TAMPA – Don Zimmer was done telling stories in a Legends Field dugout, tales that took him back 30 years and made the listeners roar with laughter.
“You tell a few jokes but this is a sad thing until he gets back,” Zimmer said. “A very sad thing.”
He, of course, is Joe Torre, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer Tuesday night. When he’ll return to the helm of the Yankees isn’t known. There is some hope Torre may only miss the first week of the season. It will depend on what type of treatment he chooses. Yesterday, George Steinbrenner said that decision wasn’t finalized yet.
Until Torre comes back, Zimmer will manage the World Champions when his right knee permits. Zimmer underwent arthroscopic surgery a week ago and hasn’t bounced back as quickly as he initially hoped.
“It’s better today, but that’s immaterial,” said the 68-year-old Zimmer, the only member of Torre’s coaching staff with big league managerial experience, having led the Padres, Red Sox, Rangers and Cubs. “We have to get the manager better.”
Zimmer then broke down when asked about his personal feelings for his very close friend, a man with whom he has grown to think almost alike when it comes to baseball.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Zimmer said in a halting voice, his eyes moist. “Everybody knows there is not much I can say.”
If Torre doesn’t make it back by Opening Day on April 5 in Oakland, Zimmer will have a huge say in what goes on in the Yankees’ universe.
That was assured Wednesday.
“I was told not to get out of bed,” Zimmer said. “All of a sudden, somebody is pounding on the door. My wife went to the door and there was Steinbrenner. He said, ‘When the hell are you going to get up, let’s go.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, I haven’t seen you for the last five days because you had the flu, so I got a bad leg.’ He said, ‘I don’t care, let’s go, let’s go.'”
Then Zimmer found out he was going to step in for Torre.
“He said that, hopefully, Joe wouldn’t miss much time and that I would run the club,” Zimmer said. “I said, ‘Well, I will run it, but when something doesn’t work during a game and the media comes asking me why didn’t you do this, I am telling them that George called down and told me to do it.”
That crack produced huge roars of laughter but to Zimmer, managing a big-league team – never mind one that is coming off the best season in the history of baseball – isn’t a joke.
Just like Torre, Zimmer will lean on the other coaches but in the end, it will be Zimmer’s call because he knows somebody has to pull the trigger and face the music.
“If I am going to manage [real games], I am going to make the pitching decisions and that’s taking nothing away from [pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre],” Zimmer said. “Because I want to be responsible. That doesn’t mean I won’t discuss things with Mel or anybody else. But again, somebody has to make that decision.”
Fortunately for the Yankees, they are a team loaded with veterans who don’t need a kick in the rear to motivate them. Nor are there many positions open. A decision in left field awaits, and there are needs for a second lefty reliever and a sixth infielder.
“We will be just fine,” David Cone said of Zimmer running the club. “He has the respect of the players. The way Joe Torre works, all his coaches are prepared.”
It will be up to the veterans to make sure everybody recognizes that just because Torre isn’t around, there is no reason to take a night off.
“One of the things he said to Roger [Clemens] and me when he called us in [Wednesday] is that he expected us to be the leaders and don’t let anybody slack off,” Cone said.
Being so close to Torre for the past three seasons, Zimmer believes the decisions he makes will run according to what Torre would have done.
“We kind of think alike,” Zimmer said. “If I am going to run this club until he comes back, I will do the same things I would suggest to him. I think that will be good enough.”