GaryMrMets
12-24-2005, 11:10 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/story/377337p-320565c.html
Damon and N.Y.
a shorn thing
Arrives clear-cut for center stage
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Joe Torre had just landed at Newark. The flight back from Italy was long and the Yankee manager was tired. As he went through the process of officially reentering the country on Wednesday afternoon, however, his mood quickly brightened.
"I got off the plane and the customs official said to me, 'You got your center fielder,'" Torre recalled yesterday. "It sounded like it was something you'd believe. So I called (GM Brian Cashman) right away."
Cashman happily reported the news that finally became official yesterday at the Stadium when Johnny Damon slipped on a pinstriped No.18 jersey and put a Yankee cap atop his newly clipped hair. As cameras flashed furiously, Damon grinned and stroked his suddenly smooth chin.
"First of all, what do you guys think?" he said. Moments later, still smiling, he graciously told the horde of photographers, "Obviously keep on snapping away."
That moment symbolized a point that Damon and Yankee officials both made several times throughout the course of the afternoon: New York seems perfect for this 32-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder who was born in Fort Riley, Kan., but is far from a small-town guy. He revels in the spotlight, is almost always accommodating with the media and does not figure to be intimidated.
"He looks like a Yankee, he sounds like a Yankee and he is a Yankee," George Steinbrenner said in a statement.
Damon is supposed to be the next great Yankee center fielder, a position that has - for many of the Yankees' greatest years - been occupied by legends.
"If you're going to pick somebody, I don't think you could have picked a better person to follow Bernie Williams than Johnny Damon," Torre said.
That was the overriding sentiment within the organization at the beginning of the offseason, but few - if any - Yankeee officials actually thought Damon would leave Boston. He was the face of the Red Sox, the clubhouse leader of the so-called "Idiots" who finally lifted the Curse of the Bambino.
He was revered and, with his bushy beard and long mane, the nickname "Jesus" didn't even seem so ridiculous. It wasn't long before the WWJDD T-shirts began appearing ("What Would Johnny Damon Do?") and Damon was the type of star who appealed to everyone - women swooned over his looks, men cheered him for his grittiness and durability.
Earlier this year he was quoted as saying there was no way he would come to the Yankees, and the Sox fans loved him for it. He and his wife, Michelle, were living in a warm cocoon of attention and adulation, so when he was asked yesterday if he would have believed it if someone told him a year ago that he would be a Yankee now, his response was not surprising.
"I wouldn't think it was possible," he said.
But it was. As always, money was a contributing factor but in this instance, Damon said, it was more about what the money symbolized. A few weeks after the World Series, according to Damon's agent, Scott Boras, Boston made its first proposal to bring Damon back and that was when he knew he likely would be going elsewhere.
The offer was for three years and $27 million - barely a raise over the $8.25 million Damon earned in 2005. Damon was stunned. He thought he was a top priority as one of the premier free agents.
"I realized that the organization did not hold me at that level," he said. "It definitely made me feel like I was going to be on a different team."
The Yankees had taken a more passive approach, telling Boras they were only willing to negotiate if the demands diminished from a six- or seven-year deal to one for three or four seasons. Once that happened, the Bombers got very aggressive; Torre called Damon and so did Alex Rodriguez, good friend Jason Giambi and Cashman, too. The four-year, $52 million pact came together quickly, leaving Boston officials scrambling.
Damon was the latest to join the exodus from Beantown; GM Theo Epstein, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Edgar Renteria are gone and Manny Ramirez could be next. "(The fans) don't really deserve it, but that team is dismantling," Damon said.
Now he is trying to build a strong relationship with the Yankee fan base and the team already has made up a first T-shirt for Damon: On the front, it says, "Welcome to New York Johnny," while on the back it reads, "No hair, no beard, no problem."
Originally published on December 24, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/843-damon_yankeestadium.JPG
Ex-Red Sox star Johnny Damon gets to enjoy view from the other dugout at Stadium yesterday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/726-damon_torre_cashman.JPG
Johnny Damon, posing with Joe Torre and Brian Cashman, embraces role as Yanks' center fielder.
