IT’S HARD TO know who is more miserable on this sweltering final day of July at Fenway Park: the man standing on the pitcher’s mound, sweating and swearing as another game slips through his fingers, or his friend and teammate sitting in the visitors dugout, wondering if this will be his last game in a Yankees uniform.
Both players are mysteries to George Steinbrenner, who is in Boston to take stock of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, two pitchers who occupy very different places in his heart. The Boss idolizes Clemens, who’s in the middle of his first start at Fenway in a Yankees uniform. Steinbrenner thought he struck gold when he swung a deal for Clemens in February. But the Rocket, five days shy of 37, has been a dud, entering today’s game against his former team with a deceptive 9–4 record. More telling is his unsightly 4.67 ERA, the highest of his career and more than two runs higher than either of his last two seasons in Toronto.
Pettitte has performed even worse, losing eight of 15 decisions with a 5.65 ERA, making the 27-year-old pitcher the focus of trade rumors since June. The Boss has never been enamored with Pettitte, despite the left-hander’s 74 victories in his four-plus seasons—the most among Yankees pitchers since ’95—and his vital role in the team’s two World Series titles. He’s also making $5.95 million and due for a raise when he goes to arbitration this winter. So it was no surprise when Steinbrenner ordered general manager Brian Cashman to put Pettitte on the market on July 17.
And when Pettitte was thrashed by the woeful White Sox three days ago—coughing up eight hits and three runs before Joe Torre lifted him just one out into the 4th—Steinbrenner was ready to cut the left-hander loose. At least 10 teams have been tracking Pettitte, and Cashman has a deal with the Phillies that will bring back two top prospects—pitcher Adam Eaton and center fielder Reggie Taylor—and a third prospect yet to be determined.
“I’ve been saying all along they’ve got to get Pettitte straightened out,” Steinbrenner said the day after Andy’s debacle in Chicago. Billy Connors, a key member of George’s Tampa brain trust, has been pushing for a trade for weeks, insisting that minor leaguer Ed Yarnall is a better pitcher and is ready to step in. But Cashman and Torre have argued strongly against trading one of the team’s core players.
“Once the season starts, it’s up to Torre and Cashman,” George told reporters before leaving for Boston. “We are all in this together—but the line falls on them.”
Why Steinbrenner is upset about anything is a mystery to the defending champs, given their major league–best 62–39 record and their comfortable seven-game lead over Toronto in the AL East. David Cone gave George a perfect game against the Expos two weeks ago—the Yanks’ second in two seasons—and more than 50,000 fans have flocked to the Stadium on 12 occasions, putting the Yankees on pace to draw 3 million fans for the first time in team history.
Even Yogi is back, ending his 14-year boycott—his payback after George fired him as manager just 16 games into the 1985 season. All it took was a check for $100,000 made out to the Yogi Berra Museum. The two men sat together on Opening Day, watching Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto raise the Yankees’ 24th World Series banner.
But the Boss hasn’t spared the lash, and he again focuses much of his anger on Cashman. George has yet to forgive his young GM for losing arbitration cases to Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in February. (Never mind that Jeter is leading the league in hitting [.369] while leading the Yankees in home runs [19], RBI [72], and runs [88]. Or that Rivera is now the game’s dominant closer, an All-Star whose entry into a game almost always signals a Yankees win.) He rarely misses an opportunity to berate his GM in public or private, even blaming him for Clemens’ inability to equal his two Cy Young seasons. The Boss leaked a story that Cashman was excluded from an organizational meeting at the All-Star break, a story Cashman later knocked down. And on more than one occasion George has told reporters about player moves without telling his GM.
The Boss is also growing resentful of the credit Torre’s getting for the team’s success and of the time the manager spends doing sales pitches for Continental Airlines, Century 21 Real Estate, and the New York Daily News. But Torre is too popular to attack, so Steinbrenner has pounded on Cashman for Torre’s transgressions, too.
If Cashman has ever wondered why Steinbrenner’s sons choose to stay clear of their father, he knows full well now. And as Hank and Hal Steinbrenner understand all too well, the closer you get to George, the more abuse you suffer.
Nothing is good enough for George, especially after the magic of the 1998 season. Winning the World Series was once a goal for the Yankees; now it’s a mandate, something the Boss reminds his team—especially his GM—almost every day.
No one has struggled to meet that challenge more than Clemens, who came to New York to win a championship but has found it difficult just to fit in. Despite his outsized persona and his macho preparation—the three-to-seven-mile runs between starts, the weight-lifting regime, the pregame neck-to-ankle hot-liniment rubdown, which requires a change of shirt between every inning—Clemens is shy and deferential almost to a fault on the days he’s not pitching.
