Sheff takes swing at Yankees

NEW YORK — Gary Sheffield, former New York Yankee and longtime firebrand says Joe Torre treated black players and white players differently while he was with the team, although when asked whether his former manager with the Yankees is a racist he says, "No."

Sheffield, speaking to HBO's "Real Sports," also says in an explosive interview to be broadcast Tuesday that his admitted steroid use does not make him an actual steroid user, comments that drew the attention of former Sen. George Mitchell, who is investigating steroid use in baseball on behalf of commissioner Bud Selig.

"Am I a steroid user? No," says Sheffield. "So I'm not going to sit here and accept that. ... The bottom line is steroids is something you stick in your butt. Period."

Sheffield, who needed an off-camera reminder that he received a letter from Mitchell requesting an interview last year, tells HBO's Andrea Kremer he would be willing to answer questions. In an e-mail response on Friday, Mitchell said he "would welcome the opportunity to speak with Mr. Sheffield."

Regarding his issues with Torre, Sheffield says many black players had problems with the Yankees, and he says the Yankees manager singled him out in a June 2005 team meeting to make an example of him, something he says he never saw Torre do with white players.

"I'd see a lot of white players get called in the office and treated like a man. That's the difference," says Sheffield, now with the Detroit Tigers.

When asked about Torre's relationship with Derek Jeter, whose father is black and whose mother is white, Sheffield responds Jeter's situation is different because Jeter "ain't all-the-way black."

"Derek Jeter used to come to me and basically used to tell you what [Torre] is all about, he's a good man, he's this, he's that," Sheffield says. "But like I tell Derek Jeter, 'That's you. It's one thing that they treat you a certain way — you don't feel what other people feel.' "

Jeter had no response, and when asked whether he had any thoughts on Sheffield's accusation, Torre said, "Yeah, but I'd rather keep them to myself. I really have no comment."

Speaking in the Tigers' clubhouse Friday in Seattle, Sheffield said he and Jeter were best friends on the team, and that Sheffield's son is also of mixed race.

"They're trying to make it a problem with him, when my son is the same. I'd say the same thing about my son," Sheffield said. "No one knows he's black until they look at the back of his jersey and see 'Sheffield.' "

Former Yankees outfielder Raul Mondesi once accused Torre of letting white players work through batting slumps while dropping African-American and Latino players to the bottom of the lineup.

Sheffield's steroids admissions mostly were a repeat of previous interviews. He has admitted that he used the "cream" and the "clear" — non-injectable designer steroids — in the past, including to the grand jury investigating the BALCO steroids scandal. Sheffield lived with Barry Bonds and worked out with the San Francisco slugger before the 2003 season and says Bonds introduced him to what he thought were powerful vitamins. He also says he suspected that when he saw the changes in Bonds' physique before he set the single-season home run record in 2001, he thought "something illegal is going on."

Sheffield says he doesn't know what Bonds was using, but "I'm just like everybody else: the red flag goes up when I see something [that[ looks strange."

As he has said before, Sheffield blames Bonds for introducing him to BALCO, and says his longtime friend misled him.

"Look," he says, "I trusted that man."

Sheffield also said Friday he felt disrespected from the time he arrived in New York, claiming early in his New York tenure that Torre said the Yankees should have instead acquired Vladimir Guerrero.

"When you're hearing that from your manager when you are out there busting your butt for him, that's disrespectful," Sheffield said. "But no one came to my defense to say it was disrespectful."