Yanks Make Fan's Trip To Stadium Special

NEW YORK -- Sitting on an eastbound New Jersey Transit train next to Yankees
manager
Joe Girardi, Jane Lang explained her own personal philosophy.
"It's not how much you can gather, it's how much you give," Lang said.
Girardi nodded. "That's the essence of HOPE Week."
Spend 60 seconds with Jane Lang and it quickly becomes abundantly clear.
Although
she was born without sight, Lang has always had a keen sense of perspective.
The subject of Tuesday's HOPE (Helping Others Persevere & Excel) Week event,
Lang
has never allowed her blindness to impair how she views the world. The
67-year-old
from Morris Plains, N.J., has learned how to make the two-hour trek to
Yankee Stadium
via public transportation with only the assistance of her seeing-eye dog,
aptly named
Clipper.
On Tuesday, though, Lang didn't make the trip to the Yankees' 6-2 win over
the Tigers
solo. She had a whole team with her.
Lang was surprised at her door on Tuesday morning by Girardi, relievers Joba
Chamberlain,
David Robertson and Chad Gaudin, and former Yankee Tino Martinez to make the
trip
with her. Girardi handed Lang a bouquet of flowers, but she was too excited
after
the fact to remember where she had put them.
"When we opened that door, that was great," Robertson said. "She was so
excited.
I think we totally excited her."
"I can't believe it," Lang said then and throughout the day, as surprise
followed
surprise.
Lang's retinue was joined at the train station by nearly 100 friends and her
two
sons, Dan and Bill -- who drove all the way from Atlanta on Monday to share
the special
day with their mother.
"This is a day I could never have dreamed of," Lang said. "Never."
Following the Yankees' victory, Lang was led onto the field to shake hands
and exchange
hugs with the players, many of whom made a point to find her. Then, Girardi
took
her by the hand and led her around the bases, pausing so that she could step
on each
bag. Just before they reached second base, Mariano Rivera jogged out to hand
Lang
a game ball.
"It's great for her. She's a huge Yankee fan; it's the biggest part of her
life right
now," said Dan Lang, Jane's oldest son. "We knew she'd be excited. We know
her well
enough. I'd like to think she's equally surprised to see Bill and I come
from Atlanta
to see her."
Lang's daughter Sharon and her granddaughter Miranda were also there to take
it all
in.
"We have a very close family," said Jane's husband, Pete. The two, who met
at The
Seeing Eye when Jane started training with her first guide dog in 1965, will
celebrate
their 45th wedding anniversary next month. "The kids keep in close touch
with us,
and they know how important this is to mom. To have our whole family here
together
for this surprise event is just beyond belief."
Lang has been coming to roughly 30 Yankees games a year for over a decade
with Clipper
and her former guide dog, Laramie. She was decked out for the Tuesday game
in a Derek
Jeter T-shirt adorned with her customary Yankees pins, with "NY" earrings
and Yankee
sneakers to boot. Sitting in one of the handicapped sections on the field
level concourse,
Lang listens to the game on the radio while taking in the atmosphere of the
Stadium,
a place she affectionately calls her second home.
"I feel safe there, and I feel a part of it. I feel like I belong," Lang
said, adding
that she sees the game in her own special way. "I love doing it. It's my way
of being
free."
She's made a lot of friends at the Stadium over that time, leading to her
nomination
for HOPE Week. When Pete got the call that Jane would be one of this year's
honorees,
he didn't know how to react. He also didn't know how to keep it a secret.
"I fell out of my chair," Pete said. "I told a lot of lies about where I was
going
and what I was doing and why I was on the computer so much. ... It was right
down
to the wire. She did not know. It was awesome."
After taking the New Jersey Transit Morris-Essex Line into Penn Station,
Jane Lang
and Clipper led everyone over to Herald Square, where they hopped on a
reserved car
of the D train for the ride to 161st Street and Yankee Stadium.
"Jane's unbelievable. I can't believe that she does this," said Robertson.
"I can't
imagine not being able to see everything going on, and she does it without
fail."
Once at the Stadium, Lang and her family recharged their batteries in the
Mohegan
Sun Sports Bar before receiving special tours of Monument Park and the
Yankees' Museum
and taking in batting practice on the field. One of Lang's favorite players,
Paul
O'Neill, dropped by to lead her tour of the monuments, and she later
compared getting
to hold relics of the Yankees' past from the museum to Christmas.
Before settling into her seat, she was honored in a pregame ceremony and
brought
out the lineup cards to home plate. She still couldn't believe the honor as
she took
in the game with her family and friends in special seating behind home
plate.
"I'm still in a state of shock," she said. "I feel like I'm sleeping, and if
I pinch
myself I'm going to wake up."
She also channeled another Yankee of yore.
"I've always thought I was the luckiest person in the world," she said.
"Today I
know I am."