IN BRIEF : Yankees Sign Guidry for One Year

Ron Guidry, the Yankees captain who was let go in December as too old, returned to New York today, agreeing to a one-year contract.

Guidry, the 38-year-old left-hander who had led the Yankees pitching staff for most of his 12-year career, had been talking with the Toronto Blue Jays and the Minnesota Twins, but instead, he decided to return to the only major league team he has ever played for.

Guidry, a 20-game winner three times, became a free agent Dec. 20 when the Yankees failed to offer him a 1989 contract.

“I just wanted to know what took you so long,” Guidry said to Yankees general manager Bob Quinn during a telephone conference call. “Good things come to he who waits.”

For the Yankees, getting Guidry back was a complete turn from their plans to go with a younger pitching staff in 1989. Quinn, however, said that the Yankees always wanted Guidry back.

“We had never said we didn’t want to sign Ron Guidry,” Quinn said. “In fact, I don’t think we saw the real Ron Guidry in 1988.”

Guidry missed the first half of the 1988 season while recovering from shoulder surgery. He went 2-3 with a 4.18 earned-run average in 56 innings.