Core Four: The Heart and Soul of the Yankees Dynasty

by Phil Pepe

  “He was so supportive,” Pettitte recalled. “He told me I had to announce it and that I should. He said he thought it would make [Mariano Rivera Day] even better. To hear him say that, and to feel that way about it, I feel like we’re connected.”

  Mariano Rivera Day at Yankee Stadium on September 22 became something of a dual celebration, but truly it was mostly Mariano’s day, and Pettitte’s involvement detracted from Rivera not one bit.

  As fortune would have it, Pettitte started the game for the Yankees against the San Francisco Giants.

  “I think he did the right thing, announcing his retirement and pitching in front of his fans,” said a magnanimous Rivera. “That’s the right way to do it.”

  Pettitte not only pitched, he excelled in a valiant effort to hold off the inevitable; the Yankees were sinking fast into an abyss of uncommon failure, inching toward elimination from contention for a postseason spot as an American League wild-card entrant. Pettitte did what he could to delay the inevitable, holding the Giants hitless through five and a third innings and to two hits through seven innings. “At this point, at this stage [at age 41, he was the oldest starting pitcher in the major leagues], I didn’t think my body would allow me to pitch nine innings,” he would say after the game. He left with the score tied 1–1 after giving up a leadoff double to Pablo Sandoval in the eighth and was tagged with the 2–1 loss when Sandoval scored.

  Even in defeat, manager Joe Girardi heaped praise on his veteran warrior.

  “One of the fiercest competitors that I’ve ever been around,” said Girardi. “A man who got as much out of his talent as you could humanly possibly get. And that’s the ultimate compliment for an athlete; a tremendous teammate!”

  The Yankees were officially eliminated from pennant contention three days later (only the second time in the 19-year career of Mariano Rivera that the Yankees did not advance to the postseason), but Pettitte was not done yet. The season would conclude for the Yankees with three games in Houston, and Pettitte would pitch the second game of the series, on a Saturday night, in a ballpark 20 miles from his hometown of Deer Park, Texas.

  Pettitte breezed through three scoreless innings, then gave up a run in the fourth on a single and two infield outs. But the Yankees scored two in the sixth to give him a 2–1 lead and Pettitte protected the lead through a hitless sixth and seventh innings while facing only seven batters.

  He had completed seven innings, and he was entering unfamiliar territory. He hadn’t pitched a complete game since 2006, when he was with the Astros, and hadn’t pitched one for the Yankees in 10 years, but he was fueled by adrenaline, by emotion, and by the positive energy from more than 50 friends and family in attendance, including his mom and dad, his wife, and his four children.

  He retired the Astros in order in the eighth, two by strikeouts.

  In the ninth, he got the first two batters on fly balls to right field, yielded a single to left and then, with his 116th pitch, got J.D. Martinez to hit a ground ball to third baseman Eduardo Nunez, who fired across the diamond to Lyle Overbay and the game was over. So, too, was Andy Pettitte’s magnificent career.

  He had evened his record for the season at 11–11, ending his career never having had a losing record in 18 major league seasons.

  He finished his career with 256 victories, 42nd all-time, and with 2,448 strikeouts, 36th all-time. As a Yankee, he won 219 games, third all-time behind Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Red Ruffing, and struck out 2,020 batters, the most for a Yankees pitcher.

  Now Andy Pettitte could go into retirement in peace.

  For two decades, Derek Jeter lived a charmed life, first-round pick by the New York Yankees in the 1992 major league amateur draft, American League Rookie of the Year in 1996, 13-time All-Star, possessor of five World Series rings, certain electee to the Baseball Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible, idol of millions, wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, escort to a bevy of the world’s most beautiful women, intimate of some of the most famous, most powerful, most envied, and most influential people in the world.

  And then it was 2013.

