Fielder Looks Good in Yankee Pinstripes

ANAHEIM — Cecil Fielder sauntered into the clubhouse Thursday at Anaheim Stadium wearing a bright green outfit, complete with green alligator shoes and belt.

Sparky Anderson, Angel broadcaster and Fielder’s manager in Detroit, spotted him immediately. Who didn’t? It’s hard to overlook a 250-pound lime, even amid the buzz of the New York Yankee clubhouse. Anderson rolled his eyes before receiving a bear hug.

New York hasn’t changed Fielder much.

He’s still that big-lug-of-a-first-baseman who can hit a baseball a long way. He still enjoys a good meal--and appears to miss very few. And he still makes a fashion statement--today lime green, tomorrow banana yellow?

Fielder remains the same. The change is with the Yankees. They became a better team, in many ways, after acquiring Fielder on July 31 from the Detroit Tigers.

“I think Detroit and myself, we gave all we could give to each other,” said Fielder, who led the American League in runs batted in from 1990-92. “This was an opportunity for me to do some positive things and get to postseason.”

That is why Fielder is with the Yankees. No longer were they a patsy for every left-hander in the American League. In the middle of the lineup, they now had a big--very big--right-handed batter who has hit more home runs and driven in more runs than any other player in the ‘90s.

The bonus was just having Fielder around. The Yankee roster has more than a couple players whose past shenanigans are well known--Darryl Strawberry, Wade Boggs, Dwight Gooden, to name a few. Fielder’s only run-ins have been with the fashion police.

“A lot of people say he get’s a lot of money,” Sparky Anderson said. “If someone’s going to get that kind of money, I like to see it be guys like Cecil. Let the good guys get it.”

Fielder does, $9.2 million this season. He is in the fourth year of a five-year, $36-million contract, a reason the Tigers parted with him. Not that he didn’t earn it. Fielder led the league with hit 51 home runs in 1990 and 44 in 1991.

He has 32 home runs and 97 RBIs this season.

“Lefties have had their way with us, and still have,” Manager Joe Torre said. “Cecil breaks up the lefties in our lineup.”

It hasn’t worked out quite that way so far.

The Yankees have left-handers Strawberry, Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill in the middle of the order and where 15-16 against left-handed pitchers before acquiring Fielder. They have been worse since the trade, going 2-9.

Fielder has only four home runs in the month since coming over in the trade for Ruben Sierra and minor leaguer Matt Drews.

“If he doesn’t hit a home run, or two home runs, every game, people are going to ask, ‘What’s wrong with Cecil,’ ” Torre said.

Torre’s answer is “absolutely nothing.”

“He came right in here and everybody loved him,” Torre said. “He’s a solid citizen and they sort of latched onto him. Sparky told me you need people like Cecil on your team.”