.”
The day after Hurley’s first pitch, July 24, will be the 40th anniversary of that famous pine tar incident.
UConn says details are still being sorted as to who will be throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park. New Englanders Donovan Clingan, from Bristol, and Alex Karaban, from Southborough, Mass., are likely top candidates.