Yankees fans gave Clemens a long grace period, but they finally started booing the veteran two weeks ago, when the Braves tagged him for six runs and five walks in a 6–2 Atlanta win. They booed him again last week, when he gave up a home run to Expos outfielder Shane Andrews, a .215 hitter, while slogging to a 7–4 win.
And today, Clemens is in danger of squandering a 5–2 lead in the bottom of the 5th. He opens the inning with a walk to Trot Nixon, who moves to second on a wild pitch. Clemens runs the count full to leadoff hitter Jose Offerman, and Red Sox fans derisively chant “Raaah-ger, Raaah-ger” as their former star gathers himself on the mound.
Clemens goes into his stretch, delivers, and Offerman rockets the ball through the middle for a single, scoring Nixon. The Fenway crowd erupts, and so does Steinbrenner, who clenches his jaw and throws up his hands in his seat next to the Yankees dugout. Boston GM Dan Duquette famously pronounced Clemens over the hill when Roger left for Toronto. Now George is wondering if Duquette’s timing was off by a couple of years.
Clemens makes it through the 5th but leaves when Nomar Garciaparra singles to open the 6th. Garciaparra will score, closing the book on Clemens, and the Red Sox push across a run in the 7th to tie and another in the 9th to win.
Steinbrenner huddles after the game with Torre, who assures him that things are just fine. Keeping Steinbrenner calm is maybe the most important part of Torre’s job, and his reassurances prevent the Boss from making bad decisions—like trading away Pettitte. A pack of reporters follows the Yankees owner into the players’ parking lot long after the game, throwing him questions about Clemens and Pettitte.
What did he think about Roger today?
“When I saw Roger with a 5–2 lead, I’m ready to say, ‘The ballgame is over,’ ” he says. “But it didn’t happen.”
Will Pettitte still be a Yankee when the trade deadline ends at midnight?
“The manager thinks we are all right, I’ll tell you that,” George tells them. “And I have great confidence in my manager.”
Just as long as his manager keeps winning championships.
Bud Selig turns on the TV and watches his 39-year-old daughter step before the television cameras at County Stadium, where she’ll announce what they decided five days ago: the Brewers are firing their manager and general manager. It was a sad Commissioner who called GM Sal Bando with the news; after all, the former third baseman was Selig’s first free agent hire back in 1977 and has worked for the team ever since. But six straight losing seasons—and 112 games into a seventh—are simply too many, even in Milwaukee. Now Bud watches Wendy talk about the team’s fresh start and wishes it didn’t have to be this way.
Bud has long dreamed of Wendy running his team, but this has not been an easy year. The crane accident was horrific. And the team isn’t just losing games, it’s still losing money—lots of money. With attendance slumping as badly as the team, the franchise stands to lose another $22 million, pushing their debt to $148.7 million.
Worse, the team’s “fresh start” will take place in County Stadium, so the Seligs can forget that $30 million bump they expect when Miller Park opens its gates. Nor will the Seligs give their fans the competitive team they promised in exchange for building them a new stadium with public money. Whoever Selig-Prieb hires as the Brewers’ next general manager will have a major rebuilding project on his hands.
No, the handoff to Wendy has not worked out as Selig had hoped, and he’s certain he knows why: George Steinbrenner. Sure, George sent Wendy flowers and a nice note of encouragement the day she was officially named president of the Brewers. And he frequently comes to visit Bud and Sue when the Yankees play in Milwaukee, one of the few times Steinbrenner travels with his team. Bud and George have been in this game longer than any other owners, and their friendship continues to grow.
But what chance does Wendy have when George pays a handful of his players more than she pays their entire team? When Bud says the fans of more than half the teams in baseball no longer have “hope and faith” that their team can win, he’s speaking from personal experience.
Of course, like most owners of losing teams, Selig refuses to consider that maybe he—and now his daughter—might not be very good at building a baseball team. Which would explain why he’s calling the Reds—who at 66–46 are battling for the NL Central lead with a payroll almost $10 million less than Milwaukee’s $43.4 million—an “aberration.” The same goes for the A’s, who have the game’s fourth-lowest payroll ($24.8 million) and the AL’s fifth-best record. Meanwhile, the Brewers are 52–60 and in fifth place, 15 games behind the first-place Astros.
No, Selig is certain it’s the system that’s at fault here, and his plan to fix the system remains the same: taking more of Steinbrenner’s money. He also knows time is of the essence: Steinbrenner’s partnership with the owners of the Nets to build their own cable network could create an even bigger gap between the Yankees and everyone else.
But first Selig travels to Cooperstown in mid-September for an owners meeting where he will consolidate his power. And what better place to make a historic change than this idyllic lakeside village in the foothills of New York’s Adirondack Mountains that is home to the Hall of Fame. It was just two months ago when a record 50,000 fans made the annual pilgrimage to the holy land of the Church of Baseball, many traveling more than a thousand miles to witness Nolan Ryan, George Brett, and Robin Yount take their place among the game’s greats.
