By DAN GARTLAND
SPORTS EDITOR
When I was five years old, I went to my first-ever baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Derek Jeter had won the Rookie of the Year award the previous season, and the stands were full of people with “We love Jeter” signs. It was hard not to love the talented young shortstop, and I wanted to emulate him. There was only one problem: I’m left-handed, so I couldn’t be a shortstop. Instead, Andy Pettitte, the Yankees left-handed starter, became my hero.
As a five-year-old, I saw Andy Pettitte as a future version of myself, figuring that in 15 to 20 years I would be a left-handed pitcher for the Yankees. Whenever I used the “create-a-player” feature in baseball video games, I would make a left-handed starting pitcher named Dan Gartland and give him a No. 46 jersey, the same number Pettitte still wears.
While the reasons for my obsession at the time might not have been the most well thought out, as I got older I learned to appreciate Pettite for his actual game.
Pettitte is perhaps best known for his success in the postseason. He owns the record for the most all-time playoff game wins with 19 total and is a big reason why the Yankees won four World Series between 1996 and 2000. In the regular season Pettitte is a very good pitcher; in the postseason he is great. His ability to turn it on when it matters most is truly remarkable. Years down the road, when I think about his career, I’ll probably envision him standing on the mound in a playoff game on a cold October night, his hat pulled over his eyes, staring at his catcher, a left fist clenched in front of his mouth as he tries to warm his fingers with his breath.
Pettitte is also a master of one of the game’s most underutilized tools: the pickoff move. He is widely regarded as having the best pickoff in baseball, a move that is more art than anything else. As a left hander, Pettitte has the advantage of facing first base when he operates out of the stretch, which allows him to look directly at the runner. He brings his front leg back and toes the thin line between a legal move and a balk as he turns his hips toward the runner and makes the throw. Pettitte’s 102 career pickoffs are a major league record, and amazingly, he has only been called for 11 balks in his 17-year career.
Pettitte left the Yankees twice: in 2004 when he signed as a free agent with his hometown Houston Astros, and when he retired after the 2010 season. When he chose to return to the Yankees this season after sitting out in 2011, I was thrilled, but still skeptical as to whether he could be as effective as he was prior to retiring. At 40 years old, the zip is gone from his fastball. But what he lacks in velocity, Pettitte makes up in accuracy and pitch selection. By effectively mixing in his cutter, Pettitte was able to become one of the Yankees’ most reliable starters.
I would be remiss to avoid any mention of Pettitte’s implication in the Mitchell Report, the Congressional investigation into performance-enhancing drug use in professional baseball. Indeed, Pettitte’s name did appear in that report. He admitted to using human growth hormone, but only to recover more quickly from an injury, and only before it had been outlawed by the MLB.
With 245 wins, Pettitte is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate. If he does indeed play next season, his name would first appear on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2018. His postseason success should help his case, but it is still unlikely that he will receive the 75 percent of votes necessary for enshrinement. Still, if I ever became a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, he would have my vote.