  Derek Jeter, who had averaged 151 games a season for the previous 17 years, played in 17 games; who had accumulated 2,992 career hits, had only 12; who had hit 255 major league home runs, hit one; who had averaged 73 RBI a season, drove in seven; who had scored 1,863 runs, scored eight; who had compiled a career batting average of .313, batted .190.

  For someone who never admitted he was hurting, who brushed off injuries and took pride in playing every day, even when he was hurt, who hated sitting and watching, hated not competing, not contributing, the season was “a nightmare.”

  On September 11, with the Yankees in third place in the American League East, 10½ games out of first but still not mathematically eliminated from making the playoffs, Jeter had no choice but to give in to the inevitable. He was going on the disabled list for the fourth time. His season was over. In his absence, the Yankees would use seven shortstops, from Reid Brignac to Brendan Ryan.

  “It’s very disappointing not to be able to play, especially this time of year,” he said. “This is when I want to play the most. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The entire year has been pretty much a nightmare for me physically, so I guess it’s fitting that it ends like this.”

  The nightmare actually began the previous year, October 13, 2012, in Yankee Stadium, when he fractured his left ankle while fielding a ground ball in the 12th inning of the first game of the American League Championship Series against Detroit and was writhing in pain in the dirt around second base. One week later he underwent surgery on the ankle and vowed to be ready for the following season opener. He went to work conscientiously to achieve that goal.

  But two weeks before the start of the season, he was scratched from starting an exhibition game in Clearwater, Florida, because of stiffness in his left ankle. On April 18, it was discovered he had a new small fracture of the surgically repaired left ankle and was put on the disabled list. He would make his first start of the season on July 11 against the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium in the Yankees’ 92nd game of the season.

  Batting second as the designated hitter, Jeter would get an infield single on a weak ground ball to third base in his first at-bat. Later he would ground out weakly to second base, shortstop, and third base, but strained his right quad running the bases and was placed on the disabled list a second time.

  He returned to the lineup on July 28 and, in typical dramatic fashion, Jeter hit a home run in his first at-bat against Tampa Bay Rays young lefthander Matt Moore.

  “He’s a movie,” said Joe Girardi.

  Jeter later singled and grounded out twice in a 6–5 Yankees victory. He would play four games on his comeback before being put back on the disabled list with a strained right calf.

  This time, he would miss almost a month, returning to the lineup on August 11 in Toronto. On September 7, he singled in the sixth inning against the Red Sox, the 3,316th hit of his career, moving him past Eddie Collins for 10th (and only three behind Paul Molitor for ninth, 103 behind Carl Yastrzemski for eighth, and 104 behind Honus Wagner for seventh) on the all-time list. But Joe Girardi didn’t like the way Jeter ran to first and removed him from the game.

  “You feel horrible for him,” said Andy Pettitte. “You know how bad he wants to be out there. For him to come out of a game, he was hurt, so it wasn’t surprising. I hate it. I hate it for him!”

  Four days later, Jeter was placed on the disabled list for the fourth time and acknowledged in talks with the local media that his season was over.

  What next?

  “I’ll grab some pom-poms and root for my teammates,” Jeter said. “I’ve had pom-poms for a lot of this season already. You just try to help out as much as you can, in any way that you can. Root for your teammates. My teammates have rooted for me enough over the years. Now it’s my turn.”

 
Had he reached the end of an illustrious career?

  “There’s a lot of end talk here, man,” he said, bristling slightly at the innuendos. “Do you guys want this to be the end for me? It seems that’s what everyone is asking. Have I thought about it? No. I don’t think about the end of anything. I’ve tried to come back this year as quickly as possible every time I came back and looking back maybe that wasn’t the best thing to do. But my job now is to get ready for next year and I’ll do that.”

  As the season played itself out with Jeter in the unaccustomed role of cheerleader, the major question was about 2014.

  There was a $9.5 million option (Jeter’s) that would bring him back for 2014, but in what role?

