With a shave and a haircut, Johnny Damon approached a lectern at Yankee Stadium on Friday and rubbed his naked chin for the cameras. If there were any remnants from his years with the Boston Red Sox, including his once-flowing locks, they were hard to find.
Damon wore a wedding ring, but not his 2004 World Series ring. He wore a No. 18 jersey, but now it had pinstripes.
"He looks like a Yankee, he sounds like a Yankee and he is a Yankee," George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, said in a statement issued by his publicist, Howard Rubenstein. "Welcome."
PHOTO: AP
So went Damon's introduction as the new center fielder, and his continuing transformation into a Yankees pinup from a Red Sox icon.
Three days after he and the Yankees agreed on a four-year, US$52 million contract, and a day after a stylist lopped off much of his hair, Damon said his individuality would remain as he began the newest phase of his career.
"I have to be Johnny Damon," he said. "The fun-loving, easygoing short-haired guy."
Hundreds of Yankees fans stood outside the stadium offices Friday, waiting to catch a glimpse of Damon while he toured the building he knows so well. Damon spent four seasons in Boston trying to ruin the Yankees' autumns.
In Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium, Damon hit two home runs, including a grand slam, on the way to the Red Sox' winning their first World Series since 1918.
He seemed destined to live out his playing days in Boston, where his long hair and his derring-do were omnipresent.
But Damon said his first inkling that things might end differently came after the Chicago White Sox eliminated Boston in their divisional series in October.
The Red Sox offered Damon, who was a free agent, a three-year, US$27 million deal, which was less than he expected.
"I didn't think the lack of interest from them would be there," said Damon, 32. Scott Boras, Damon's agent, said: "That offer put him in a position that was difficult. He was surprised. You can't find center fielders and you can't find leadoff hitters, and he creates a synergy with both qualities. Most players are either one or the other. To find a player with both is a rare breed."
The Red Sox later increased their offer to Damon to US$40 million over four years, but by then the Yankees, and others, were contenders to sign him.
Damon said he had already liked the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium, but he also appreciated the recruiting by General Manager Brian Cashman, manager Joe Torre and players like Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada.
"Alex called me and said `We're going to accomplish so many milestones together,'" Damon said. "When Brian Cashman comes after you and says, `You're a guy who can make this happen,' he did all of the right things. New York showed me exactly what they wanted. That's why I'm here."
Torre, who was in Florence, Italy, carrying the torch for the Turin Olympics last week, was among the last of the Yankees to learn that Damon was the new leadoff hitter. Torre still did not know when he landed at Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday, a day after Damon agreed to the deal.
"The first customs officer said, `You've got your center fielder,"' Torre said. "I believed him. He sounded like it wasn't something he was guessing about, but I called Cashman right away."
Cashman confirmed the news.
"It's really huge for me," Torre said. "I can judge by managing against him because you don't want to see him come up to hit."
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
RSS