Yes, that was Andy Pettitte asking for directions to Yankee Stadium yesterday.
On the way to his retirement press conference, Pettitte got stuck in traffic on the Major Deegan Expressway. Worried about being late to his farewell, Pettitte got out of his car to ask a construction worker if they could help him get through. The worker told him to get off the highway and take the side streets.
Pettitte made 195 starts at either the new or old Yankee Stadium, but he had no idea how to maneuver his way through The Bronx to get to 161st Street.
He stopped again to ask someone: “Dude, how do I get to Yankee Stadium?”
Finally, someone in a Jeep told Pettitte to follow him and Pettitte made it to his press conference.
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Pettitte shot down any speculation that Roger Clemens
‘ perjury trial this summer, and Pettitte’s expected testimony in that trial, had any influence over his decision.
“That has not had any effect, I mean zero, in my decision,” he said. “I would never let that interfere with a life decision that I’m going to make for me and my family.”
He then indicated no one associated with the case has contacted him.
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Bernie Williams
attended his former teammate’s press conference. Oddly enough, Williams has never made his own retirement official. He has not played since 2006.
“One of these days, I’m going to make it official, just to be redundant,” Williams said. “But after five years, yeah, I’m pretty much done. I think it would be interesting to sit back and reflect and think about all those years [in this kind of setting]. I still have an opportunity to do it and at some point I think I probably will, probably this year, just to get it out of the way.”
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The Yankees have not decided if Pettitte’s No. 46 will be retired, but it will not be issued this spring. . . . As the Yankees’ search for more pitching options, a source said the team has no interest in free agent Jeremy Bonderman
.
Additional reporting by Charles Wenzelberg, Joel Sherman and Kevin Kernan