In David Justice’s locker hangs the standard Yankee uniform items – windbreaker, T-shirt, uniform tops and pants – in white, navy and black.
But in the top left corner of the bland, unpersonalized stall is a reminder of Justice’s past.
The former Brave and Indian keeps a red-and-blue cloth shaving bag as well as red-and-blue batting gloves, the colors of both his previous teams.
Justice, acquired from Cleveland last week for Ricky Ledee, admits he hasn’t quite fit in yet with the Bombers, and manager Joe Torre notes the new left-handed left fielder has been “quiet” so far.
And while Justice greets his teammates with cheerful hellos when he comes into the clubhouse – he calls locker neighbor Chris Turner “C.T.” and exchanges mild banter with Derek Jeter – he is still not quite himself.
“Sometimes, in a new situation, it takes a little while for a guy’s personality to get going,” said Torre.
Explained Justice: “It’s a new team and I’m trying to find ways to fit in. I just have to find my place in here. I think anyone in this situation would feel like a fish out of water.”
Nor has Justice been himself at the plate as a Yankee. Entering last night’s game against the Orioles at the Stadium, he was 1-for-14 with four strikeouts in pinstripes.
Justice left three men on base on Tuesday in a 7-6 loss to the Orioles as the designated hitter. Last night, as the left fielder, Justice hoped he’d do better, and sounded like a man with plenty of confidence.
“I’ve had a few days where I’ve not hit well,” the 34-year-old said. “I mean, if you look over my 10-year career, I’ve had my bad moments. I know I’ll turn it around. I have no doubt about that.”
Justice will try to stop himself from “pressing” – something that was leading him to take massive swings at bad pitches and watch good ones go by for called strikes. Justice said he’s been trying to hit a home run “since the day I got here.”
“I have to relax, but sometimes it’s hard,” he said. “You tend to want to do too much, but that’s human nature. I expect to play well.”
He said he liked the fact he was playing both offense and defense last night.
“When I’m hitting well, I don’t mind DH-ing because it doesn’t affect my offense at all,” he said. “But when you’re not hitting, you like to play in the field because you want to feel like you are doing something to help the team win, in some way.”
As for playing the famous – and famously difficult – Yankee Stadium left field, Justice was excited, but also was going into the experience well-prepared.
He made sure he talked with Bernie Williams about how to handle flies, and he plopped himself down next to third baseman Scott Brosius upon entering the clubhouse yesterday to discuss how to handle cutoff throws and short pops.
Left field is also “very, very big” compared to other stadiums, Justice explained.
“The first time I was out there, I looked around and I was like, ‘This place is big.’ There’s a long, long way to run out there.”
While Justice and Brosius talked briefly about how to handle things in the left side of the field, the conversation was light.
“Man, let me tell you, I talk real loud,” Justice said in his rural Ohio drawl. “If I am calling you off you will hear me. And if you are waving your arms back and forth? I won’t come near you.”
Justice said he didn’t know any Yankees more than casually before the trade.
“It’s tough to come in the middle of the year,” Justice explained. “I’d never done that before.”
But Justice explained that he was “very hurt” the first time he was traded, from Atlanta to Cleveland, but that now he can deal with the business side of things, as long as he’s treated fairly.
“In Atlanta, it was different,” he said. “I grew up wanting to be a Brave, then I was traded after the GM told me to my face I wouldn’t be. He said to bet my house and my family that I wouldn’t leave, but I was traded. I lost a lot of confidence.”
Now the problems are more inconveniences rather than personal.
“A lot of guys here can wake up, hang out with their family and then come to the park relaxed and with peace of mind,” he said. “I wake up and I worry about my car [in Cleveland] and how I’ll get to the park. When my water will be turned on, the hotel, the room service – a bunch of stuff.”
But Justice said he won’t complain. “I’m always in good spirits,” he said. “The bottom line is that this is still the best job a guy could have.”