Winfield Knows It’s Not Over Until He’s Out : Slugger Is Winning, but Steinbrenner Still Wants to Run Him Out of Town

There has been a war of wills and ways going on in the Bronx, and Dave Winfield is winning it convincingly.

He is winning it with standing ovations and stunning statistics, such as:

--The major leagues’ leading batting average of .419.

--A total of 33 runs batted in, also best in the majors.

--A .500 batting average with runners in scoring position.

--An American League record for RBIs in April, 29, tying the major league record.

It is an impressive list, but six weeks into his best start and one of the best ever in the major leagues, Winfield knows his opponent is armed with comparable resolve, that the war will go on.

He knows that George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees’ owner, will keep trying to bury him in bombast, will continue an attempt at barter, challenging his contract’s complexities in a deal that would send him to the Toronto Blue Jays, Jesse Barfield of Toronto to the Houston Astros and Kevin Bass of Houston to the Yankees.

“What Reggie Jackson went through when he was here was difficult, but this has been three times that,” Winfield said from his office at the Winfield Foundation in Fort Lee, N.J.

“I’ve seen the whole range of (Steinbrenner’s) emotions since I’ve been here.”

Now in his eighth season with the Yankees, often the object of the owner’s attacks, Winfield has had the book thrown at him in 1988, his own book, helping to make it a national best seller.

In the process, Steinbrenner may also figure that he has helped stimulate Winfield, helped get his adrenaline going.

Winfield doesn’t buy it.

“I contend that I respond best to complimentary statements and pats on the back,” he said.

“People may look at my performance and say that I have been motivated by Steinbrenner to turn a negative into a positive, but I feel that I would be performing even 10% to 15% better if it had been a positive situation to start with.

“I’ve had to spend a lot of hours and energy, productive time otherwise, on counterpunching and defense.”

Even so, Winfield’s career has been characterized by grace and style.

At 36, he is a five-time Gold Glove winner and an 11-time All-Star. Should he hit 30 home runs this season, he will pass, among others, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Johnny Mize, each a member of the Hall of Fame.

Should he drive in 100 runs, he will pass Duke Snider, Ducky Medwick and five other members of the Hall of Fame. He is among the leaders on several other all-time lists.

Then, too, there is the contribution of the Winfield Foundation, which he started with the San Diego Padres to provide bleacher seats for disadvantaged youngsters. The foundation estimates that it has provided seats for 300,000 youths, more than $200,000 in scholarships for students in the New York area and about $25,000 in computer equipment for a Brooklyn high school.

A manual written by Winfield--”Turn It Around! There’s No Room Here for Drugs”--has become the basis for a national campaign against drug abuse, and the foundation will soon complete a video to be used by elementary schools in New York City to help combat the drug problem.

The foundation will also conduct a youth conference in Washington in the fall and is now courted by corporations, as Winfield himself is. He owns a restaurant in Manhattan and several fast-food franchises in Virginia. His endorsement appeal is high.

Through it all, despite the success on and off the field, Winfield has been taunted by Steinbrenner, disparagingly called Mr. May, a pale imitation, in Steinbrenner’s view, of Reggie Jackson.

“For a long time I considered it humorous, a joke,” Winfield said, adding that he no longer does.

“The point is, what other professional athlete in my position has been put through what I’ve been put through? You can’t name one who isn’t on drugs or hasn’t been disruptive to his team. What have I done?”

In the 1981 World Series, Winfield went 1 for 22 and was hammered for what he hadn’t done by Steinbrenner.

That was his first year with the Yankees and it set a tone.

How many times has Steinbrenner said he regretted allowing his “baseball people” to talk him into letting Mr. October go when Mr. May was incapable of replacing him in the clutch?

Winfield has averaged 100 RBIs a season with the Yankees, but it is never quite enough for Steinbrenner, whose latest attacks were prompted by the revelation in Winfield’s autobiography, “Winfield, A Player’s Life,” that Steinbrenner failed to make contributions to the Winfield Foundation, despite contractual obligations to do so.

Though the book has been perceived as anything but controversial, Steinbrenner has portrayed it as such and attempted to use sections of it to turn Winfield’s teammates against him.

Winfield said he was “dismayed” by Steinbrenner’s response to the book. He said it is an “honest and open” self-portrayal and not, in the least, a “kiss-and-tell expose.”

For the record: Steinbrenner agreed to pay $300,000 a year for 10 years to the Winfield Foundation when he signed Winfield in the winter of 1980.

Steinbrenner reportedly owes $225,000 and is currently having auditors check the foundation’s books, which is his prerogative. Club and league sources say that when the financial matter is resolved, Steinbrenner will make another effort to consummate the 3-way trade with the Blue Jays and Astros. He had previously discussed trades with the Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles and the Angels.

“They’ve tried to trade me a half dozen times, mostly for garbage or guys with minimal talent,” Winfield said. “My position is that I’m going nowhere--not until the season is over, at any rate.”

A clause in Winfield’s contract allows him to be traded to one of seven teams, the Blue Jays included. It is his belief, however, that as a player with 10 years in the majors and 5 with the same team, his veto rights as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement supersede his contract with the Yankees.

Winfield’s attorney, Jeff Klein, said he was unaware of any new attempt to trade Winfield, adding: “So far, they haven’t made any attempt to trade him without coming to me first.”

Sources insist, however, that Steinbrenner will try to trade Winfield now, rather than spend $1.9 million to buy out the final two years of his contract when the season is over.

The Major League Ballplayers Assn. will file a grievance if Winfield is traded and the case would go to arbitration, creating the sticky possibility that Winfield could remain in pinstripes until a decision was reached.

There are those who wonder why he hasn’t agreed to a trade, why he wouldn’t prefer to play for a more hospitable owner.

Winfield’s thinking apparently goes beyond his business connections and genuine fondness for New York City. He will simply not be run out of town by a man he dislikes.

Winfield put it this way:

“I didn’t begin my career with the Yankees and I don’t expect to end it with the Yankees, but this is the best group of people we’ve ever had here, the best chemistry we’ve ever had here, and they should stop threatening to mess with it.

“I mean, I don’t like George Steinbrenner and he doesn’t like me, but it doesn’t affect my performance. I want to win a World Series, and this team can do it. Then we can sit down like gentlemen, like businessmen, and discuss the other.”

In the meantime, no vindictiveness? “That’s not Dave’s style, not at all,” Klein said. “He takes pride in his consistency. He takes pride in that the team is first and he’s contributed.”

Said Winfield, of his treatment: “You bristle, you steam, you fight, you take your lumps. Historically, it’s eaten at me. But you go out and play and avoid saying anything derogatory about your team. People said to me, ‘David, you’re not going to make it through the season with the Yankees. They have plans for you.’ I cleared my head and got ready. I knew what to expect. I knew it was necessary to do well. I knew the best defense is a good offense. This start has been enjoyable, but not easy.”

Never easy, but enjoyable because of the Yankees’ success and the support Winfield has been given by the fans.

“This has been the warmest, most welcome reception I’ve had since coming to New York,” Winfield said. “I know some of it has to do with the way I’ve started, but it’s also almost as if they chose sides in this.

“It’s a very good feeling.”

It’s that pat on the back at a time when the owner is trying to shove him out the door.