According to baseball-reference, 47 players have made the major leagues from Ohio State University.  Until Brian Cashman heisted Kenny Williams out of Nick Swisher in November 2008, none had played for the Yankees since George Steinbrenner became owner in 1973.

And how is that relevant to a night when the Yankees won and remembered Steinbrenner?

It is relevant because besides the Yankees, Steinbrenner's passion was Ohio State especially its football program. He was a man who often has been described as having a football mentality and coached at Northwestern at one point.

The obvious ending to last night's game would be Derek Jeter getting the same game-winning single as Swisher and it seemed set up for that.  There's just one problem: even with all his years and accolades with the Yankees, Jeter remains a Michigan man.

Of course when he struck out, nobody seemed to think of Swisher as a Buckeye, save for Joe Girardi, who said:

"I was thinking how fitting it would be if Derek got the hit on a night like this, especially with Derek paying a tribute every day to Bob Sheppard and his love and affection for Mr. Steinbrenner,” Girardi said. “Derek had about five good swings. I thought for sure Derek was going to get it done. But George’s second love was the Buckeyes.”

Swisher is one of the new breed of Yankees, who rarely had any contact with Steinbrenner.  Though during his college days, he almost had the chance but shyness got the best of him.

The moment occurred sometime between 2000-02 when Swisher totaled 35 home runs and 156 RBI before being drafted by the Oakland with a compensation pick for losing Johnny Damon, his future Yankee teammate.

Afterwards, an introspective Swisher referred to getting the game-winning hit as "Baseball heaven".  Considering how successful the Yankees have been in the last year and a half it would be difficult to argue.