JETER CONNECTION
How injury to the late Tony Fernandez started Jeter on historic career
Tony Fernandez, the preeminent American League shortstop in the late ‘80s, died Sunday from kidney problems as a result of suffering a stroke. He was 57 and a legend in Toronto as one of the most beloved Blue Jays ever.
But in Yankee lore, he will always be remembered as the man who inadvertently jumpstarted Derek Jeter’s Hall of Fame career.
It was the spring of 1996 and Jeter, who’d had a solid if somewhat erratic season at Triple-A Columbus the year before, had been groomed to take over as Yankee shortstop. But there were reservations from George Steinbrenner and some of his top advisers, most notably troubleshooter Clyde King, who told the Boss he wasn’t sure if the 21-year old kid — who committed a league-leading 29 errors at Columbus in ’95 — had the range to play shortstop in the majors.
For that reason, the plan was for Jeter to play shortstop in the spring. Fernandez, who had signed a two-year contract to be the Yankee short- stop in ’95, would move to second and act as an insurance policy in case King was right.
It became a moot point on March 24 when Fernandez broke his right elbow and was lost for the season, relegated to a footnote in Yankee history. By then, however, Jeter had already shown enough at shortstop to convince Yankee manager Joe Torre and his top lieutenant, Don Zimmer, he was their man. At one point, Torre told intimates: “I don’t know why George listens to Clyde King.”
By then, Jeter booster Gene Michael had turned over the general manager’s job to Bob Watson. But Steinbrenner asked Michael to see if the Yankees could acquire another veteran, defense-first shortstop to replace Fernandez. Michael had brief discussions with the Mariners about Felix Fermin, a good-field no-hit shortstop, but backed off when one of the prospects Seattle asked for in return was a hard-throwing minor-league right-hander named Mariano Rivera.
Before coming to the Yankees, Fernandez won four Gold Gloves and was named to four All-Star teams with the Blue Jays and San Diego. Known for his quirky side-arm throwing motion, the switch-hitting Fernandez was part of a stable of standout players mined out of the Dominican Republic by legendary Blue Jay scout Epy Guerrero, including 1987 AL MVP George Bell, shortstop Alfredo Griffin and first baseman Carlos Delgado.
“Tony was just one of the best human beings I’ve ever known,” Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez, who was teammates with Fernandez from 1983-86, said by phone Sunday. “He also had a great sense of humor. George Bell was kind of a surly guy who was hard to get to know, but Tony cut right through to him one day with the crack that he and Michael Jackson both wore gloves for no apparent reason.”
David Wells, Fernandez’s teammate in Toronto, called him “A great teammate and friend. A pitcher’s dream to have him at shortstop when pitching.”
Fernandez, who was traded by the Blue Jays to the Padres in a monster December 1990 deal that included fellow All-Stars Fred McGriff, Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter, played a huge role in Toronto’s 1993 world championship team after coming back to them in a June 11 trade from the Mets. In the six-game World Series against the Phillies, he hit .333 with nine RBI. In 1987, his value to the Blue Jays was demonstrated by his absence. On September 24, he was hitting .322 when he broke his elbow — the same elbow he broke with the Yankees nine years later — when the Tigers’ Bill Madlock toppled into him at second base. Toronto proceeded to lose its last seven games of the season to fall out of first place and cede the AL East title to the Tigers.
“Everybody always talked about Tony’s unorthodox throwing motion,” said Martinez, “but I remember Don Mattingly telling me that, for him, Tony had about the most accurate arm of any shortstop he’d ever caught.” THE TWEETS
Fernandez missed all of 1996 after suffering the broken elbow. When the season was over, he was granted free agency and signed with Indians. Nobody had to tell him the Yankee shortstop job had been taken. Nobody could possibly know it was taken for the next 19 years.