As a reliable left-handed pitcher, Andy Pettitte is automatically the type of player coveted by every team in the Major Leagues.
What sets him apart from other southpaws, and any other player for that matter, is his not his arm. It's his character.
Andy Pettitte was one of the "big names" accused of using performance enhancing drugs in the Mitchell Report. Even if these allegations prove to be true, Pettitte's legacy as a person, as a quiet leader, and as a clutch performer will remain in the hearts of baseball fans forever.
One year ago, at age 34, Andy Pettitte was considering retirement. Not because he felt that he could no longer perform at a major league level, but because he felt that he should spend more time with his family.
After the 2007 season, now 35, he was faced with a similar dilemma — hang up the cleats and enjoy more family picnics in Texas, or take one more shot at the World Series in the Bronx?
He's 35 years old. Most lefties that age are so focused on their next five-year contract that they can't even remember the date of their daughter's Christmas play.
Not so for Pettitte.
2008 will likely be his last season as a major league pitcher, because even though he has the skill to pitch well into his forties, he also has the priorities that 99% of non-athletes share.
Family first.
He'll take his millions of dollars next year and provide for his family for the rest of his life.
He's coming back to the Yankees because it wouldn't be "honorable" for him to pitch elsewhere.
Honorable?
This term is foreign to most baseball players these days. The Yankees are giving Pettitte millions next year. But so many other players would skip town if another team offered even one dollar more.
In 2007, Pettitte was the workhorse in a Yankee staff that was plagued with injuries. He quietly lead the rotation and stayed healthy while the rest of the team worked through a tough year. He provided the only quality start of the postseason, a performance that is considered by many to be one of the grittiest in the modern era.
The Mitchell Report names Andy Pettitte as a cheater.
Whether he took performance enhancing drugs or not is irrelevant. He remains a class act on, and especially off, the field. One hundred years from now, we will all remember Andy Pettitte as a terrific person, a great husband and father, and also as a great pitcher.
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10 months ago
What an absolute bunch of stupidity and nonscence!!! Wow, I had no idea that Andy Pettite has single handly found the cure for cancer, devised a plan for world peace, and is just about the greatest person to walk the Earth since the days of Christ.
"Dad, why did you and Clemens cheat?"
"Didn't you read the article son?....its OK I cheated, I'm a great guy...in fact not just great, but honerable too!...so it's OK for me to have cheated!"
10 months ago
I understand what you are saying. I think if Andy atleast comes out and admits he made a mistake back in 2002 by trying HGH and apologizes all will be forgiven. He is a great man and even the greatest make mistakes.
10 months ago
Let me guess you are Theo Epstein's boyfriend.
10 months ago
Let me guess you are Theo Epstein's boyfriend.
10 months ago
My opinion: If he actually did take anything he will come out and admit it. If he didn't obviously he will deny it and then go out and have a career year year in '08
10 months ago
I thought the guy that died in the Air Florida crash after he handed the rescue cable to five other people first before he drowned was a hero, but it turns out its a guy who cheats at a kid's game who is a real hero. Silly me, I must have had my priorities all wrong.
10 months ago
Thank you so much for writing that. I have been a huge Pettitte fan since Pettitte's early Yankee days. I'll be honest and say I cried upon reading Andy's name in that report.
I feel kind of hopeless about all of this. I almost hope that he did it, and that he'll make an apology. Then I can settle this in my mind and move on. If he didn't do it and states publicly that he didn't do it, then it'll always be a question in my mind. He's almost better off if he did do it, in a way. That's the problem that most of these guys are facing, in my opinion.
It's been so discouraging to read Andy's name linked to steroids in so many reports, when it wasn't even steroids that he did. It's been discouaging that he's one of the "banner names" when his section of the report was so small. That doesn't mean that he did nothing wrong. It just means that this fan is having a hard time hearing all of that stuff.
I'm devastated and I don't know what to think at this point. So it's nice to hear something positive.
And to one of the Anonymous posters above, yes - someone who gives their lives for others is a true hero. But that doesn't mean that sports fans don't become emotionally attached to players they look up to and care about.
10 months ago
If whom one chooses to associate themseleves with has any bearing on that person's character, then all one has to do is look at the picture above to realize that Andy Pettite is not all that his image is cracked up to be.
10 months ago
EVERYBODY was surprised to see Andy's name in the report. My jaw dropped when I heard the news.
