Russell Wilson’s Old Comments About Playing for Yankees Resurface After Giants Sign QB

Kristen Wong | Mar 26, 2025

Mar 2, 2018; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Yankees infielder Russell Wilson (73) works out prior to the game at George M. Steinbrenner Field. / Kim Klement-Imagn Images

There's something in the air in New York that has attracted not one, but both quarterbacks from the Pittsburgh Steelers: Russell Wilson signed with the Giants on Tuesday weeks after Justin Fields agreed to a deal with the Jets.

Wilson, who inked a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Giants, returns to the stadium where he won Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 with the Seattle Seahawks. He also returns to the city where he lived out his baseball dreams by becoming a member of the pinstripes.

Over a decade ago, Wilson was once an outfielder prospect out of North Carolina State selected by the Colorado Rockies in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB draft. He played 93 games in the minors across two seasons mostly as a second baseman before informing the team he was focusing on his NFL career.

But not before Wilson fulfilled a lifelong dream of being a Yankee. The newly minted Giants quarterback apparently grew up as a big Yankees fan, naming Derek Jeter as his favorite player.

Wilson was traded to the Yankees in 2018 where he got his big opportunity to pinch-hit for Aaron Judge in a Grapefruit League game against the Atlanta Braves. He would go on to strike out on five pitches from Braves' Max Fried.

Here's a quote from a Yankees press conference of Wilson talking about his brief time spent with the club:

"It's a successful organization already, it's been a success for a long, long time," Wilson said. "Like I said, there's an aroma in the air, there's a certain type of feel when you come here. And there's no mistaking that.

"For me, the thing I try to bring every day no matter where I go is having a championship mindset. Wherever you go you gotta believe it, you gotta think it, you gotta dream it, you gotta work at it and you gotta go after it."

Hopefully Wilson doesn't end up striking out on the Giants, where he joins Jameis Winston and Tommy DeVito in the quarterback room.

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