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SHEFF STIRS UP PENNANT 'RACE'
EX-YANK BLASTS 'UNFAIR' ATTITUDE OF SKIPPER TORRE
By JEREMY OLSHAN
Sheffield on Torre
'Black players had an issue with Joe Torre. They weren't treated like everybody else.'
July 14, 2007 -- Former Yankee slugger Gary Sheffield blasted skipper Joe Torre for favoring white players and bashed former pal Barry Bonds for violating his trust and dragging him into baseball's steroid scandal.

Currently playing right field for the Detroit Tigers, he unleashed the barrage of accusations in an HBO "Real Sports" interview with Andrea Kremer obtained by The Post and set to air Tuesday.

Black players are treated differently than white players, particularly at Yankee Stadium, he said, singling out Torre.

Black players "had a issue with Joe Torre," Sheffield said. "They weren't treated like everybody else. Even I got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought was unfair."

The Yankees said they had no comment on Sheffield - at least none they wanted to make public.

"Yes, but I would rather keep them to myself," Torre said. "I have no comment. I don't want to answer those type of questions."

Catcher Jorge Posada came to Torre's defense.

"He treats everyone the same," Posada said.

When Kremer asks Sheffield about the treatment afforded team captain Derek Jeter, he replied that he "ain't all the way black. Derek Jeter's black and white."


Sheffield said Jeter would try to convince him he was wrong about Torre.

"Derek Jeter used to come to me. And basically he used to try to tell me what Joe Torre is all about: 'He's a good man, he's this, he's that,' " said Sheffield, who was traded to the Detroit Tigers after last season. "But like I told Derek Jeter, 'That's you. It's one thing that they treat you a certain way. You don't feel what other people feel.' "

Asked for a reaction, Jeter said: "I have nothing to say."


Sheffield said the unequal treatment was not confined to the Yankees.

When he played for the Florida Marlins, the team sent him to a psychologist to deal with his "behavior problems." The one and only therapy session was less than productive.

"The first thing they said to me was, 'You need to be more like Ken Griffey Jr.,' " he said. " 'See how he laugh and have fun? I bet he sleep good at night.' I got up and walked out."


Sheffield said he never would have used any performance-enhancing drugs were it not for his former workout partner Bonds.

Bonds saw Sheffield's stash of vitamins, and said, "What are you taking that stuff for, it's stupid," he said.

"Look, I trusted this man . . . as time went on and we started training, I started seeing the control factor," Sheffield said.

Even though he earlier admitted to inadvertently using a performance-enhancing cream that contained steroids, Sheffield insists he's never really taken steroids because he's never had an injection in the butt.


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

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Even though he earlier admitted to inadvertently using a performance-enhancing cream that contained steroids, Sheffield insists he's never really taken steroids because he's never had an injection in the butt.