Steinbrenner Pats Self On Back For Yankees’ Success
A pumped-up George Steinbrenner was off to the Olympics on Wednesday, waving the “V” sign - not for victory, but for vindication.
“If you’re asking me if I feel a sense of vindication, I’d have to say yes,” Steinbrenner said. “Never in my farthest imagination could I have predicted the way we’ve played, considering all the injuries we’ve had. Nor could I imagine the positive things being said about me by some of my severest critics.”
It was indeed a positively ebullient Boss speaking by phone to the Daily News about his runaway A.L. East-leading Yankees, a Yankees team that he personally retooled, starting with replacing Buck Showalter as manager with Joe Torre.
The Torre-for-Showalter switch, as well as the jettisoning of Randy Velarde, Mike Stanley and Darryl Strawberry last winter, made for open season on Steinbrenner.
But now all those moves that seemed to have no rhyme or reason at the time have turned out to be all the right moves.
All of which gives Steinbrenner the right to tweak those critics who lambasted him for tearing apart Buck’s team.
“All I know is (ESPN baseball commentator) Peter Gammons said it was going to take the Yankees 10 years to recover from our reorganization last winter; from the moves we made with Showalter, Stanley, etc.,” Steinbrenner said.
“Well, I like Peter, but I’d have to say it’s been a very short 10 years.”
In doling out praise for the Yankees’ success, Steinbrenner didn’t know where to start, so he took to scatter-shooting.
“I’m just so pleased for Joe Torre,” he said. “He never had the players before. How about (Tuesday) night when he goes into Boston against Clemens and starts (Andy) Fox at third and the other kid (David) Howard at second.
“Three-fourths of our infield were babies and still we win. There’s something wrong here! The Good Lord is looking over us.
“What I like most about Torre is what you see is what you get. He’s a straight shooter. It was important, too, that we got him (Don) Zimmer.
“Zimmer’s a great baseball man. He was the guy who pushed us to get (Joe) Girardi. I miss Stanley - I was sorry we couldn’t keep him - but look at the job Girardi’s done for us. Is there a catcher in the league who can run like him?”
Steinbrenner also went out of his way to credit bullpen coach Tony Cloninger, who, he said, was under the most pressure of all his minions to produce this year.
“Tony will tell you of a conversation I had with him this spring,” Steinbrenner said. “I told him: ‘Tony, I like you and you’ll always be one of my guys, but what happened with our bullpen last year can’t happen again. You’re on the bubble.’ Well, I can’t be happier for the job he’s done with our relievers. They’ve carried us.”
As for Strawberry, who has suddenly begun to carry the offense, Steinbrenner confirmed that it was his decision to bring the exiled slugger back to the Bronx. When it became apparent the Yankees had a power void in the middle of their order, Steinbrenner made his move.
“I told Joe and (GM) Bob Watson I wanted Darryl,” Steinbrenner said. “I talked to my drug people, and they told me it’s always a risk, but like with Doc (Gooden), Darryl has hit the bottom and he knows he’ll never get another chance.”