|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Playing the part Sojo not an unlikely hero; just another Yankee
Updated: Friday October 27, 2000 3:09 AM
By Jamal Greene, Sports Illustrated NEW YORK -- Is he really such an unlikely hero, the 5-foot-11 (yeah, right!) utility infielder who looks more like "Luis from around my way" than Luis Sojo, four-time World Series champion? Aren't guys like Sandy Amoros, Don Larsen, Gene Larkin and Francisco Cabrera plentiful enough for Sojo to escape that tired label? At times it seems like the Yankees create these moments just to keep it interesting -- Jose Vizcaino banging out four hits, including the game-winner, in his first World Series appearance; Roger Clemens finally learning how to pitch in the postseason, with a little help from dementia; Paul O'Neill rediscovering a long-ago lost stroke to hit his first two triples of the season; and little Luis, the Yankees' third second baseman of the game, winning the World Series on a hopper through a pinhole behind second base.
Doesn't it seem like the Yankees left him out of their postseason media guide -- he has a Xeroxed page attached to the back with a paper clip -- just to reward their media with an easy lede? Anyone who has watched the Yankees the past five years knew this game wouldn't hinge on a Derek Jeter homer or a Bernie Williams double. In four trips to the ALCS and the World Series, the Yankees have had eight different Most Valuable Players (this year it was David Justice and Jeter). Said Justice, "I knew Luis would get that hit. If you need a home run, Luis is not the man. If you need a single, Luis is the man." Sojo's story is straight out of the Phil Pepe, Team of destiny-type book that will no doubt be on sale at Amazon.com before you even read this. A member of the Yankee championship teams in 1996, 1998 and 1999, Sojo signed a free-agent contract with Pittsburgh last offseason. "When we saw him in spring training in a Pirates uniform, you knew he wanted to be with us," said a champagne-soaked manager Joe Torre. Chuck Knoblauch's recurring throwing problems and Pittsburgh's uncertain direction seemed to make a Sojo return a distinct possibility, until the Yankees acquired Vizcaino in a June trade with the Dodgers. When the July 31 trade deadline passed, Sojo was still a Pirate and the Yankees had a serviceable second baseman. "I was thinking about the Yankees the whole year," Sojo, 34, said. When they got Vizcaino, I said, 'Okay, I'm done.' I forgot about it. And when [the Pirates] put me on waivers [after the trade deadline passed], I always remember this, because I told my wife, 'If nobody picks me up, I'll shut it down.'" New York traded Chris Spurling, the Yankees' 41st-round pick in the June 1997 free-agent draft, for Sojo after he cleared waivers. Sojo batted .288 in 34 games with the Yankees. He started at second every game of the Division Series and the ALCS before being usurped by Vizcaino's play. When Sojo entered the interview room after the game, Torre smiled and said, "Luis Sojo can't play a lick." He was probably being sarcastic. Probably. It wouldn't make Sojo's heroics any less surprising.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
