THE 2 SIDES OF ANDY PETTITTE: At 40, Yankees veteran Andy Pettitte is sure to bring his trademark intensity to the mound, but around camp, he seems to be having as much fun as ever. (
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TAMPA — The “Yankeeography” footage looks ancient, with Andy Pettitte strenuously working out alongside two men — Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee — whose association with the franchise has been wiped out.
“I can’t wait,” The Rocket tells his left-handed protégé, “to come back and do this with you when you’re 40.”
Cut to a close-up of Pettitte, dated March 30, 2003, at the then SkyDome in Toronto, with these words: “When I’m 40, I don’t think I’ll still be playing baseball. I’m not quite that inspired.”
And yet here we were yesterday morning at George M. Steinbrenner Field, a 40-year-old Pettitte preparing for his 18th major league season and smiling upon hearing his words from nearly 10 years ago. Acknowledging his 2011 leave of absence has dramatically changed his career outlook.
I offered to Pettitte that he seemed considerably different now than during his second Yankees gig, from 2007 through 2010. In that stretch, he operated constantly with an eye on retirement, on becoming a full-time husband and father. Currently, I proposed, having scratched that itch, he appears more open-minded about his future.
“You’re right,” Pettitte said. “The years in Houston [2004-06] were good, because I got to see some stuff that I never got to see. But then when I came back, ’07, ’08, ’09, my family wasn’t with me. I think by the time I retired, I was so mentally and physically drained from every off day trying to fly home.”
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He still does that. He’ll head home to the Houston area Sunday, after he throws a simulated game, to capitalize on Monday’s off day. Now, though, he doesn’t wonder about retirement. Because he already experienced it.
This isn’t to say Pettitte wants to pitch until he’s 50, nor that he filled his quota of family time and possesses no desire to return home for good. He still wants to take his job year by year.
It’s just that he’s no longer heck-bent on getting out of the game as soon as possible. As opposed to past offseasons, when he took months to contemplate his future, he decided quickly last November that he wanted to continue pitching and, fueled by his strong 2012 return, signed a one-year, $12 million contract with the Yankees.
“I don’t know how to explain it, except how awesome it was to be home,” Pettitte said. “And I don’t think I would feel this way if when I [came] back last year, I feel like I [had not] picked up right where I left off. I guess I kind of expected it, but I thought there would be a lot more of a curve, of trying to find it again. So I’m enjoying doing this again.”
The Yankees, their offense admittedly worse, are counting upon Pettitte to deliver a characteristically strong season, even as he turns 41 in June. Even though his average fastball velocity dipped from 89 mph in 2010 to 87.8 last year, according to Fangraphs, he returned to the game with improved command, control and swing-and-miss stuff, as his strikeouts-to-walks ratio, walks per nine innings and strikeouts per nine innings all improved from ’10 to ’12.
His career changed, Pettitte said, when he underwent left elbow surgery with the Astros in 2004 and, his velocity diminished the next year, he backed off his trademark cut fastball and mastered his changeup. Those lessons still color his outlook.
“At that point, I was like, man, I could win for a long time. Probably as long as my arm is healthy,” Pettitte said. “In that sense, I do believe I could pitch for a fairly long time, but I don’t know how long I could pitch in the American League East. And then obviously, I have no desire to go anywhere else.”
Yankees spring-training instructor David Wells, who pitched until he was 44, said of Pettitte: “He doesn’t need to leave anytime soon. He’s made his mark. But he likes the competition.”
True. Not so much, though, that he wants to tarnish his accomplishments with a sour ending. As a former teammate of both Mike Mussina, who quit after winning 20 games in 2008, and David Cone, who faltered in a 2003 comeback with the Mets, Pettitte admits to having thought about his end.
“I don’t want it to be where the game says you can’t do this anymore, and that’s why you’ve got to go,” he said. “I don’t think that I’ll try to hang on, and one reason why is because I’ve been home, and I know what it’s going to be like to be retired, and I absolutely loved it. There is no fear.”
No fear, fewer worries. More mound excellence? Who knows? Just remember, however, that a 30-year-old Pettitte never saw his career going as far as it has.
kdavidoff@nypost.com