Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Captain’ Jeter gains elite status

Timetable of the Yankees' captains

Hal Chase 1912

Roger Peckinpah 1914-21

Babe Ruth May 20, 1922-May 25, 1922

Everett Scott 1922-25

Lou Gehrig April 21,1935-June 2, 1941

Thurman Munson April 17, 1976-Aug. 2, 1979

Graig Nettles Jan. 29, 1982-March 30, 1984

Willie Randolph March 4, 1986-Oct. 2, 1989

Ron Guidry March 4, 1986-July 12, 1989

Don Mattingly Feb. 28, 1991-1995

Derek Jeter June 3, 2003-current

Neither Joe DiMaggio nor Reggie Jackson was one. Yogi Berra, who played in more World Series, 14, than anyone, didn't make the grade, either. Willie Randolph and Ron Guidry served simultaneously.

The absence of one hadn't affected them too much, as they played in five World Series, winning four, since 1996.

Yankees captain.

It is one of the most revered roles in sports, if not the most difficult to obtain. Nearly 35 years elapsed between captains, between 1941 and '76. There was only one, Don Mattingly, in the 1990s.

Since Mattingly retired in '95, owner George Steinbrenner, the only person who can pick a team captain, hadn't been compelled to select one.

Until last Tuesday, when he named Derek Jeter as the Yankees' 11th captain. Jeter, who turns 29 in a couple of weeks, was a rookie in 1996.

The player who calls his immediate boss "Mr. Torre" said it is an honor that is not "thrown around lightly" by the organization, and that he understood the responsibility to Yankees fans, to the media, to his teammates and to the entire club.

In the third season of a 10-year, $189-million contract, Jeter will not wear a "C" on his jersey.

The Boss said it was time, that Jeter had displayed class and character over his career that befit the title, and that the team needs a rudder like him right now.

New York started 23-6. With their defeat to the Cubs in Wrigley Field on Sunday, the Yankees dropped to 35-27, half a game behind Boston and only two in front of Toronto.

"It was something in the pit of my stomach that said that this was the time," Steinbrenner said in a phone interview with the New York Daily News and other media members. "I also wanted to give the team a message to calm down. I wanted to throw something out there to get their minds on something else."

The timing of the announcement, before the start of a series in Cincinnati, intrigued more than a few people. Yankees manager Joe Torre found out from general manager Brian Cashman.

Once again, Steinbrenner showed in no uncertain terms whose team this is -- his.

He signed Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras for $32 million in the offseason, and the handling of the hurler has been a point of contention between Steinbrenner and Torre.

Steinbrenner has talked with Torre only once since the Contreras controversy in April, when he was sent to Florida for some fine-tuning. Contreras has since returned to the Yankees and been given Jeff Weaver's spot in the rotation.

Steinbrenner recently has been critical of Torre's coaches, especially hitting coach Rick Down, in Newsday.

(Steinbrenner fired Down after the '95 season.)

And if the appointment of Jeter to captain was so important, why didn't Steinbrenner attend the proceedings in person? He sent his son, Hal, and son-in-law, Steve Swindal, both team general partners.

Steinbrenner seems to relish drama, but he also has a keen sense of humor. He has parodied himself on "Saturday Night Live," and the conga-line commercial he cut with Jeter, in the wake of his offseason allegation of Jeter's carousing, is hilarious.

When it comes to his team, the checkbook is rarely an issue. He does what it takes to field a winner. Despise or adore him, Steinbrenner calls the shots on baseball's most famous team.

And he called a winner by promoting Jeter to such hallowed status last week.

Friday, the New York-based YES Network provided the feed, and we took advantage of the leather recliners in the front row of the big screens at ESPN Zone in New York-New York.

Saturday, the afternoon game was the Game of the Week on Fox. Sunday, ESPN showed the night game. The front seat for both of those was the form-fitted couch in the bungalow.

Shame the networks' self-promotion and commercialization, and giddy and goofy announcers, if you like, but those are minor inconveniences when every game of such a classic matchup is shown live.

Reds manager Bob Boone had openly pondered such a move during spring training, and he executed it June 1 in Miami. Dunn went 0-for-4 in six trips to the plate in that game, a 9-6 victory for the Reds.

Felipe Lopez (.219) hadn't been getting the job done in the top spot of the batting order, and neither had other Reds. Also, Boone, noting Dunn's frustration, wanted to get Dunn as many at-bats as possible, in order to help him break out of his slide.

In seven games hitting No. 1, Dunn is 4-for-24, with two solo homers and six runs scored. Cincinnati went 4-3, falling victim to the performance of Toronto starter Kelvim Escobar's life (a four-hitter, walking one and striking out eight) Sunday.

Pete Rose had to buy his way in, with a $225 ticket behind home plate. He spent time in a private box during a rain delay, and his presence was not announced to the crowd.

Yes, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound right-handed reliever is related to Leo Durocher.

"The Lip" played for four teams from 1925-45, and managed the Brooklyn Dodgers (1939-46), New York Giants ('48-55), Chicago Cubs ('66-72) and Houston Astros ('72-73). Jayson Durocher's grandfather was a cousin of Leo's.

Leo Durocher died, at the age of 86, in 1991.

Jayson Durocher, 28, is 2-0, although he owns an 11.57 earned-run average over the 4 2/3 innings he has logged this season. He had a 1.88 ERA and 1-1 record in 39 games a year ago, striking out 44 in 48 innings.

His ERA ballooned Saturday when, with two outs in the sixth inning at home against Boston, he allowed a hit and two walks. Inexplicably, he then sprinted off the mound into the dugout.

(His athletic supporter had snapped, so he needed a replacement ... it didn't help.)

Durocher returned to the hill, threw a pitch that Kevin Millar fouled off and then tried to sneak his No. 3 pitch, a slider, by Millar, who crushed it for a grand slam. Boston won the game, 11-10.

"It's an inexcusable mistake -- brutal," Durocher told MLB.com. "Those are the kind of mistakes you make in A-ball, not in the major leagues."

Durocher hit 97 mph on the gun last year, then required offseason arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow. He hit the low 90s on the radar Saturday.

"If he hits a fastball out of the park right there, I can live with that. But a slider right there? That's just awful," he said. "I have no idea why I threw that pitch. If you're not going to throw a pitch up here with conviction, especially with the bases loaded, that's your faul -- my fault.

"I made a stupid pitch and I paid for it. The whole team paid for it ... momentum jumped right on their side, (and) it's completely my fault."

The view here will be short and sweet. We are not that gullible to think that he just happened to get caught the very first time he ever attempted to pop one out of the yard with a doctored bat.

And, about that bat ... a study at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell baseball research center determined that there was only a 1 percent increase in the flight of a ball when smacked by a bat with a softened core.

"It's a dumb thing to do," Dr. Robert Adair, a retired Yale physics professor, told the Denver Post. "It does the batter no good, whatsoever, and it hurts your reputation when you do get caught. It's the worst of both worlds."

No doubt, Sammy has made the best of the situation, smiling widely and zipping out to his spot in right amid a sea of applause at Wrigley. Will the cabernet sauvignon-Sosa, with little Louisville Slugger corks, be ready for the next homestand in two weekends?

archive