No joke: Saquon makes his pitch for NYC stardom
Saquon Barkley didn’t want to be a joke. The new Giants running back didn’t want to be 50 Cent.
“When you step out of your element, that’s when it gets different,” Barkley said after throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. “I actually was a little nervous. I didn’t think I was gonna be nervous because in college I played in front of 110,000 [fans] on a weekly basis. ….
“On my way here I was watching all the videos, of the 50 Cents, and all the bad ones, I was like, ‘I do not want to be on ESPN’s Not Top 10.’ ”
Barkley bounced the pitch in his return to his native borough — “I think I did better than [Pat Shurmur]. I got to redeem the Giants,” he joked of his coach’s recent throw and added he had been to the old stadium as a kid, but never played baseball growing up.
Barkley’s unfamiliarity with the sport was clear, as he struggled to remember the names of nearly all of the Yankees he met.
Of course, he remembered Aaron Judge.
“Aaron Judge is huge. I’ve seen him on TV, but when I saw him in person I was like you could be a tight end or a D-end, easily, if he wanted to,” Barkley said. “I pitched him to come to the Giants and join the squad, but I think he’s doing OK with baseball.”
Barkley was too shy to ask Judge to pose for a picture with him, so the NFL’s No. 2 overall pick had someone else ask the Yankees superstar.
But a little over a year ago, the slugger whose stature intimidated Barkley was just another rookie.
Next year, Barkley could become just as big.
“If you succeed here, you’re gonna be known worldwide. I realize that, but that’s not something I think about,” he said.
“I’m not really here to be a superstar. I’m here to play football, and play the game I love, and try my best every single day to bring a championship back to New York.”