From Newsday

Stottlemyre returns to Stadium

BY ADAM RONIS | adam.ronis@newsday.com

May 3, 2008

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Mel Stottlemyre returned to Yankee Stadium Friday for the first time since resigning as Yankees pitching coach after 2005 because he was tired of George Steinbrenner's criticism.

Stottlemyre, 66, came out of retirement this season to become the Mariners' pitching coach and said it felt unusual being in the visitors' clubhouse for the first time in many years. "It's a little strange," he said, "but I've been here before as a visitor when I was crosstown with the Mets. It's a little different this time."

Stottlemyre, who was the Mets' pitching coach from 1984-93, winning a world championship in 1986, was the Yankees' pitching coach from 1996-2005 and was part of four world champions.

"I didn't feel so bad the way it ended for me," he said. "I was just worn out more mentally than physically and needed a break from all the stuff that was going on at that time. Obviously, I didn't have a choice. I didn't have those same feelings that I was wanted within the organization."

Stottlemyre was a spring training instructor for the Diamondbacks last season. In the 2006 and '07 seasons, he watched games from home, and when it got close in the late innings, he said he would reach for the phone. He was trying to call the bullpen, a difficult task when you're sitting on your couch. "Come playoff time, I really missed the games," he said. "In the two years I was out, I missed coaching."

The longtime Washington resident said Seattle, where he started his coaching career as a roving pitching coach in 1977, was the only job he would take. "I only got interested in the job because it was home," he said. "I wasn't campaigning for a job anywhere else. I never made any phone calls anywhere else."

Stottlemyre underwent a stem-cell transplant in September 2000 after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow in which malignant plasma cells are produced. He said his health is fine.

Stottlemyre went 164-139 with a 2.97 ERA in 11 seasons for the Yankees before a torn rotator cuff forced him to retire. He was 9-3 with a 2.06 ERA in his rookie year of 1964 after debuting Aug. 12 and played a key role in getting the Yankees to the World Series.

He got a close glimpse of the new Yankee Stadium being built across the street. "I looked at that and got chills," he said. "It looks a whole lot like the initial Stadium I looked at in 1964 when I was a young pitcher."

At one point, Stottlemyre wasn't sure if he would ever return to Yankee Stadium, but he was glad to be back Friday.

"I had a lot of great times in the 10 years I was here," he said. "You couldn't ask for a much better run than what we had. It wasn't always roses. There were a lot of thorns involved, but it was a great period of my life."