Sonya Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, is credited with saving baseball. The strike that ended the 1994 season early, canceled the 1994 playoffs and World Series, and delayed the start of the 1995 season finally ended when Judge Sotomayor ruled against the owners in favor of the players.

From the New York Times:

The owners were trying to subvert the labor system, she said, and the strike had “placed the entire concept of collective bargaining on trial.”

After play resumed, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that by saving the season, Judge Sotomayor joined forever the ranks of Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams. The Chicago Sun-Times said she “delivered a wicked fastball” to baseball owners and emerged as one of the most inspiring figures in the history of the sport.

So Judge Sotomayor grew up in the South Bronx and saved baseball in 1995. The year the Yankees made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. She’s gotta be a Yankee fan.