Russell Wilson signed with the Giants, sat courtside at a Knicks game on his first day in town and is now posting on social media about the Yankees.
Yes, Wilson is fast becoming a New Yorker.
After the Yankees made history by starting Saturday’s game with three home runs on the first three pitches against their former teammate Nestor Cortes, Wilson reacted on X to video of the big swings by former MVPs Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge, the latter adding two more homers over his next two at-bats.
“So sweet!” Wilson wrote. “The Great Bambino is smiling! @Yankees”
Wilson is no stranger to the Yankees or baseball.
Once upon a time, Wilson was a two-sport star who was twice drafted by MLB organizations (Orioles in 2007 and Rockies in 2010).
He played two years in the Rockies’ minor-league system and was selected by the Rangers in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft.
The Rangers later traded Wilson to the Yankees for future considerations on March 2, 2018. The Yankees allowed him to play in a spring-training game — sending him to the plate as a pinch hitter for Aaron Judge against Max Fried of the Braves.
Coincidentally, Fried, who struck out Wilson in that at-bat, made his Yankees’ debut Saturday and was the pitching beneficiary of the home-run barrage.
Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million free-agent contract with the Yankees that falls short of Wilson’s career-best five-year, $245 million contract with the Broncos but far exceeds the one-year, $10.5 million contract Wilson just secured from the Giants.
Perhaps Wilson’s next move will be to join Giants head coach Brian Daboll at a Rangers game – one of his favorite spring pastimes.