Ryan, Yanks pitch in to sell programs, tickets

NEW YORK -- Part of a utility man's job is being prepared for whatever assignment might come next, and for Brendan Ryan, that was helping to hawk programs and yearbooks in the Great Hall at Yankee Stadium.

Ryan was one of several Yankees players meeting and greeting fans before Wednesday's game against the Tigers. Ryan took his post on the first-base side of the ballpark with some zest, yelling out, "Programs! Yearbooks here!"

"It's fun," Ryan said. "I don't get to come out on the concourses much. Something different."

Yankees pitchers Masahiro Tanaka and David Phelps were stationed behind the counters at the Stadium's Advance Ticket windows, while pitchers Shawn Kelley, Adam Warren and Chase Whitley helped work the registers at the Yankees Team Store behind home plate.

"It was fun; it was easy," Ryan said. "I wanted to mingle more with the fans, have some more back-and-forth. Next time, maybe I can have a mustache and a cone, something like that -- a little accent. Learn, we'll adjust and do something different next time."