Bernie Williams was watching some little-known minor leaguers shagging fly balls in Tampa, Florida, last year when Gordon Blakeley, the Yankees' senior vice president of player personnel, told him to study one specific player. Melky Cabrera was short and stocky, but he played center field smoothly.
"He's going to take your job someday," Blakeley told Williams.
As Williams recalled the conversation on Thursday, he smiled at Blakeley's prophetic statement, then added, "I didn't think he meant it was going to be this year."
It is this year. It is now. The Cabrera Era, if there proves to be such a thing, began with the 20-year-old player initially shying away from reporters, wearing No. 39, batting ninth and playing one of the most hallowed positions in all of sports: center field at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees made a surprising choice when they promoted Cabrera after he had played nine games at Triple-A Columbus and then immediately made him a starter. If Cabrera plays dependable defense and provides enough offense so he does not embarrass himself, he could become entrenched.
"They told me I've come to play," said Cabrera, a Dominican, whose career had a nifty start with Mariano Rivera, a likely Hall of Famer, acting as his pre-game interpreter.
Cabrera had a modest yet promising debut while the Yankees silenced the Cleveland Indians, 7-2. He blooped a single to left in one of his four at-bats, showed a powerful arm and pleased manager Joe Torre by being aggressive in calling off second baseman Robinson Cano to corral a shallow fly ball.
After Cabrera's 180-foot single against Kevin Millwood in the fourth, Cabrera tapped his chest, pointed a finger to the sky and smiled. Most of the 52,201 fans gave the newest Yankee a standing ovation.
"I felt relaxed," said Cabrera, whose remarks were interpreted by Luigi Castillo, a clubhouse attendant. "I felt under control."
As the 36-year-old Williams watched Cabrera's indoctrination, he naturally flashed back to his debut on July 7, 1991, exactly 14 years to the day of Cabrera's debut.
"That's me 14 years ago," Williams said. "If he can handle it and has the talent, he can have a great career. He can be here 14 years."
Who would have thought the US$200 million Yankees would wind up starting a 20-year-old in center and a 22-year-old at second in Cano, and have a 25-year old in the starting rotation in Chien-Ming Wang, all before the All-Star Game break? Torre called the infusion of youth refreshing.
"Starting the season, there was no chance any of this was going to happen," Torre said.
Yet it has happened, by necessity, because the Yankees have been sluggish for too long. General manager Brian Cashman surveyed the market for available outfielders to improve the team defensively and asked about Oakland's Mark Kotsay, Seattle's Randy Winn, Florida's Juan Encarnacion and the Mets' Mike Cameron.
But Cashman said teams were either holding onto their outfielders or were requesting what he called astronomical prices, so, after debating the move for two weeks, the Yankees summoned Cabrera.
Cabrera hit .267 with 9 homers and 44 runs batted in during 75 games for Double-A Trenton. He was promoted to Columbus on June 28, although the Yankees considered jumping him to the major leagues then, and he batted .324 with three homers and 11 RBI.
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