While Key Pitches, His Wife Controls Money in Family

Jimmy Key had just allowed another hit to another Seattle Mariner in what was about the only off-Key game of his splendid season, and his peppy wife/agent Cindy was fretting. “Oh no,” she blurted nervously, as their lively 3-year-old girl Jordan popped around the Yankee Stadium players wives’ section.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Key, as usual, was showing no emotion. He has almost no weaknesses, and he never shows any weakness.

Cindy summed up her husband in one fitting, made-up word: “Uncrush-able.” Jimmy Key can’t be crushed. He has been that way since he and Cindy became Clemson University sweethearts a decade ago, when she was a scholarship swimmer and he a big-league hopeful.

As Jimmy’s wife, the outgoing Cindy can become annoyed and frustrated by his stony exterior and his seeming inability to feel anything beyond his pitching grip.

As Jimmy’s agent, Cindy encourages this mannequin-like behavior. Cindy, the only baseball wife who doubles as a baseball agent, possessed the business acumen to negotiate a $17 million contract with the New York Yankees while the Keys were cruising in the Caribbean last December.

“Jimmy has never kicked or broken anything in the clubhouse. If it were me, I’d snap every once in a while. I think that’s normal. I’d like to see some emotion sometimes,” Cindy said. “But I have accepted the fact that that’s his nature. If he did change it, it would probably be a detriment to his career.

“Because he doesn’t have an overpowering fastball and isn’t intimidating in that way, he compensates with location. In order to have great location, he can’t be overly excited or he’ll lose it. A long time ago, he learned the only way he’d make it to the major leagues is by control. That really made him into the player he is.”

It’s hard to picture, but Jimmy Key said he has presented this very adult front since he played Little League for his father, Ray, in Huntsville, Ala. Key did insist, “Sometimes I get mad.” He estimated it has happened six times in 10 years. However, he could not recall one of those times.

Cindy said, “I think sometimes it’s healthier to get things out in the clear. His dad has ulcers. His sister has ulcers. They’re all the same. They bury their problems.”

The sleepy-eyed Key can appear aloof, but he does not lack intensity. He is not averse to throwing fastballs inside, and that is true, too, in his front-office dealings. Toronto Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick said he never has had a player more opinionated than Key. During their failed negotiations last winter, Key identified about half a dozen Jays he believed were potential problems. Coincidentally or not, not one of those players was brought back to Toronto.

Cindy, in her wife’s role, teases him, calling him “almost lifeless,” because he doesn’t respond to tear-jerker movies such as “Gorillas in the Mist.” “She was bawling,” Jimmy recalled. “She gets on me, because I’m just sitting there. She’ll say, ‘You have no emotions.’ She’ll say, ‘You’re dead.’

“That’s a girl thing. Probably a million people have gone to the movies and never cried. She looks at it like it’s our neighbors up there. I look at it like it’s not real.”

Uncrushable, Key also has been virtually unstoppable since signing that four-year, $17 million Caribbean holiday contract. When news of the signing reached his Caribbean co-cruisers, many of whom were New Yorkers, Key received a dinnertime standing ovation. Potentially the club’s best free-agent signee since the days of Dave Winfield and Reggie Jackson, Key, 32, is 12-4 with an American League-best 2.62 ERA. Key makes his next start Thursday afternoon against the Blue Jays.

Did anyone really believe Key would be fazed by New York City? He had heard horror stories about George Steinbrenner from former Jays teammate Winfield, and about the New York media from others. Yet, the Keys love their suburban White Plains neighborhood, and Key remains “uncrushed” by Steinbrenner and the scribes. He is thriving in the clubhouse, as well, where teammates respect his baseball knowledge and love his ultradry wit.

“The thing I couldn’t understand is that people couldn’t see me pitching here. If anybody’s perfect for this atmosphere, it’s me,” Key said. “I’m not trying to blow myself up. But my personality is as good as anybody’s for facing distractions. No outside factor has ever bothered me.”

Cindy undertook her unusual task because the Keys were unimpressed with Jimmy’s first agent, who negotiated a raise from $60,000 to $95,000 after his first season in the majors. By doing it this way, the Keys know exactly what’s happening. Plus, they save the 5-percent agent’s fee.

The Keys figured this winter he was worth $17 million for four years, precisely what they received when Yankees general partner Joe Molloy decided they must have Key after the club failed to land several other big-name pitchers such as Greg Maddux, David Cone and Doug Drabek. Molloy said about Cindy, “She knew all the facts. She knew the market. She knew Jimmy’s value. We had very pleasant conversations.”

Cindy, who has a business administration degree and a feisty nature, said, “Greg Swindell had signed for four years and $17 million (with the Houston Astros), and that was precedent-setting for us. Jimmy’s stats are better than Swindell’s. We didn’t feel that was unreasonable. Sure, in the real world ... but in the market you hear these numbers all the time. I don’t feel they intimidate me.”

Admittedly “conservative and careful” with their money, the Keys did not buy their first house, in Tarpon Springs, Fla., until 1989, after he had completed five major-league seasons. In his first multiyear deal, the Keys drew only $175,000 yearly, and deferred the bulk of the bucks. Cindy’s ring is normal size, unlike some others around her in the wives’ section.

Jimmy Key said, “Cindy could have had furs and diamonds, but we thought being on an even keel more important.”

About the most emotional moment of Key’s career came in Game 4 of the World Series last year, when he walked victoriously off the mound after a typically brilliant big-game performance, a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, and he tipped his cap in response to the SkyDome ovation. It was a rare display from Key, but he didn’t know whether he was coming back.

If he had returned to Toronto, this East Division race might be over now. As it stands, Key is a main reason it’s this close.

In a recent survey of managers by Baseball America, Key was the only pitcher named the best in the American League in three categories: control, changeup and pickoff move. If there was a category for best pitching personality, in all likelihood Key would have captured that, too.

Cindy said she’s seen Jimmy nervous only once -- at their wedding. “You can see it in the pictures,” she said. “His fists were clenched.”