Bro Retires

From today's NY Post:


BOMBERS LOSE FINE PLAYER, FINER MAN

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



November 27, 2001 -- PAUL O'Neill took a lot of fire and emotion with him when he left the Yankee clubhouse upon his retirement earlier this month. Today, Scott Brosius removes a large amount of class.
While the Yankees hadn't officially told Brosius they wanted him back, the 35-year-old third baseman decided to retire prematurely.

The Mariners also wanted him. Yet, there was an aching in Brosius' heart for his wife and three children, faces he went almost two months without seeing at the end of this season.

So many times an athlete's reasons for going away is that he wishes to spend more time with his family - and so many times, it's just talk. In Brosius' case, it's exactly the reason he walks away from a chance to earn more millions.

"It was something we all talk about because we aren't 23 anymore," Mike Stanton said. "We talked about it on occasion. He wanted to play, but he wanted to be home, too. His kids are getting older, and this past year when he didn't see them for a long time, I am sure that played a part in this decision."

Despite tying a career-high with 22 errors, Brosius will be missed in the field because he rarely made an error late in the game. At the plate, he was a clutch hitter who carved out a niche for himself as a money player in the World Series. In the clubhouse, he developed into a quiet leader.

"Scott isn't just a great baseball player, but a great man," said Stanton, who with Brosius and Andy Pettitte was part of a daily Bible-study group. "He definitely leaves a big hole at third because they are big shoes to fill."

The moment the Yankees dropped $17 million on minor-leaguer Drew Henson last March, Brosius knew his days in pinstripes were numbered. Yet, he understood his responsibility to the Yankees, who were paying him $5 million. In an era when "look at me" athletes smother the sporting universe, Brosius went about his job with quiet class.

"Scott was the type of man who, what you saw is what you got," Stanton said. "He never tried to make himself look good. He was about being a child of God, a good husband and a good father. He is one of my closest friends."

Even when Henson arrives with his powerful bat and overpowering throwing arm, there are going to be a lot of times when Yankee fans are going to see a play not made and think, "Brosius would have made that one, easy."

At that time Enrique Wilson or Henson is booting a ball, Brosius will be with his wife, Jennifer, and the kids, Allison, Megan and David, in his beloved Oregon.

On the day he found out he was going to be a Yankee, Brosius went cold with fear. Four years later he wanted to leave baseball as a Yankee because he enjoyed it here so much.

Brosius had one or two years left and would rather spend them with his family. Good for him.

Here's another article from today's NY Post:

BRO: IT'S TIME TO GO

By GEORGE KING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCOTT TO TROT:
Scott Brosius, citing a desire to spend more time with his family, will retire from basketball today.
- NYP: N. Hernandez

November 27, 2001 -- Deciding it was time to be a full-time father and husband instead of a big-league third baseman, Yankee Scott Brosius has decided to retire.
Brosius, 35, plans to announce the end of a nine-year career today via conference call with the New York media at 12:30. Ninety minutes later, he's expected to hold a news conference at Linfield College in his native Oregon, where he plans on getting a degree next month.

"Jennifer, Allison, Megan and David are the reasons," agent Tony Attanasio said of the Brosius' wife and kids.

"He is very dedicated to his family, and he has seen his kids grow up without him being around for periods of time and it's been very disturbing."

So one of the main cogs in the Yankees' latest dynasty goes away, even though the Bombers had an interest in signing him for one more season to bridge the gap to minor-league phenom Drew Henson.

Brosius also had a chance to play for Seattle, which is close to his McMinnville, Ore., home.

This past season, he batted .287 with 13 homers and 49 RBIs, plus a career-high-tying 22 errors.

Still, he was known for his defensive prowess. He also was clutch in the World Series.

He was named the 1998 Series MVP when he hit .471 with two homers and six RBIs against the Padres.

Despite hitting just .167 against the Diamondbacks, who will ever forget Brosius' two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning of Game 5 that tied the score, 2-2?

Even with this year's 4-for-24, Brosius' World Series batting average is .314 (22-for-70. In 20 games, Brosius clubbed four homers and drove in three runs.

"This certainly has nothing to do with money," Attanasio said of Brosius, who earned $5 million last year, the final year of a three-year, $15 million deal he inked after the 1998 season, when he batted .300 with 19 homers and 98 RBIs.

"I remember in 1998 after he was the World Series MVP, he had a chance to pick up about $1 million if he stayed in New York for a week. Well, his daughter had a soccer game at home and he felt it was important for him to be there and that's where he was. He told me the other day, ‘It's time for me to leave.' And he wants to leave as a Yankee."

