New York Yankees baseball player Mariano Rivera, center waves during a ticker-tape parade along Broadway celebrating their 27th World Series championship on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
(AP)
Johnny Damon soaked it all in as he shared a float with first-timers Nick Swisher and Jerry Hairston Jr. for the New York Yankees' championship parade through the Canyon of Heroes on Friday. The whole scene made him a little wistful.
"It's good he got to do it in his first year here," Damon said as the energetic Swisher bounced around beside him after the parade finished in the shadow of City Hall. "It took me my fourth and possibly final year. I am so overjoyed because you don't know how many times you get this opportunity."
Damon helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and played one more season in Boston before bolting for a $52 million, four-year contract with New York. That deal is up now and the parade is over, leaving the outfielder's future as one of the major questions facing the champs heading into the offseason.
"I think that's just the reality of our game," slugger Alex Rodriguez said. "You hope obviously as many guys come back as possible."
World Series MVP Hideki Matsui and left-hander Andy Pettitte, who won the clinching game in each playoff series, also are eligible for free agency. The fate of Matsui and Damon could be linked if New York decides to add another big bat in the offseason, and both have said they want to come back.
"At this point right now, I'd like to just take a little break and just let my body rest," Matsui said through an interpreter, after his creaky knees limited him to DH duties this year. "I think at some point we'll pick up some of the offseason topics that need to be worked out and go from there."
The 37-year-old Pettitte is deciding whether to retire or return for a 16th major league season to try for a sixth World Series ring.
Damon, who turned 36 Thursday, tied a career high with 24 homers this season and hit .281 with nine RBIs in the playoffs. He also had one of the postseason's most memorable plays, stealing second and third on one pitch during New York's three-run rally in the ninth inning of Game 4 against the Phillies.