In a strange way, I think this speaks very positively for Pettite. Why? Because there are five dozen stars for whom we said, "oh yeah, obviously." That wasn't the case for Andy Pettite.
Let's hope that this does not tarnish an excellent career that clearly owes very little to the incidents described.
10 months ago
I completely agree with the McDermott.
With regard to those claiming other "true heros," if their lives were examined closely you would find something in them that is condemnable. None of us is purely good. None of us is purely bad. If we are all judged by our worst moments, none of us will be left standing in the end. You judge a person by the whole of their character. The whole of Pettitte's character has been unusually good, as McDermott points out.
10 months ago
So this is the state of journalism in the 21st century? An author writes an article, people express opposing views, an the author then relpies with comments like "Let me guess you are Theo Epstein's boyfriend." That is as much the problem in modern society as athletes cheating. It all comes down to professionalism taking a back seat to self promotion at any cost.
10 months ago
um, the guy isn't a real journelist, he is a "my team right or wrong" fan - you should have figured that out when he equated the word "honourable" with Pettite choosing to play for HIS (the author's) favorite team instead of equating it with Pettite being open and honest about his past use of HGH - or barring that you could have just the guy's profile
9 months ago
Pettitte has come out and admitted he used HGH, lending some support to this theory.
9 months ago
Please explain how Petitte's admitting he took the alleged subtances "lends support to your theory".
Your post clearly states "Whether he took performance enhancing drugs or not is irrelevant". If that is true, then his admitting such would have to be equally irrelevant.
The basis for your terming Pettite a hero according to your post was the fact that he re-signed with the Yankees. Somehow you determinded that this made him a more honerable person then many others, and hence he was "still a hero", despite the cheating allegations.
Trying to now claim that you were basing your honerable person theory on his admission (which by the way he 100% denied last year when the allegations were first made) is kinda like the Bush administration, after the whole WMD fiascio trying to claim that wasn't their stated reason for the Iraq invasion. Its called "revisionist history".
from 9 months ago
Hi. I will try to explain this. He admitted to it - not while he was in the lineup, but to speed his recovery from injury. A very, very fine line maybe, but this was also before HGH was even banned by baseball - you have to give him that (and probably other guys in the report too, although I'm not sure since I haven't read it that close). So at the time, here's Pettitte's thinking - I'm hurt, I wanna get back to help my team, let's look at options. HGH? Not a banned substance? What is the downside? Why would somebody not want to do it? I don't agree with what he did (taking drugs in general), but I understand why he did.
Anyway, you are right in that whether he did it or not is irrelevant according to my article. I wanted to focus on the type of PERSON Andy Pettitte his, both to his teammates and to the non-baseball people in his life. How good his curveball is doesn't matter to me (well it does since he's pitching for the Yankees, but not in this context). His admission is further proof of his character. He could have taken the Clemens route - deny, deny, deny. Clemens' and Pettitte's stories are linked in the report, so go ahead and draw your own conclusions about who is telling the truth.
Lastly, you and most of the other people who have provided me with feedback seem to have misinterpreted my take on Pettitte resigning with the Yankees.
I do not declare a person "honorable" just because he signs with the team I cheer for. I could have written the exact same article if Pettitte played his entire career in Boston, although I wouldn't have because I'm simply not familiar enough with the players on other teams.
The "honorable" thing Pettitte did by resigning this year is recognizing the fact that New York gave him a player option in '06 when he originally came back. The Yankees understood that he was having a tough time deciding to play or not and by giving him a one year deal with a player option they were saying that "we want you for two years but it's you're call after the first year." Pettitte returned this favor by guaranteeing that IF he came back at all it would be with the team that gave him that flexibility in the first place. He could have easily declined the option then signed on with Houston again or any other team for that matter, but he chose not to.
9 months ago
How is this guy a hero? What a joke. He gets caught and then so admirably admits he did it? Then he apoigizes by saying, "well if what I did was an error in judgment then i'm sorry". What a class act. That's like OJ saying, well I killed her, and if that's so wrong then i'm sorry. Hero my a$$
9 months ago
what i don't get is the same people who readilly admit that clemens is a low class bum for some reason try to portray pettite as some great role model.....two key things to remember
1.) petitte cheated ("but only to help my team")
2.) pettite lied ("I've never used any drugs to enhance my performance in baseball")
9 months ago
Pettite a great man??
mistakenly took HGH??
how in the world did this great man mistakenly take HGH??
must have been running backwards and ran into the needle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you moron!!!!!!!!!!!!
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