Acquired from the A's for Kenny Rogers prior to the 1998 season, the Yankees really didn't know what they were getting. After all, Brosius batted a woeful .203 with 11 homers and 41 RBIs in 1997, one year after hitting .304 with 22 homers and 71 RBIs.

However, Yankee scout Ron Brand saw a player with velvet hands and an accurate throwing arm who, he believed, could hit enough for the Yankees to have him replace Wade Boggs and Charlie Hayes at third. Four years in pinstripes proved Brand's eye for talent is very good.

In addition to providing solid defense at third and producing in four World Series, Brosius batted .267 with 65 homers and 282 RBIs in 540 games for the Yankees.

*I was sad to read this. I am happy if this decision brings him
happiness and peace. Good Luck to a great player, a great
Yankee and a great person. He will surely be missed.

Yankees' Brosius to Retire

By BUSTER OLNEY

Scott Brosius felt the pull from his Oregon home throughout his four seasons with the Yankees, perhaps never more than on the afternoon of Sept. 11. His 9-year-old daughter, Allison, got on the phone and told him how she really wanted the family to be together, and Brosius fretted about being away.

His decision to retire at age 35 — which will be formally announced today, according to a friend — is surprising because he is healthy and showed last season that he can be a productive player. But Brosius is also a wealthy father of three children with the opportunity to stay home year-round, and within that context, his decision is easier to understand.

Brosius' contract with the Yankees expired after the World Series, and it was most unlikely that he would be back for 2002, with the top prospect Drew Henson preparing to take over third base sometime next season. Brosius, right fielder Paul O'Neill and the utilityman Luis Sojo have retired. The Yankees are pursuing Jason Giambi to replace first baseman Tino Martinez, left fielder Chuck Knoblauch will almost certainly not be back and the Yankees are considering possible replacements for pitcher Orlando Hernández.

Brosius played in the World Series in each of his four seasons with the Yankees, earning three championship rings. "He fit in really well with the winning concept," O'Neill said. "He used to come over all the time to my locker after we won a good game and talk about what a great game it was, and he might have gone 0 for 5. He genuinely felt that way. He was really, really a team player."

O'Neill was among Brosius' best friends on the team, sharing a partnership in a bridge game against the bench coach Don Zimmer and catcher Joe Girardi for a couple of years. Brosius told O'Neill he hoped to sign one more contract and play one, two or three more seasons. Brosius' retirement surprised O'Neill, who said, "But you know, when you get home after the season and you start settling in, it feels like a good place to be."

Brosius, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, played his first seven seasons in the majors with the Oakland Athletics, batting .304 in 1996 before plummeting to a career-low .203 in 1997. The Athletics, looking to shed salary, traded him to the Yankees for Kenny Rogers and cash on Nov. 18, 1997. The Yankees did not assume Brosius would be good enough to be their everyday third baseman; they also signed the veteran Dale Sveum, just in case Brosius floundered.

But Brosius batted .300 in his first season with the Yankees, driving in 98 runs despite hitting at or near the bottom of the lineup. Manager Joe Torre began to compare his defense to some of the best third basemen in history, saying he had never seen anyone barehand a slow roller and throw on the run as well as Brosius.

Brosius batted .471 in the 1998 World Series and was named the most valuable player, and he was offered $1 million as part of an endorsement that would have required him to stay in New York for another six days. Brosius turned down the deal and returned to Oregon.

Brosius never matched his production from that first season, hitting .247 in 1999, .230 in 2000 and .287 in 2001, with 13 homers and 49 runs batted in. But he continued to have a knack for timely hits, like his game-tying two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in Game 5 of the World Series this year.

The Yankees signed Henson in March hoping he would replace Brosius next season, and Brosius knew his time with the Yankees was nearing an end. He thought about trying to sign with the Seattle Mariners, the major league team closest to his home. During the World Series, Brosius spoke with Knoblauch — who joined the Yankees in the same season as Brosius — about what an extraordinary experience they had both had.

Minutes after the Yankees' stunning loss to Arizona in Game 7, Brosius sat at his locker with a small smile. "It was an unbelievable series; it was an incredible series," he said. "You'd like to think you come out here and win every year, but we played a good team over there. We got stretched through the playoffs. You've got to keep it in perspective a little bit. No one died out here."

Brosius took correspondence courses with Linfield College in Oregon over the past two years and will receive a four-year degree next spring. He occasionally joked about the possibility of coaching at Linfield College one day, a job he is free to pursue now that his career is over.

[Skipper Steve]

I'm shocked. Never saw this coming. I respected the guy as a man - and now have even more respect for him.

I always felt he would be an excellent broadcaster. I hope someday we get to see if I was right.

