Brett Gardner gets star turn at Merrick day camp

Brett Gardner still sees himself as one of the other Yankees. And he says he's content with that.

Despite his All-Star-worthy start to the season, "status" doesn't mean anything to him. Even if his play merits an idol's stature.

"To me, it's not about getting any sort of status or anything like that," Gardner said while visiting the Coleman Country Day Camp in Merrick on Thursday.

In his first appearance at a camp since becoming a member of the Yankees, the campers in Merrick greeted Gardner with a shower of "We want Brett!" cheers. It was a greeting fit for a superstar.

But Gardner was quick to play it down. No matter what he does, the mild-mannered South Carolinian doesn't see himself as a star. And even as the campers met him and treated him like a celebrity, he couldn't accept it. The campers would easily trade Gardner for Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, any day, joked Gardner.

"I think they were all trained to say that," said Gardner, who is actually third on the Yankees, ahead of Jeter and Rodriguez, with a .299 batting average through 86 games.

Gardner spoke to the campers and taught them the basics of running the bases on the camp's "Field of Dreams." Gardner is fourth in the American League with 26 steals.

During one of the baserunning lessons, Coleman Camp director Ross Coleman told campers that a "certain Yankee superstar" would be giving them high fives at third base after running the bases.

"You just disappointed them," Gardner said. "They thought that Derek or Alex was going to show up."

But for two hours on a Thursday afternoon, Gardner was a star to the campers.

"I don't do this kind of thing often at all," Gardner said "It's the first time I have ever been to a camp like this ... Being with the Yankees you have a huge fan base."