Yankees’ Torre Has Prostate Cancer

The optimism that marked the opening of the Yankees’ training camp after a record-breaking season and the addition of five-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens has drifted into the shadows as the atmosphere has been transfixed by images of death and disease.

On the day cancer patient Darryl Strawberry played his first game of the spring and the day before the funeral of Joe DiMaggio, whose death Monday was related to lung cancer, Manager Joe Torre left camp to begin his own battle with the disease.

Torre, 58, has been given a diagnosis of prostate cancer, which affects about 185,000 American men annually and takes the lives of 40,000. The condition was discovered during Torre’s annual personal physical in New York before he arrived in camp and was confirmed in a biopsy this week. Torre felt weak the past two days and left exhibition games early.

“I feel fine, and I am looking forward to taking care of this problem and getting back to work,” Torre said in a statement issued by the Yankees.

“Joe will handle this situation with the same determination and courage that he has always demonstrated,” owner George Steinbrenner said. “Our prayers are with him.

“It’s been a very tough week for the Yankees but we’ll be able to handle it,” said Steinbrenner, who visited Torre and found him in good spirits. “We have a great capacity of being able to deal with adversity. Time after time after time, we’ve done it throughout this franchise’s history. It’s built into being a Yankee.”

Torre is the third baseball figure this spring to learn he has cancer. Atlanta Brave first baseman Andres Galarraga has a malignant tumor in his back and won’t play this season. Marlin third baseman Mike Lowell, who was traded to Florida in the off-season by the Yankees, had surgery last month to remove a cancerous testicle.

Strawberry, who underwent two surgeries last year for colon cancer, is attempting a comeback while undergoing chemotherapy. Last week, the Yankees were visited by Hall of Fame pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. The day after Hunter left camp, the news of DiMaggio’s death at 84 reached the Yankees.

Now Torre--their skipper, the strong, quiet center of their renaissance over the past three years--has been found to be seriously ill. Doctors believe this is an early detection, which could result in a positive prognosis for Torre, who works out daily, maintains a balanced diet and is in otherwise good health.

“There is a really good survival rate when it is diagnosed early,” said former Yankee general manager Bob Watson, 52, who had prostate cancer surgery in 1994 and teamed with Torre to win a World Series championship two years later. “I’m living proof of that.”

There was no announcement by the Yankees about a course of treatment for Torre. The Associated Press reported that Torre will undergo treatment at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Steinbrenner said Torre could be back in three weeks, which would be in time for the season opener April 5. For the time being, the Yankees will be run by committee. First base coach Chris Chambliss, a former minor league manager, ran one split squad in Fort Myers, against the Red Sox Wednesday, and former Yankee and triple-A Columbus manager Stump Merrill managed the other squad in Bradenton, against the Pirates. Bench coach Don Zimmer, who managed four major league teams, is at home recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

“His children are going to be by Joe’s side, his wife, and, of course, the Yankees organization,” Watson told Bloomberg News. “It helps you through this terrible ordeal. It was just a horrible, horrible flashback. Everything happened just like it went through my mind when I was diagnosed five years ago. You’re on top of the world and you say ‘why me?’ The team just made a trade for him that got him one of the better pitchers in the game and here he is knocked to his knees with prostate cancer.”

Shortly before the players were to board their respective buses Wednesday morning, Torre called catcher Joe Girardi, right fielder Paul O’Neill and pitcher David Cone into his office to tell them the news and asked each to wait until he had departed Legends Field to tell the players. Girardi informed one group when it arrived in Fort Myers and O’Neill the other when reaching Bradenton. Cone told the players who stayed behind in Tampa after the workout.

Torre returned to his spring residence in Tampa and spent the day with his wife, Alice, and their daughter, Andrea, 3. His brother, Frank, who had a heart transplant in 1996 while the Yankees were on their way to the first of their World Series titles under Torre, flew here from New York Tuesday night and was by Joe’s side Wednesday.

Torre has a 302-184 record in his first three years as Yankee manager. Last year, he led the Yankees to an AL-record 114 wins and they swept the San Diego Padres in the World Series.

“He means everything to our club,” Tino Martinez said. “He helps keep us together day in and day out. It’s just shocking. After what Darryl went through last year, we just have to be ready for something like this.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.