Ex-Yankee Gary Sheffield claims that the team , and specifically Joe Torre, treated white players better than black players, in a bombshell interview with HBO’s Andrea Kremer that will air Tuesday night on “Real Sports.”
“Black players are treated differently than white players, particularly at Yankee Stadium, Sheffield said.
“Black players had an issue with Joe Torre,Sheffield continued. “They weren’t treated like everybody else. Even I got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought was unfair.”
During the interview Kremer pointed out that the most popular player on the team, Yankee Captain Derek Jeter, was half black and that he gets along very well with Torre.
“Derek Jeter is black and white,” Sheffield responded. “There’s really no significance. [He] just ain’t all the way black.”
“Derek Jeter used to come to me and try to tell you what Joe Torre is all about, he’s a good man, he’s this, he’s that, but like I tell Derek Jeter, that’s you. It’s one thing that they treat you a certain way; you don’t feel what other people feel.”
Though he admitted he does not think Torre is a racist, he also said “I think it’s the way they do things around there. Since I was there I just saw that they run their ship different.”
Sheffield claimed that to survive for long as a black player, the player must be “great,” and that is the only reason he has played for as long as he has.