Pat Pickens
The New Jersey Devils were off Friday, and Jack Hughes had an appointment in the Bronx he could not pass up.
Hughes helped the New York Yankees open their home slate by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium ahead of their 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins.
Hughes represented the United States gold-medal-winning men’s hockey team, along fellow gold-medal winner Aerin Frankel from the USA’s women’s team, on the field in the Bronx. They got a huge ovation from the nearly 49,000 fans at Yankee Stadium, even though thousands undoubtedly were New York Rangers fans.
Jack Hughes Was Nervous to Throw Out the First Pitch at Yankee Stadium
Hughes has performed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He kept his nerves enough to score the gold-medal-clinching goal in overtime the Olympics, against arch-rival Canada.
But of all the post-goal appearances and cameos or meeting the President of the United States, Hughes was most excited, and nervous , about being on the mound at Yankee Stadium.
“When everything went down, this was the one thing I was wondering if it would happen,” Hughes said, according to MLB.com. “I knew a lot of things were coming, but this was the one thing I was always wishing and hoping for.
“And then I was like, ‘Opening Day? That’s huge, man. That’s a lot of pressure.’”
Hughes said he has become a Yankees fan, like most Northern New Jersey residents, and loves going to games when he’s in the area during the summer.
He brought his dad Jim and brother, and Devils teammate, Luke Hughes to the game. He met Martha Stewart, posed for a picture with Yankees manager Aaron Boone and chatted with Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who like Hughes recently represented the United States at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
“I could hang in the clubhouse all day,” Hughes said. “Those guys are good guys. It was fun being in the room. It’s pretty similar to what we do every day.”
Jack Hughes Trained For His Ceremonial First Pitch
The Devils were on the road when Hughes found out he would be making the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. According to Meredith Marakovits of YES Network, Hughes’ mom gave him advice, telling to make sure he threw a strike.
So he did what anyone would to prepare. He threw a bullpen session.
“We played in Dallas last week, and my trainer brought gloves,” Hughes said. “I threw like 50 pitches right before the morning skate. My shoulder was so sore. I was like, ‘We’ve got to cool it.’”
Clearly Hughes’ throwing session did not adversely affect him, since he scored a pair of first-period goals, helping the Devils build a 4-1 lead and hang on for a 6-4 win over the Dallas Stars that night.
Mere minutes before his big moment, Hughes threw threw with a high-profile friend of his brother’s. Jack warmed up his arm Friday with Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who went to the University of Michigan with Luke Hughes and was in the Bronx for the home opener.
