mascan42
06-09-2006, 02:45 AM
Leyritz: I was taking 'greenies'
BY KEN DAVIDOFF
Newsday Staff Writer
June 9, 2006
In his April 19 interview with federal officials, Jason Grimsley reportedly said, "Everybody had greenies. That's like aspirin."
Count Jim Leyritz, Yankees fan favorite, as one of "everybody."
In an interview yesterday morning with radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony, Leyritz confessed to taking "greenies," or amphetamines.
"I can remember my first amphetamine," Leyritz said on the "Opie and Anthony Show," which airs on 92.3 FREE FM as well as XM Satellite Radio. "I was out all night drinking with Andy Hawkins and some of the guys on the team. I was a young player.
"I came in. I was hung over, sleeping by my locker. And all of a sudden, Mattingly came to me and said, 'Hey, you're in the lineup.' And I went, 'What?' He goes, 'Yeah, I just hurt my back.'
"Now I'm walking around, I'm going, 'I don't know how I'm going to do this. There's no way that I can go play this game today.' I ran into my teammate who I knew had some of the 'little helpers,' as they called them.
"He said, 'Take one of these. It should help. It'll take the edge off.'
"So sure enough, I took one. He goes, 'OK, you can take two, but no more than two.' So I popped one more, and I went out and went 3-for-4 with two homers."
A check of retrosheet.org shows that Leyritz appears to be referring to the Yankees' June 30, 1990 game against the White Sox at old Comiskey Park. In the best game of Leyritz's rookie year, he went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs.
Leyritz's memory isn't perfect. He started the game at third base, and Mattingly started at first.
Incidentally, Hawkins recovered pretty well from his June 29 night out with Leyritz. In his next start, July 1, he pitched a no-hitter, but lost, 4-0 -- with the leftfielder Leyritz committing a three-run error in the eighth.
Leyritz, who does some broadcasting work for YES, last played in the major leagues in 2000.
BY KEN DAVIDOFF
Newsday Staff Writer
June 9, 2006
In his April 19 interview with federal officials, Jason Grimsley reportedly said, "Everybody had greenies. That's like aspirin."
Count Jim Leyritz, Yankees fan favorite, as one of "everybody."
In an interview yesterday morning with radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony, Leyritz confessed to taking "greenies," or amphetamines.
"I can remember my first amphetamine," Leyritz said on the "Opie and Anthony Show," which airs on 92.3 FREE FM as well as XM Satellite Radio. "I was out all night drinking with Andy Hawkins and some of the guys on the team. I was a young player.
"I came in. I was hung over, sleeping by my locker. And all of a sudden, Mattingly came to me and said, 'Hey, you're in the lineup.' And I went, 'What?' He goes, 'Yeah, I just hurt my back.'
"Now I'm walking around, I'm going, 'I don't know how I'm going to do this. There's no way that I can go play this game today.' I ran into my teammate who I knew had some of the 'little helpers,' as they called them.
"He said, 'Take one of these. It should help. It'll take the edge off.'
"So sure enough, I took one. He goes, 'OK, you can take two, but no more than two.' So I popped one more, and I went out and went 3-for-4 with two homers."
A check of retrosheet.org shows that Leyritz appears to be referring to the Yankees' June 30, 1990 game against the White Sox at old Comiskey Park. In the best game of Leyritz's rookie year, he went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs.
Leyritz's memory isn't perfect. He started the game at third base, and Mattingly started at first.
Incidentally, Hawkins recovered pretty well from his June 29 night out with Leyritz. In his next start, July 1, he pitched a no-hitter, but lost, 4-0 -- with the leftfielder Leyritz committing a three-run error in the eighth.
Leyritz, who does some broadcasting work for YES, last played in the major leagues in 2000.