Guests of Honor

Yankees Visit the White House

Obama calls team easy to love, hate.

The Yankees might deserve to be cocky, but today, the baseball team veered into downright over-the-top: During a White House ceremony honoring the world champions, the team presented President Obama with a jersey emblazoned with the number 27, representing the number of times they’ve won the World Series—instead of one with the number 44 (for his presidential number), as teams before them have always done. "That attitude, that success, has always made the Yankees easy to love, and—let's face it—easy to hate as well," said Obama in the East Room. The president also took a jab at his hometown team, the Chicago Cubs, who haven’t been in the Series since 1945. Going from 2000 to 2009 without playing in the Series “must have felt like an eternity for Yankees fans,” said Obama. “I think other teams would be just fine with a spell like that… the Cubs, for example.”