Sara Falkson, girlfriend of New York Yankees rookie first baseman Ben Rice, may have just redefined “thoughtful gift.”
In a now-viral TikTok posted over the weekend, Falkson revealed the epic, handmade present she crafted for Rice — a custom-built, hand-painted Yankees-themed table, straight from the Harvard machine shop. Yes, really.
@sfalkson I’m Sara, a Harvard Enginner, and let’s make my a gift for my boyfriend, Ben Rice! 💙⚾️ #yankees #harvard #foryoupage #foryou #harvarduniversity #benrice #wag #benriceedit #goyankees #womenssports #stem #machine #girlfriends #mlb #benarroz #wag #womeninstem #womeninsports ♬ original sound - Red Mist
"I'm a Harvard engineer, and let's make a table for my boyfriend, Ben,” Falkson says in the clip, walking viewers through her impressive process.
She explains that Rice made his MLB debut with the Yankees on June 18, and she wanted to commemorate the milestone with something special. “Naturally,” she jokes, “I went to the Harvard machine shop.”
Falkson, who’s currently pursuing her master’s in design engineering at Harvard, cut, sanded, engraved and painted the table herself, adding bold Yankees details and her own artistic flair.
“Honestly, the hardest part was just keeping it a secret from Ben,” she says.
Rice, who played college baseball at Dartmouth before being drafted by the Yankees in 2021, debuted in the majors in 2024. That Ivy League connection runs deep — Falkson also graduated from Dartmouth (cum laude, no less), captained the varsity field hockey team, and later worked at IBM before heading to Harvard.
“When I’m not designing, I yearn for fun ways to integrate design and sport,” she notes on her personal website.
Mission accomplished. And with this kind of creativity on his side, Rice may just have the smartest fan in the stands.