Yanks sign Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal will get to “look mahvelous” in pinstripes.
The actor will sign a one-day, minor league contract with the New York Yankees and play in Thursday’s exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Crystal, an avid Yankees fan, will work out with the team today and will wear uniform No. 60 for the game – to be played one day before his 60th birthday. The Yankees said Monday they have the approval of baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
“I’ve been waiting 50 years for this call,” Crystal said in a statement released by the team. “I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of the Yankees and commissioner Selig. I know this’ll be tougher than the Broadway Softball League, but I’m looking forward to helping the younger players, which by the way is all of them. Oops, I have to go, Scott Boras is on the phone.”
Crystal, according to the Yankees, hit .348 and was captain during his senior year at Long Beach High School in New York. He directed and produced “61*,” a move about Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and the 1961 Yankees.
White Sox top Mariners
Jim Thome and Paul Konerko hit consecutive home runs off Erik Bedard. The new Seattle starter wasn’t worried, since it was just spring training.
“I had one bad inning and then put up zeros after that,” Bedard said after the Mariners’ 9-8 loss to the Chicago White Sox in Tucson, Ariz.
Acquired from Baltimore on Feb. 8, Bedard allowed four runs and five hits in the first inning as he prepared for his opening-day start against Texas on March 31. He followed by allowing three hits in three scoreless innings.
“Now if I do bad the rest of the spring, that would be different,” Bedard said.
Mark Buehrle, Chicago’s opening-day starter at Cleveland, gave up his first runs of spring training, allowing three runs and six hits in four innings. He got help when teammates turned two double plays.
Wladimir Balentien had a pair of doubles against Buehrle and finished going 4 for 5. Buehrle had entered with six scoreless innings.
Chicago’s Nick Swisher hit a winning single in the ninth after the Mariners scored five runs in the top half. Swisher was 3 for 5 with a triple.
Johnson makes return
Pitching in a game for the first time since June, Randy Johnson lasted 1 1/3 innings during Arizona’s 10-9 victory over the N.L. champion Colorado Rockies at Tucson, Ariz.
The 44-year-old left-hander gave up three runs and four hits, including a three-run homer by Chris Iannetta. He walked one and struck out one.
“I’ve got a long ways to go, but I’m just happy to be able to get out there and pitch pain-free,” Johnson said. “Comparing today to the last time I pitched at Chase (Field), it’s night and day. So I’m happy about that. The results will come as I pitch more.”
Clearing the bases
Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa returned to the starting lineup, 1 1/2 weeks after a procedure in Chicago to correct an irregular heartbeat. … Rangers’ starter Brandon McCarthy likely will start the season on the D.L. because of inflammation in his forearm.