More than 15,000 players have played major league baseball; before this day, only 178 have a plaque hanging in the two-story redbrick museum here on Main Street. It’s the only sports hall of fame that truly matters, and most certainly the only one that serves as a moral barometer. That is why Pete Rose spent Induction Weekend selling his autograph on Main Street alongside the Hall of Famers but does not have a plaque inside the Hall. And it’s why there’s an exhibit called In the Spirit of the Game, dedicated to the people who gave back home run balls to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
It was Selig who introduced the three newest members on that hot July afternoon. Now he’s returned to deliver big news: the owners are putting all American and National League operations under the Commissioner and eliminating the jobs of league president—roles that predate that of the Commissioner. It’s a move that’ll streamline the game’s business operations, but a move that’s being handled poorly.
Just how poorly is evident when Selig and outgoing NL President Len Coleman meet with the media to explain the changes. “This is an historic moment that many have felt was long overdue,” says Selig, who tells reporters that the decision was reached unanimously. Not so, says Coleman, sitting at Selig’s side. “I voted against it,” he says.
Coleman knew this day was coming more than a year ago, when a source close to Selig let the NL president know he was not in Bud’s long-term plans. Truth be told, Selig instructed Bob DuPuy months ago to negotiate a settlement with both Coleman and AL President Gene Budig, who will stay on in the ill-defined role of vice president for educational and government affairs. Coleman will get the remaining $1.95 million on his contract and will become president of MLB Charities and a senior adviser to the Commissioner.
Some inside baseball believe Selig looked upon Coleman as a threat, given that Coleman was one of the few men interviewed for the Commissioner’s job while Bud held the interim title. Others wondered how Selig could remove the lone African American voice in baseball’s senior management team, for which he again will be roundly criticized.
No one stood in Selig’s way on this decision, no matter what the fallout. But at least baseball no longer has the embarrassment of Marge Schott in its ownership ranks. Schott’s 15-year tenure as majority owner of the Reds officially ended at this meeting when her sale to billionaire businessman Carl Lindner, who has been a limited partner, was unanimously approved.
The owners voted to table discussion of pending bids for the Royals and A’s, saying they want to hear the Blue Ribbon Panel’s report before making any decisions on small market teams. What they didn’t talk about is the rising interest in contraction—the idea to eliminate as many as four teams to address revenue inequality between markets. Contraction would give the remaining teams a bigger slice of the revenue pie and, unless Selig objects, lower revenue sharing subsidies.
But while Coleman and Schott are the headlines at this meeting, Steinbrenner and the Yankees dominate the conversation behind closed doors, as they have at just about every meeting and conference call for years. And resentment is running especially high this season. No one cares that the Yankees’ success is driving national TV ratings or selling tickets or moving merchandise—or that Steinbrenner’s already paid $28 million in revenue sharing.
Steinbrenner’s an economic bully, they all keep telling Selig. He’s buying championships. He’s bad for the sport. He’s bad for the rest of us.
Selig could not agree with them more.
If the owners of baseball’s other 29 teams already resent the Yankees’ riches, what happens over the last two months of the season does little to change their minds. On September 11, the Yankees draw 55,422 for their game against the Red Sox, breaking the team’s attendance record set a year ago, then draw another 56,028 the next day to surpass the 3 million mark for the first time in franchise history. They finish at 3.292 million, blowing past the city record 3.055 million fans the Mets drew in 1988.
Outgoing Mayor Rudy Giuliani is still working hard to get support for a new stadium in the Bronx, and now New York Congressman Charlie Rangel is seeking federal funding to improve the surrounding neighborhood. On September 18, the NBA approves the YankeeNets deal, a partnership some Wall Street analysts predict will generate $600 million in revenue in its first year, then grow from there.
In a season where the home run is again king—both McGwire (65) and Sosa (63) again surpass 60, and 11 other players hit at least 40—no Yankee hit more than 28. Still, the team finishes third in the AL in scoring and batting average. And for all the complaints about Steinbrenner’s wild spending, the backbone of this team is homegrown. It’s future first-ballot Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera who make the Yankees special.
This is the season Jeter establishes himself as one of the game’s very best players, hitting .349 (second in the AL), belting 24 home runs, and driving in 102, all career highs. He now has 807 hits in his four-year career, a figure surpassed at the same stage by only Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, and Pete Rose. His defense is once again superb, and his trademark jump throw from deep in the hole is a SportsCenter staple.
Rivera is the sport’s biggest game changer. His control is impeccable and his cut fastball is the game’s most devastating pitch. Rivera’s 45 saves are the most in the majors, and he hasn’t allowed a run—earned or unearned—since July 21, a stretch covering 28 games and 30.2 innings.