Damon and N.Y.
a shorn thing
Arrives clear-cut for center stage
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Joe Torre had just landed at Newark. The flight back from Italy was long and the Yankee manager was tired. As he went through the process of officially reentering the country on Wednesday afternoon, however, his mood quickly brightened.
"I got off the plane and the customs official said to me, 'You got your center fielder,'" Torre recalled yesterday. "It sounded like it was something you'd believe. So I called (GM Brian Cashman) right away."
Cashman happily reported the news that finally became official yesterday at the Stadium when Johnny Damon slipped on a pinstriped No.18 jersey and put a Yankee cap atop his newly clipped hair. As cameras flashed furiously, Damon grinned and stroked his suddenly smooth chin.
"First of all, what do you guys think?" he said. Moments later, still smiling, he graciously told the horde of photographers, "Obviously keep on snapping away."
That moment symbolized a point that Damon and Yankee officials both made several times throughout the course of the afternoon: New York seems perfect for this 32-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder who was born in Fort Riley, Kan., but is far from a small-town guy. He revels in the spotlight, is almost always accommodating with the media and does not figure to be intimidated.
"He looks like a Yankee, he sounds like a Yankee and he is a Yankee," George Steinbrenner said in a statement.
Damon is supposed to be the next great Yankee center fielder, a position that has - for many of the Yankees' greatest years - been occupied by legends.
"If you're going to pick somebody, I don't think you could have picked a better person to follow Bernie Williams than Johnny Damon," Torre said.
That was the overriding sentiment within the organization at the beginning of the offseason, but few - if any - Yankeee officials actually thought Damon would leave Boston. He was the face of the Red Sox, the clubhouse leader of the so-called "Idiots" who finally lifted the Curse of the Bambino.
He was revered and, with his bushy beard and long mane, the nickname "Jesus" didn't even seem so ridiculous. It wasn't long before the WWJDD T-shirts began appearing ("What Would Johnny Damon Do?") and Damon was the type of star who appealed to everyone - women swooned over his looks, men cheered him for his grittiness and durability.
Earlier this year he was quoted as saying there was no way he would come to the Yankees, and the Sox fans loved him for it. He and his wife, Michelle, were living in a warm cocoon of attention and adulation, so when he was asked yesterday if he would have believed it if someone told him a year ago that he would be a Yankee now, his response was not surprising.
"I wouldn't think it was possible," he said.
But it was. As always, money was a contributing factor but in this instance, Damon said, it was more about what the money symbolized. A few weeks after the World Series, according to Damon's agent, Scott Boras, Boston made its first proposal to bring Damon back and that was when he knew he likely would be going elsewhere.
The offer was for three years and $27 million - barely a raise over the $8.25 million Damon earned in 2005. Damon was stunned. He thought he was a top priority as one of the premier free agents.
"I realized that the organization did not hold me at that level," he said. "It definitely made me feel like I was going to be on a different team."
The Yankees had taken a more passive approach, telling Boras they were only willing to negotiate if the demands diminished from a six- or seven-year deal to one for three or four seasons. Once that happened, the Bombers got very aggressive; Torre called Damon and so did Alex Rodriguez, good friend Jason Giambi and Cashman, too. The four-year, $52 million pact came together quickly, leaving Boston officials scrambling.
Damon was the latest to join the exodus from Beantown; GM Theo Epstein, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, Edgar Renteria are gone and Manny Ramirez could be next. "(The fans) don't really deserve it, but that team is dismantling," Damon said.
Now he is trying to build a strong relationship with the Yankee fan base and the team already has made up a first T-shirt for Damon: On the front, it says, "Welcome to New York Johnny," while on the back it reads, "No hair, no beard, no problem."
Originally published on December 24, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/843-damon_yankeestadium.JPG
Ex-Red Sox star Johnny Damon gets to enjoy view from the other dugout at Stadium yesterday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/726-damon_torre_cashman.JPG
Johnny Damon, posing with Joe Torre and Brian Cashman, embraces role as Yanks' center fielder.