Bronx, N.Y., October 11, 2004 — The story behind Ruben Sierra, the powerful Yankee switch-hitting DH/outfielder, is one of many good ones regarding the 2004 team. The Yankees had achieved two huge goals when they originally got Ruben in July 1995 for Danny Tartabull. First, they got rid of the oft-injured righty power hitter and his big contract. And then the Yankees rode thier way to a 1995 Wild Card berth largely on Ruben’s double-barreled stick.

The return to October play was a short-lived but delightful rush, but Ruben and new 1996 Yankee skipper Joe Torre clashed almost immediately, struggling through the kind of player/manager acrimonious relationship the well-traveled Torre had largely discarded from his bag of managing tricks along the way. Sierra was an undisciplined batter. He stood too far from the plate, stubbornly refusing to move in for more outside-of-the-plate coverage against all advice. To the thrice-fired Torre, he appeared selfish, and reacted very badly to being removed from the lineup. The needs of the club seemed far from his mind.

So 12 months after he arrived, he was gone again, dispatched to the lonely baseball outpost in Detroit for Big Daddy, Cecil Fielder, mumbling a complaint that the Yanks cared about “nothing but winning,” as he left. And the Yankees once again reaped the rewards of turning one big man in for another. Fielder helped the Yanks soar to the 1996 American League pennant and World Championship; Sierra finished the year in the Motor City, struggled through two down years with Cincinnati, Toronto, and Chicago, and found himself out of baseball in 1999.

Ruben shares the tale of his turning point, explaining how his young son told him that he wanted to see him play in the big leagues. So Ruben went to work, signing with the Independent Atlantic League Atlantic City Surf. But his resurrection did not come easy. We had the opportunity to catch Sierra that year playing in the new ballpark of Rick Cerone’s Newark Bears. To be honest, being North Jerseyites, we were there primarily to root on Newark and to see former Yankee “can’t-miss” prospect Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens, playing left field for the home-standing Bears. Hensley had gotten shots at third and in the Yankee outfield a few years back and, though he never really ckicked, we were hoping for some late magic to resurrect his career. But Meulens did little to impress, going 0-for-4 with a strike out and one long fly ball.

But Sierra was different. He looked big, as big as I had seen him. The Bears righty starter walked him on five pitches in the first, and surrendered a booming home run to him to right center in the third. Meanwhile the Bears were going down meekly, and the Surf seemed content to bide their time, and then start another rally as Sierra’s turn at bat came around again. A reliever came on to face him in the fifth, but to little effect. The monstrous Sierra belted the first outside offering just to the right of dead center field, and the Atlantic City DH gave his patented “home run hop” as he eased into a slow trot around the bases.

But Riverfront Stadium in Newark is built to generous major league proportions, and though Sierra had gotten much of the ball, it fell just short of his expectation, careening off the top of the fence where it was corraled by the Bears center fielder on a couple of bounces. The throw wasn’t perfect but sadly, it didn’t need to be. Apparently unable to switch gears or to turn on the burners while already on his way to second, Sierra was out by five feet. We left the Surf victory that evening knowing that we had seen at least one ballplayer with major league talent, but with a few more lessons to learn.

But Sierra obviously stuck with it. He played 112 games for the Surf in 1999, batting .294 with 28 homeruns and 82 rbi’s. He earned a ticket back to the majors with the Rangers, getting 60 at bats with Texas in 2000, and quintupling that total in 2001. He had another big break with Seattle the following year, as he received more than 400 at bats with Edgar Martinez suffering an injury-plagued year. Teams noticed the line-drive bat and the willingness to be a role player. He returned to Texas, where the Yankees found him once the Rangers quickly faded in the 2003 race.

And along with Tony Clark, Ruben has provided a spark from the Yankee bench all season long. Clark has filled in admirably with a glue-like glove, good footwork around first, and occasional awesome power. And Sierra crowned a fine season with his devastating three-run jack off Twins setup man Juan Rincon on Saturday night. But that was not his first 2004 highlight; I daresay it won’t be his last either.

Perhaps the most fun Sierra moment of the year was on July 22, during a steamy Thursday afternoon in the Bronx. Former Yank Ted Lilly and the returning Orlando Hernandez posted zeroes through seven innings, and the game threatened to go to an extra frame when Ruben faced Jays reliever Vinnie Chulk with two down in the ninth. Chulk had added Toronto’s eight and ninth strike outs of the day in dispatching Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez on 12 pitches, but he fell behind Sierra 2-0. Vinnie coaxed a low inside strike call from Tim Welke, but his up and away fastball found a bit too much of the plate. Ruben sent 53,000-plus home happy after a crisp 2:39 of baseball when his drive landed beyond the right center field fence in front of the black seats for the 1-0 Yankee win.

The Yanks had another late win two months earlier against portly southpaw and beloved ex-Yankee David Wells and the San Diego Padres. Boomer outdueled Javy Vazquez 2-0 over seven that day, and when Posada went down swinging to Trevor Hoffman for the second out of the ninth inning, things looked bleak. Matsui gave the home throng hope with a tracer to deep right, but Torre had the faithful scratching their heads as Kenny Lofton, not Sierra, followed, pinch-hitting for Tony Clark. But Torre looked a genius, not only when Lofton homered for the tie, but also when Sierra emerged in a 5-5 12th. Not only was Ruben totally nonplussed by being passed over three frames earlier, he emerged from the Bombers’ dugout with a sense of purpose. The Yanks had fallen behind 5-2 to a three-run Padre 12th, but they rallied gamely for three scores against ex-mate Jay Witasik. Sierra’s 1-1 sac fly to deep center got Frank singing New York’s praises yet again.

And on July 1, 2004, the game that gave Yankee Captain Derek Jeter his purple heart to go with all the medals, trophies, rings, and acccolades he had earned before, it was Ruben Sierra striding to the plate with two down and nobody on in the bottom of a crucial extra inning. The Yanks, down 4-3 to Manny Ramirez’s 13th-inning bomb to left, looked lethargic and beaten, as Curtis Leskainc had retired Posada and Clark on a lightning-quick seven tosses. But he threw ball one, strike one, and Ruben smacked pitch no. 10 to center for a single. The Yanks sprang to life and plated two on a Cairo double and Flaherty single and the Stadium played New York baseball’s version of the Hallelujah Chorus yet again.

So Ruben has taken a long journey from early stardom. Some felt the squeaker vote by which he lost the 1989 AL MVP to Milwaukee Brewer vet Robin Yount was basically a paeon to Yount’s long service, with the expectation that Sierra would contest for many more. He just missed great days in Oakland, and then again in New York. And then he found himself out of the game altogether.

And although he has learned to be more accepting of the part-time role, reveling in the fact that opposing managers know he lurks at the end of the bench on those days he does not start, he hasn’t totally thrown his old game away. He still stands further from home plate than most batting coaches would like; he still yearns to pull the outside pitch. But he is a dangerous presence, one Torre now loves to use.

Although he went hitless in the first two ALDS games against the Twins before sitting in Game Three, he threatened Johna Santana twice in Game One, once with a foul homer, and also with a drive to the wall with two men on. And in the second contest he not only drew a walk, he legged out a sixth-inning stolen base, perhaps burying the demon that slowed him so on that Newark night five years before.

He returns to the Bronx on a high Tuesday night. He has played at baseball’s highest levels, and in the post in the House That Ruth Built. The name of the ballpark of the Atlantic City Surf is the Sandcastle. Ruben has not only made the jourey from baseball stardom to a point where he found himself out of the game. He has made the opposite trip as well, turning in the Sandcastle for the Baseball Cathedral in the Bronx.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!