MLB

Teixeira a lesson in how to play big stage with Yankees

TAMPA — There isn’t another city that insinuates itself into the equation quite the way New York City does. Nobody ever wonders if a linebacker “has the makeup to make it in New Orleans.” No one ever ponders if a power forward can become “a Portland guy.” Or if a goalie has what it takes to make it in Buffalo.

But New York? That’s always a part of the preliminary discussion, a permanent portion of the questionnaire. Can he hit? Yes. Can he field? Yes. Is he a good clubhouse guy? Absolutely. Does he play hard? For all 162.

Can he play in New York?

A “no” can disqualify all that came before. But a “yes” amplifies all that came before. We really are suckers for the old song lyric, you know? About making it there, and making it anywhere.

“Look,” Mark Teixeira says. “It’s really kind of simple. If you don’t want to play in front of 50,000 people every single game, if you don’t want the energy of the best city in the world behind you every day, good or bad, and if you don’t want to be in a position where you can win a championship … well, then you probably shouldn’t play in New York.”

He smiles.

“Of course, if you do want all of those things, then where else would you possibly want to play?”

By any measure, Teixeira’s first season in New York was a smashing success last year. You can go by numbers: 39 home runs and 122 RBIs. You can by honors: a Gold Glove at first base, a second-place finish in the MVP race to Joe Mauer, a trip up the Canyon of Heroes as a World Series champion.

As much as anything, though, it was useful to watch how Teixeira reacted and responded to the various degrees of New York acclimation. During a difficult first month, when the fans’ embrace wasn’t quite secure, Teixeira remained the same person, and the same presence, as he would be later on, during those stretches when he seemed to hit a homer every other day and no pitcher alive could sneak a pitch past him.

We’ve seen enough ballplayers spooked by New York to understand the value of one who’s not only not intimidated by the specter, but embraces it. And even when Teixeira was hovering south of the Mendoza Line in early May, he never seemed overwhelmed by the city, by the citizens or by the outsized expectations that his presence on the roster demanded.

“I’d always enjoyed playing in New York when I was playing on other teams and in other cities,” he says. “I had some good games when I’d come in with Texas or Atlanta or Anaheim, but beyond that I really liked what the whole experience of playing in New York was like.

“I knew exactly what I was walking into. I didn’t go there with any kind of blinders. If anything, I went looking forward to everything associated with it.”

And it showed. If any player of recent vintage could serve as a template for precisely how an athlete can make a stress-free transition from starring out of town to taking the stage on Broadway, Teixeira can.

Think of it: Alex Rodriguez brought more drama than Meryl Streep when he arrived. Johnny Damon had a tough time adjusting. Across town, Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana each had a difficult time adjusting to the faster pace and louder reactions.

It isn’t supposed to be as easy as Teixeira made it look last year. He and his fellow free-agent import, CC Sabathia, accepted not only the fattest contracts of the 2008-09 offseason but the inflated responsibilities that go along with them. But as a pitcher, Sabathia could only do so much, appearing in only 39 games between the regular season and the playoffs.

Teixeira was in the light for all but six of the 171 games the Yankees played from April through November, and even if he endured his struggles in the playoffs, he was every bit as valuable to the Yankees as the American League vote would indicate.

“If you drew up how you’d want a first year to go anywhere,” he says, “it would probably be pretty close to the way it actually went.”

Sounds just the way a New York guy might put it.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com