Winfield Expects the Welcome Mat : Baseball: He thinks he will get a warm greeting in his first trip to New York since being traded to the Angels.

He’s not expecting to get the key to the city or even the key to George Steinbrenner’s office, which Steinbrenner no longer needs after being ordered to relinquish control of the Yankees by Commissioner Fay Vincent.

But Dave Winfield is anticipating an enthusiastic welcome at Yankee Stadium today, when he returns to New York for the first time since the May 11 trade that sent him to the Angels for pitcher Mike Witt.

“I think it will be warm and receptive,” Winfield said of the reaction he expects from the fans who watched him ascend to the top 20 among the Yankees’ career leaders in half a dozen categories over nearly nine seasons.

“They might even stand and applaud. It’ll really be a combination of things--of me coming back after I played there a long time and did a lot for the team; and of Steinbrenner being gone and them knowing pretty much I’m the reason he’s gone.”

Vincent’s action was the result of an investigation of Steinbrenner’s dealings with known gambler Howard Spira, whom Steinbrenner paid to uncover damaging information about Winfield and Winfield’s charitable foundation.

Steinbrenner was fined $225,000 by Vincent in May for interfering in the Angels’ attempt to acquire Winfield from the Yankees.

While Winfield was deciding whether to block the trade, as was his right, Steinbrenner met with him and tried to persuade him to stay with the Yankees, though Winfield already was being carried on the Angels’ 40-man roster. Steinbrenner also attempted to talk the Angels into taking another player instead of Winfield.

Winfield agreed to the trade on May 16, when the Angels had gave him a contract extension potentially worth $9.1 million over three years.

One term of Steinbrenner’s punishment is that he can’t attend Yankee games unless he pays his own admission to the stadium. Winfield considered leaving a pass for Steinbrenner but rejected that idea as outlandish.

Or as an invitation to trouble.

“Since he’s not allowed back in the stadium, I’ll probably see him only if I leave him a ticket, but I don’t think I’ll do it,” Winfield said, smiling. “We haven’t talked for a while. The last time we talked, he got fined.”

Winfield, who will be the guest of honor at a welcome-back breakfast organized by business and civic leaders at Manhattan’s Tavern on the Green restaurant, has maintained friendships with many of his former teammates but says he has never regretted his decision to join the Angels. The 38-year-old outfielder is hitting .259 overall this season, including .268 with the Angels. He has driven in 53 runs, 47 for the Angels.

“I’ve talked to a lot of guys--(Don) Mattingly, Jesse (Barfield), Roberto (Kelly), (Bob) Geren, all of them really. I think they’re just happy to see that I looked content and happy. They hadn’t seen that in a long time there,” said Winfield, who was four for 10 against the Yankees’ in their visit to Anaheim Stadium Aug. 13-15.

“It was an ordeal there. It’s over. It’s over. I did my service and I’m proud to have done it, but it’s over.”

The most difficult part of his visit may be knowing which way to turn--and not just to escape the legion of friends and relatives who will clamor for his attention during his four-day stay, but to find to the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.

“I guess I’ll have to remember to turn left instead of right when I get in,” he said. “ . . . I’d like for us to beat them. We’re playing respectably and I hope we end up strong.”