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February 10, 2008

Stanley's Tools

Jim Baumbach catches up with one of my favs, Mike Stanley:

All these years later, surely Yankees fans still hold Stanley in high regard, but his star has faded in the Bronx, probably because he was never part of a championship team. Reached during the week on his cell phone, Stanley said he absolutely loved his time as a Yankee, but he admits his unlucky timing still "just eats away at me." He said sometimes Yankees fans that he meets ask to see his World Series rings. Imagine how that makes him feel. "It's just such a sore subject with me," he said.

What made that year all the more painful was that the Yankees eliminated Stanley's A's en route to their fourth World Series title in five years. "After we lost," he said, "I can still vividly remember Joe Torre coming into the clubhouse to shake Art Howe's hand and looking at me and saying, 'Stano, you should be with us.' "

"After that, I said, 'The heck with it, I'm retiring. It wasn't meant to be.' "

But, Stanley said, "I'm a firm believer in things happen for a reason." Which is why he can't argue too much with his timing. He later became the bench coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2002 and became a hot coaching commodity, viewed as a future manager. Tampa Bay invited him that offseason to interview for manager's job. The Yankees, he said, spoke to him about joining their big-league staff or gaining experience down at Triple-A.

But he chose to take a step back, to take himself out of the game for a while. He wanted to be at his suburban Orlando home with his four children, who were growing up fast.

These days Stanley is back in coaching as a first-year assistant with the Lake Highland High School varsity team. Tanner's an eighth-grader now, and Stanley figures to stick with the program until his son is finished.

Then, maybe, the time will come to return to the majors.

"It's got to be in the right place," Stanley said. "Obviously, New York will be one of them."

In 1993, Stanley (a right-handed batter) hit 10 homers at Yankee Stadium that went out in either right or right-center. And, he had another three that went out in center. He was pretty good at using Yankee Stadium, going the opposite way for homers, in 1994 and 1995 too. If ever there was a righty who had a swing tailored for the Stadium, it was him.

Picking him up in January 1992, as a free agent, was a brilliant move by Gene Michael (who was then G.M.). Great scouting by the Stick.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at February 10, 2008 03:12 PM

Comments

Posted by: Raf at February 11, 2008 10:51 AM