[willyg]

I too am shocked by this. Although I did not believe he would be a Yankee I did believe he would still be playing. I remember last year shortly after the Yanks signed Henson Brosius was being interviewed about his future, he said he really wasn't concerned about it. He was talking about how he won 3 World Championships, how his father got to see him be World Series MVP, how he got to spend time with his father before he died, things like that. He was saying that he is financially secure and that the worst thing that can happen to him next year would be spending it at home with his family.

Most likely the conference call will be on the FAN, will be listening.

[mainsr]

I was shocked when I looked up Brosius' numbers - Baseball Prospectus rated him as the No. 7 AL 3B last year, after Glaus, Chavez, Koskie, Valentin, and Halter. I assumed he was worse. Last year was pretty good season for him, true, but the AL isn't exactly swimming in quality 3B.

Just for the record - Scott Brosius and Kent Hrbek retired at the same age. Scott Brosius played 1146 games, scored 544 runs, drove in 531, and had a .745 lifetime OPS. He is, by all accounts, a good guy. Kent Hrbek, playing in an era of better pitching, played 1747 games, scored 903 runs, drove in 1086, and had a .848 lifetime OPS. He, too, is a good guy. But you didn't see the national press get all teary over Hrbek's departure. Shows you how overexposed the Yankees are. (Helps explains how Clemens won an undeserved Cy!)

[Skipper Steve]

I think it was because Brosius did it to stay at home with the kids whereas Hrbek did it to stay home, drink beer, and watch the WWF.

The kids thing is a better story.

[BuzzBuzzard]

Originally posted by mainsr
I was shocked when I looked up Brosius' numbers - Baseball Prospectus rated him as the No. 7 AL 3B last year, after Glaus, Chavez, Koskie, Valentin, and Halter. I assumed he was worse. Last year was pretty good season for him, true, but the AL isn't exactly swimming in quality 3B.

7 out of 14 is 'pretty good'? I haven't seen a curve like that since Advanced Macro Economics.

[mainsr]

Oh, baloney. It's because Brosius is a Yankee. Kirk Gibson said when he retired that he was being traded to his family. But I'll bet the press didn't run a hanky-fest for Gibson.

[nyy26wc]

There were years when ranking 7th out of 14 would be outstanding, by Brosius's standards.

[ChrisCary]

I think the interest and attraction in Brosius is that he was just about average.

The average joe seemed to be able to relate better to him than most athletes.

He played about average (except ro charging and barehanding), hit about average, ran slow, looked average.


yet he managed to carve out some incredible moments in his career, including the WS MVP and all those rings.

[sweaver]

Shane Halter rated over Brosius? Scandalous!

[Skipper Steve]

Originally posted by sweaver
Shane Halter rated over Brosius? Scandalous!

And that's putting it mildly.

[mainsr]

Originally posted by ChrisCary
I think the interest and attraction in Brosius is that he was just about average.

Then why does this threadt start with THREE separate articles about his departure? And don't say they're just from the NY area papers (although the Times, which is really a national publication, never gave Hrbek a similar send-off) -- there were articles like this all over the place.

As for his being ranked seventh out of 14 - I'm on the same page as you, Buzz. My point was that I didn't expect Brosius to rate that high. I always thought he was a product of the Yankee Hype Machine and that, even though 2001 was is best season in years, he was still a bottom-quartile kind of guy. He wasn't, at least not in 2001.

Speaking of the Yankee Hype Machine: Granted, I don't watch TV or listen to sports talk radio, so maybe I'm not in the loop as much as I should be, but it seems to me that while Yankee mediocrities like Brosius and Martinez get overhyped, and genuine stars like Jeter get turned into Honus Wagner, and Roger Clemens wins an undeserved Cy Young Award, some legitimate stars - Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada come to mind - seem not to get the press they deserve. Underrated Yankee? Oxymoron?

[Skipper Steve]

Originally posted by mainsr
some legitimate stars - Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada come to mind - seem not to get the press they deserve. Underrated Yankee? Oxymoron?

Watch them play every day. They both make so many baserunning and fielding mistakes that it negates - to some extent - what they do at the plate, IMHO.

Image too. Bernie hardly talks to the press - and when he does, he never has anything intelligent or funny to say. Posada looks like a ferret. All the other guys you mentioned, Brosius, Tino, Jeter are glib and/or pretty boys.

I say all this - - and, believe it or not, as a "Yankee fan" I root very hard for Posada and Williams - I probably root for them as much as anyone on the team - - I love switch hitters, they're both homegrown, etc. But, I to have to make the aforemention observations too - if I want to be fair.