Defending batting champ Bernie Williams hits .342, trailing only Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra (.357) and Jeter, and wins his third straight Gold Glove in center field. Jeter’s best friend Jorge Posada wins the starting catcher’s job from Joe Girardi and hits .285 after the All-Star break. And Pettitte shakes off his poor first half and anchors the pitching staff down the stretch, winning seven games with a tidy 3.46 ERA. But for Pettitte’s brief stay in Houston in the mid-2000s, these five players are and will remain the heart of this franchise for most of the decade to come.
The Yankees brush aside the power-hitting Rangers in three games in the opening round of the postseason, then make quick work of the Red Sox, sending their archrivals home in five. The only bump in the road comes in Boston, where the Red Sox shell Clemens for five runs on five hits in just two innings of Game 3 at Fenway. Clemens starts the 3rd by allowing a hard single to Mike Stanley. And after he throws one ball to Brian Daubach, Torre pops out of the dugout, grabs each of Clemens’ arms, and tells the pitcher he’s pulling him now to save him for his next start.
Clearly rattled, Clemens strides off the field and quickly leaves the Yankees dugout. The crowd is chanting “Where’s Roger?” while Cashman searches for the veteran pitcher, finding him in the visiting manager’s office.
“Everything all right?” Cashman asks.
“Cash, I just want you to reconsider if you can please bring in Brian McNamee,” Clemens blurts out. It was Cashman who rejected Clemens’ request to hire McNamee when Roger came over to the Yankees. Cashman remembered McNamee from his time as the Yankees bullpen catcher in 1995 and thought he was trouble. But Clemens formed a strong bond with the trainer in Toronto and is desperate to bring him to New York.
“He knows how to train me,” Clemens tells Cashman. “He’s the one who can get me motivated.”
“Okay, Roger,” Cashman says. “I’ll talk to George about it.” Which Cashman does soon after the Red Sox finish thumping the Yankees, 13–1. “Do whatever he wants,” the Boss says. McNamee will be back in a Yankees uniform come February.
The Yankees celebrate their third trip to the World Series in four years in Fenway’s cramped visitors clubhouse after Orlando Hernandez’s dominant start in Game 5. Players are posing for pictures and spraying Champagne while Steinbrenner holds court in the center of the room, repeatedly praising the team’s heart. His young GM sips a beer while standing off to the side, gratified this team is as good as he thought it could be, and thinking about what a bastard the Boss has been all year. The Mariners have put out feelers to Cashman, but he has two years left on his contract and knows George would never let him go. Besides, he doesn’t want to leave, no matter how badly Steinbrenner treats him. It’s clear now that Cashman has a love-hate relationship with the man who’s tormented him for months on end. He knows no other owner would have made him GM at 30, or given him the resources to build this powerful roster.
All things considered, Cashman believes the abuse is worth the reward—though often just barely.
The Braves beat the Mets the next day for the NL title, and instead of a Subway Series, talk centers on the meeting between the decade’s two most dominant teams. The Braves have only one World Series title, but own eight division titles to the Yankees’ three and finished the ’90s with 925 wins, far ahead of New York’s 851.
Once the World Series starts, though, there’s little doubt which is the better team. The Yankees win the first two games in Atlanta handily, holding the Braves to seven hits and three runs while striking out 17. Trailing 5–1 in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch, and Chad Curtis all hit home runs to send the game to extra innings, and Curtis hits another homer in the 10th for the win.
The only remaining suspense centers around Clemens and whether he can earn his first ring with a good performance in Game 4. It’s not vintage Rocket, but Clemens turns in 7⅔ strong innings. The Yanks tag John Smoltz for three runs in the 3rd and Rivera sets down the heart of the Braves lineup in order for the final four outs. When Curtis squeezes Keith Lockhart’s lazy fly ball in left, the Yankees have a 4–1 win and their 25th World Championship.
“I finally know what it feels like to be a Yankee,” says Clemens just before a bottle of Champagne is emptied over his head.
“No one can ever say you didn’t win a championship again,” Steinbrenner tells Clemens, hugging the pitcher but somehow coming away without any of the bubbly soaking his blue blazer, white turtleneck, and gray slacks. George has rarely been as euphoric, hugging Bud Selig after the trophy presentation—“Great Commissioner!” he says—slapping his players on the back, making sure not to lose track of well-wishers Billy Crystal and Spike Lee.
Giuliani has already announced the city will honor the team with another parade down the Canyon of Heroes on October 29. By then, Steinbrenner expects to have a deal done with his friend Harvey Schiller, the head of Turner Sports, making Schiller the first chairman and CEO of YankeeNets. He’s also talking to another friend, Rudy’s Deputy Mayor Randy Levine, about becoming president of his team.
The Yankees have left little doubt that they are baseball’s best team of the ’90s. Now George has the chance to build something even bigger for the 21st century.