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NEW YORK -- Mark Teixeira sat down with his wife on Dec. 12 to have dinner, his regular Friday "date night" with Leigh at the Vaquero Club in Westlake, Texas.
"I'd been asking her for weeks and weeks, Where do you want to go? Where do you want me to play?" he related. "And she said, 'I want you to be happy. I just want you to be happy.' And finally, she said, 'I want you to be a Yankee.' So that's when it was done. And once we got the contract figured out, it was a no-brainer."
"The Yankees hadn't made their decision yet, but that's when we made our decision," he said with a laugh.
"He was pushing me for an answer. I gave it," Leigh said, giggling. "I always loved New York, and I thought it would be really special for him to be a Yankee."
The free-agent first baseman officially joined the Yankees on Tuesday, finalizing a $180 million, eight-year deal initially agreed to Dec. 23, pending contract language and a physical. Teixeira's news conference might have been the last big event at old Yankee Stadium -- the team is set to move on Jan. 23 across 161st Street to its new $1.3 billion ballpark. Workers were wheeling whirlpools out of the visiting clubhouse Tuesday in anticipation of the move.
Teixeira had first been to Yankee Stadium when he was 8 or 9 years old. Don Mattingly was his favorite player, and Teixeira admitted, "I was in awe."
"I was sad to see this place go," he said wistfully. "I think everyone is going to miss Yankee Stadium."
Now 28, he already is thinking ahead to April 16, when New York hosts Cleveland in the first opening day at the new ballpark.
"You know what the coolest part is going to be?" he said. "I'm going to get a chance to be the first first baseman that the Yankees have in the new stadium. And, you know, the Bleacher Bums in right are going to do the roll call. That's going to be pretty sweet. Hopefully, we're going to be four games up in the division at the time, and are already rolling, and the fans here in New York will be pumped."
Teixeira is a notoriously slow starter, batting .254 through April and averaging three homers and 11 RBI in the first month of the season. But on his first day in pinstripes, he said all the right things. He sounded at home, referring to Derek Jeter as "DJ" and saying the captain was "one of the greatest Yankees of all-time."
"I have yet to tap my potential," Teixeira said. "I haven't accomplished anything yet. I don't have a World Series ring on my finger."
The timing of his decision might be news to the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, who also sought to sign Teixeira. He met with Red Sox officials on Dec. 18.
"There was no mention of the Yankees, but we felt all along that they were going to get the last call. That's what you deal with in working with Scott," Red Sox owner John Henry wrote Tuesday night in an e-mail to the Associated Press.
