When Andy Pettitte, a left handed pitcher who was, is, and always will be my favorite player, announced his un-retirement (de-retirement? tirement?) the spring before last, I was, needless to say, overjoyed. However, what I (stupidly) didn’t realize at the time was that when Pettitte came out of retirement, it inevitably meant that he would eventually retire again and that I would have to feel the pain that comes with a boyhood hero walking away all over again.
Today, I guess, was that day. Pettitte announced that he was spent and that 2013 would be his last season, a decision that really didn’t surprise anyone paying attention. Pettitte has been a productive pitcher over the last season and a half in the Bronx–even posting a sub-3 ERA last year over 12 starts–but he hasn’t been the same guy he was. Understandably, I think.
Back in the day, (a roughly ten year period from 1996-2006) Pettitte was one of baseball’s premiere pitchers. A big lefty who dominated with finesse and location more than velocity. Andy worked off his cutter, a devastating pitch to righties, to outsmart and outlast hitters. He struck guys out but never at a particularly high rate. He was a contact pitcher that kept his team in games and could only be truly appreciated by people who really knew the game. Honestly, I think that was part of the allure. (We won’t even get into the statistically inexplicable postseason dominance that will be the best basis for any whisper of Cooperstown in 8-10 years.)
I was heartbroken when Pettitte bolted for Houston to be closer to his family (the whole family man and god-fearing Texan thing I’ve chosen to ignore), but he continued to pitch exceptionally against the NL (read: weaker) competition. In 2005, Pettitte secured his 5th top 5 Cy Young finish when he posted a 2.39 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP over 33 starts and 222.1 innings.
When Pettitte came back to New York in 2007 and then even more so when he returned from his season long hiatus in 2012, he was a different kind of pitcher. Gone was the devastating cutter and low to mid 90’s fastball and in its place was big, slow curve and a now mid to upper 80’s heater. Pettitte became even more of a finesse guy than he was before, still managing to dominate at times, though. Whereas Pettitte was once a solid number 2 and even a number 1 at some points in his career, over the last 2 years he’s been much more of a backend guy. With the Yankees on the verge of missing the playoffs, this really is the right time for him to go.
Any anthology of Pettitte’s career cannot be complete without the obligatory mention of Roger Clemens and HGH. Pettitte fell in with the wrong crowd at one point during his career when he began training in earnest with Clemens and trainer Brian McNamee. After being named in the Mitchell Report, Pettitte admitted using HGH only once and due to his candor and reputation for being a stand up guy, he has largely gotten a pass on the whole PED front. Does anyone actually believe that Pettitte only used once and that it just happened to be the time he got caught? No, of course not. But I’m not about to go looking for skeletons in the closet of my favorite player.
Pettitte leaves behind a Yankee team in tatters. Mariano Rivera is gone, Derek Jeter is a shell, and the rest of the club is such a mess that Joe Girardi is getting buzz about a possible manager of the year award despite their 4th place status. At this point, the Yankees of old are barely a twinkle in anyone’s eye. Rivera is out, now Pettitte too. Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada are playing in Old Timers’ games.
It’s sad that Pettitte is leaving again but also good in a sense too. I got a year and a half bonus of seeing my favorite player in my favorite teams’ colors and I get to see him walk away on his own terms (more or less). It’s time for Pettitte, age 41, to move on and it’s well past time for the Yankees to do some serious rebuilding.
Thanks, Andy.
-Max Frankel