  Jeter faced an uncertain future. Would he return? Would he be able to get back to his physical peak? Would he be able to play shortstop? Would he have to swallow his enormous pride, move over to make room for a younger player and switch to another position?

  With six months to rehabilitate his injuries before the start of spring training, and all of spring training to hone his skills, Jeter was optimistic about the future.

  “There is no doubt in my mind that I will be back to where I was,” he said. “I’m not thinking about getting hurt again. It sounds kind of funny saying it now considering how many times I’ve been hurt, but I truly believe with a full off-season of working out and getting my strength back that I’ll get back to doing what I’ve always done.”

  “There are no guarantees,” said Joe Girardi, “but I will never doubt Derek because of who he is. If he believes he can get back, I believe him. That’s the bottom line.”

  “I have not watched his last game,” said Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman. “Nobody has.”

  Still, the hard, cold facts, the undeniable truth, is in Jeter’s age. He will be 40 years old before the 2014 season is half over and we are reminded that there have been only three shortstops that played at least 100 games at the age of 40 or older and they hardly played up to their previous productivity.

  But none of the three was named Derek Sanderson Jeter.

  Photo Gallery

  Derek Jeter on the dugout steps of Yankee Stadium on September 14, 1994, after he was named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year. (AP Images)

  Rookie Andy Pettitte pitches against the Detroit Tigers in September 1995.

  Mariano Rivera in 1996, the year in which he would record his first major league save.

  Jorge Posada has a mound meeting with veteran pitcher David Wells during a May game in 1997, Jorge’s rookie season.

  Andy Pettitte celebrates with the World Series trophy after the Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves four games to two in the 1996 Fall Classic. (AP Images)

  Mariano Rivera and the Yankees celebrate after the final out of their four-game sweep over the San Diego Padres in the 1998 World Series.

  Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Scott Brosius meet at the mound to celebrate sweeping the Atlanta Braves to win the 1999 World Series.

  Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte talk strategy during the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2000 “Subway Series” against the Mets, which the Yankees would go on to win in five games. (AP Images)

  Derek Jeter raises a fist to the sky after hitting a game-winning homer in the bottom of the 10th inning off of Byung-Hyun Kim in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

  In 2003, the Core Four made their sixth trip to the Fall Classic (the 39th time the Yankees appeared in the World Series), but lost to the Florida Marlins. Pettitte would leave the following year for Houston.

  By 2007, the Core Four were back together. Here Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada prepare to address the media during 2009 spring training. (AP Images)

  The Yankees and their fans celebrate as Mariano Rivera hugs Jeter following Jeter’s 2,772nd hit, which passed Lou Gehrig for the most ever by a Yankee.

  Mariano Rivera looks on smiling as manager Joe Girardi presents Rivera’s youngest son, Jaziel, with a gift in honor of Mariano’s 500th career save. (AP Images)

  Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera celebrate with the Commissioner’s Trophy after winning the 2009 World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies.

  Derek Jeter is mobbed by Yankees (including Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada) upon collecting his 3,000th career hit, a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, July 9, 2011. (AP Images)

  At Jorge Posada’s retirement press conference on January 24, 2012; he is flanked by fellow members of the Core Four, Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter. The three stand before the five World Series trophies they won as Yankee teammates. (AP Images)

  Following Posada’s retirement and Rivera’s season-ending knee injury, it fell to the 38-year-old Jeter and the 40-year-old Pettitte to drive the Yankees to the postseason once more. They finished the 2012 season with the best record in the AL.

  —

  Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Phil Pepe

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Triumph Books LLC, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610.

  The Library of Congress has catalogued the earlier edition as follows:

  Pepe, Phil.

  Core four : the heart and soul of the Yankees dynasty / Phil Pepe.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-1-60078-811-6

  1. New York Yankees (Baseball team)—History. 2. Baseball players— New York (State)—History. I. Title.

  GV875.N4P525 2013

  796.357'64097471—dc23

  2012051207

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