Sheffield: Torre treated black players differently

The slugger criticizes his former manager.

By EDUARDO A. ENCINA
Published July 14, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - For the Yankees to leave their disappointing first half behind them and make a drive toward the playoffs, their focus must remain on the field.

After their win over the Rays on Thursday to open the second half, they talked about a sense of urgency, about how every game is magnified. Their manager said that he hoped the next few weeks would show what his team was made of. But if these first two games are any indication, the Yankees might have a rocky road ahead.

Friday still brought the largest crowd since opening day - an announced 29,803 - to Tropicana Field. Fans still crowded the visiting dugout, flashing photos, pleading for autographs and turning a pregame stretching session into an atmosphere like a rock concert, but all doesn't seem right inside the Bronx Zoo.

An old teammate lashed out at the Yankees, with several New York media outlets reporting that Tigers designated hitter and Tampa native Gary Sheffield, no stranger to controversy himself, said during an interview with HBO's Real Sports that manager Joe Torre treated black players differently than white players. The show is scheduled to air Tuesday night.

And according to today's New York Daily News, some veterans think the organization has forgotten about some of the players who led the Yankees to four world titles from 1996 to 2000.

Lifelong Yankees Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera - key components of the dynasty - both have said they will welcome testing the free-agency waters at the end of the season.

"They can offer me everything and I would not sign a contract right now," Posada told the Daily News. "They had a chance to do it in the offseason and they had a chance to do it in spring training; I'm not going to do it right now. That's just the way it is."

And when the Yankees opened the door to negotiating an extension for third baseman Alex Rodriguez during the season, the AL MVP frontrunner declined.

In the HBO interview, meanwhile, Sheffield, a Hillsborough High grad, told Andrea Kremer that some black players on the team had problems with the Yankees and that Torre singled him out in team meetings while white players would be called into the manager's office and "treated like a man."

"That's the difference," Sheffield told Kremer.

But Sheffield said he didn't think Torre was a racist, adding, "I think it's the way they do things around there. Since I was there, I just saw how they run their ship different."

Sheffield told reporters Friday in Seattle that he felt shunned early on when he said that Torre said the Yankees should have obtained Angels slugger Vladimir Guerrero instead.

When Kremer said that the Yankees' most high-profile player, shortstop Derek Jeter - the product of a mixed-race marriage - is black, Sheffield replied that it was different because Jeter "ain't all the way black."

And Sheffield admitted to using noninjectable steroids he said the Giant's Barry Bonds introduced him to in 2003 but said he wasn't a steroid user because "steroids is something you stick in your butt."

Asked about Sheffield's statements before Friday's game, Torre said, "I don't even want to answer those types of questions, because I'm just not comfortable answering them."

Jeter also declined comment before the game.

Information from Times wires was used in this report.

[Last modified July 14, 2007, 02:35:43]