Yankees Tepedino, Torres and memories of the ballyard in the Bronx

BY ROBERT CASSIDY | bcassidy@newsday.com

March 27, 2008

Rusty Torres, left, and Frank Tepedino both played for the New York Yankees. Tepedino was a teammate of Mickey Mantle and later, while with the Braves, of Hank Aaron. Torres is seen sitting in centerfield at the old Yankee Stadium among the monuments of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins.

The first time Frank Tepedino entered Yankee Stadium, as a 19-year-old rookie, he wondered whether he belonged there.

The first time Rusty Torres entered Yankee Stadium, he got lost on his way to the clubhouse.

Tepedino and Torres played briefly for the Yankees but the memories of the time they spent in pinstripes still remain vivid. Today, each man lives on Long Island and they are once again on the same team. This time they are linked by an organization called Winning Beyond Winning, a local non-profit group that educates young athletes on the perils of drugs, alcohol and steroids.

With the Bronx Bombers preparing to move into a new ballpark in 2009, many former Yankees are recalling their days inside baseball's last true cathedral. Tepedino, 60 and retired from the New York City Fire Department, was called up to the Yankees in 1967 and spent parts of four seasons with the team.

"No one can experience walking into Yankee Stadium the first time through the dugout unless you're a major league baseball player and that's something that you'll never, ever forget," Tepedino said. "Numbers and players start running through your head. You remember all the greats who played there. And then you think, 'What am I doing here? Am I that good that I belong here?' Things like that go through your mind right away."

Tepedino, a left-handed hitter who played first base and the outfield, was good enough to spend eight seasons in the major leagues with three different teams the Yankees, Brewers and Braves.

Torres, a switch-hitting centerfielder, made his Yankee debut in 1971. When he arrived at the Stadium, security thought he was a kid trying to sneak into the ballpark. When he said he was Rusty Torres, "everything changed, they were like, 'Go right this way, Rusty." But Torres couldn't find the clubhouse and walked the entire length of the stadium until he ended up on the grass in right field. A member of the grounds crew pointed him toward the dugout and said, "Don't worry kid, all the rookies get lost the first time they come here."

Another time, he batted leadoff in the Mayor's Trophy Game at Shea Stadium. Still a rookie, he walked up to the plate and dug in "just a little bit." The pitcher, Nolan Ryan, took exception to that and threw the first pitch at his head. Torres hit the deck. When he stepped back into the box, catcher Jerry Grote looked at him and said, "What's wrong with you kid, you can't dig in."

Tepedino finished playing in 1975 and spent his last three seasons with the Braves. He has the distinction of being a teammate of both Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron.

"Mickey was just a down-to-earth individual," Tepedino said. "Always a smile on his face. Even when he was hurting. I had seen him in the clubhouse tape his leg from the thigh down to his ankle in order to go out and play the game. Never once did he ever complain. Never once did he say to another ballplayer, 'Boy, I'm hurting.' He always kept everything upbeat. That was one of the hardest things for him to accept, that he couldn't still play at the level that us as fans were accustomed to. But he was just one of he best teammates you could ask for. I was in the dugout when he hit his 500th home run."

Tepedino also witnessed history when Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record in 1974.

"We had so many reporters following us, day in and day out," Tepedino said. "And it's the same question day in and day out. When was he going to hit 715? He said it very simply -- I'm gonna hit another home run. I just don't know what day I'm going to hit it. And that's how he approached it. He never ever once made it hard for anybody on that ball club. Nobody showed us the death threats but we had the secret service and the FBI traveling with us. He had two guys who were with him all the time. We knew things were going on but he wouldn't take away from anything on our ball club. To be an African American, at that time, chasing Babe Ruth's record, just the way he went about it, race never came into it, color never came into it. That's the way he went about it."

It was the twilight of Aaron's career and Tepedino often spelled him when he needed a day off. To make it easier for Tepedino to prepare, Aaron would tip him off.

"I was a left handed pinch hitter and I played first base," Tepedino said. "If Aaron wanted a day off, against a right handed pitcher, Mike Lum would play left field and I would play first base. I never knew when I was playing. Aaron came up to me about midway through the season and said, 'Frankie, from now on I'll let you know when I'm playing. I'll give you a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Thumbs up, I'm playing. At least you have an idea. I'm not saying you are in the lineup, but at least you'll have an idea and you'll be a little better prepared. That's the type of guy Aaron was."

Torres, originally from Brooklyn, would often wander out to centerfield before games and sit among the monuments Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins which were still on the field of play in the old Yankee Stadium. A photographer once came out and asked him why he visited the monuments. "I said, because I'm going to hit 715 home runs and my monument is going right here."

Torres, now 59, works for the Town of Oyster Bay parks department. He chuckled at that memory and lamented that he never became a regular player in the big leagues. In 1973, he was traded to the Indians and also played for the Angels, White Sox and Royals over his nine-year career. There were certainly memories that he cherishes, like the time, as a member of the Angels, he hit a 10th-inning, game-winning home run against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

"My mother and father were sitting in the bleachers that day," recalled Torres. "I was very happy they were there to see that. When I went out to centerfield for the bottom of the 10th inning, I tipped my cap to them. Usually only the great players get to tip their cap. But I was able to do that, it was my way to say thank you for all they had done."

Both players are ambivalent about the new Yankee Stadium but admit that the march of progess mandates a new ballpark. Torres said that when the stadium is torn down, a piece of him will go with it.

Tepedino has a vision for Opening Day next season. "The Yankees should bring back everyone who has ever worn the Yankee uniform. Let each player start at the current stadium and scoop up some dirt from the infield. Then make a procession to the new ballpark and let everyone drop the dirt onto the new field. That way, the old Yankee Stadium will always be a part of the new Yankee Stadium."

And players like Torres and Tepedino will have memories from both parks.

Newsday.com's Marc Serra contributed to this story