Pettitte's positives blot out any negatives

My favorite Andy Pettitte story, as often seems to be the case with the now-retired lefthander, stars other people.

The Yankees visited the Red Sox on April 11-13, 2008, and as luck had it, Pettitte didn't pitch that weekend. The next Fenway Park rivalry series didn't occur until more than three months later, and Pettitte started a nationally televised Saturday afternoon affair on July 26.

And Red Sox Nation, the very people who revel in Yankee misery, didn't utter a single word about Pettitte's inclusion in the Mitchell Report.

I can only assume that, given the lag time between the report's December 2007 release and the first taunting opportunity, the entire New England area simply forgot about Pettitte's scandal.

In a major-league career that began in dial-up and concluded on Twitter, Pettitte was always unassuming and often unassumed. He liked it that way.

On a club filled with divas, the guy to whom Paul O'Neill referred as "Donkey'' (because of the pitcher's substantial lower body) stood out for being low-key, low-maintenance and highly popular.

He rose as the understudy to Jimmy Key, David Cone and Roger Clemens and wrapped as the wise veteran standing behind Chien-Ming Wang and CC Sabathia. He pitched in 12 postseasons for the Yankees, and amazingly, he never started a playoff opener.

He was so forthcoming that, when he struggled during a long road trip in 1998, he admitted to reporters that he missed his family and that might have impacted his pitching. When George Steinbrenner publicly questioned Pettitte's competitive fire in 1999, Pettitte volunteered that his wife, Laura, shared The Boss' sentiments.

Forthright? Not as much, no. He copped to 2002 HGH usage only when the Mitchell Report busted him, then admitted to a second such incident from 2004 after congressional investigators unearthed it. On the spectrum of ballplayers and illegal performance-enhancing drugs, however, Pettitte came off as so sincere that he enhanced his already stellar reputation.

If you watched Pettitte's farewell news conference Friday, you saw what made him so likable. He discussed how conflicted he felt by this decision and wouldn't even rule out pitching again in 2012. He wandered from Point A to Point B and then laughed as he realized he didn't answer the initial question. He made fun of Bernie Williams for appearing characteristically late.

He shared what he loved most about baseball: preparing, competing and bonding. He excelled at all three.

I was around Pettitte from 1996 through 2003 and 2007 through last year, with the occasional path crossed during his three Astros years (2004-06). Like everyone else, I'll remember in-game moments such as 1996 World Series Game 5 and 2000 World Series Game 5 and his tremendous 2003 postseason.

What fun he was to see pitch, as he routinely worked his way out of trouble and pumped his fist upon a jam escaped.

Personally, I'll remember discussing the child-rearing process with Pettitte, a father of four. How he greeted me on the Turner Field grass even as he prepared for a National League Division Series Game 1 start against the Braves (his only start of a playoff opener). Getting to know his father, Tommy (whose name came up in the 2008 congressional investigation as a source of Pettitte's HGH and could emerge in the Clemens trial, too).

The Yankees have lost a pretty good pitcher and a pretty good guy, too. Not perfect at either, for sure. Yet while his adversaries quickly forgot his worst moments, his friends and fans will continue to celebrate his best.