Enlarge By Peter Muhly, Reuters Jorge Posada (left), Derek Jeter (right), Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte are the lone holdovers from the Yankees' last championship era, teams that won four World Series titles in five years (1996, 1998-00).  2009 POSTSEASON Pennant race: Complete postseason schedule. Photo gallery: Catch the postseason highlights in pictures. Bloggin' baseball: USA TODAY chose a fan blogger for each playoff team to contribute to our postseason coverage. Read their posts.

"You never know how many chances you're going to get," says the veteran left-handed pitcher, who spent the first nine years of his career with the Yankees before playing three years with the Houston Astros. "There's nothing I'd like better than winning a World Series with my friends here. I was born in Louisiana and raised in Texas ... but New York is where my baseball home is."

This also is where Pettitte found his baseball brothers: shortstop Derek Jeter, relief pitcher Mariano Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada. They have been the best of friends for almost two decades, teammates for nearly as long. They represent the lone holdovers from the Yankees' last championship era, teams that won four World Series titles in five years (1996, 1998-2000).

Now, with each approaching the latter stage of his career, Pettitte (37), Jeter (35), Posada (38) and Rivera (39) are gearing up for what could be their last run for a championship together. They will take aim at ending the Yankees' eight-season championship drought when they open an American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins today at Yankee Stadium.

In this era of free agency and eight-figure player salaries, it is rare that star players stay on one team, even with the game's richest franchise, the Yankees. Pettitte, who is eligible for free agency after the postseason, bolted New York before the 2004 season to sign with his hometown Astros. Jeter, Posada and Rivera have been Yankees for their entire careers.

"They aren't keeping us here just to keep us here," Jeter says. "We have to perform. I grew up with these guys in the minor leagues. It's one thing to play 17 years. It's another to play that long with the same guys. If we win, it'd be something I'd remember for the rest of my life."

Pettitte and Posada were drafted in 1990, the year Rivera was signed as a free agent; Jeter was the team's first-round pick in the 1992 draft. The group followed similar paths through the minor leagues in places such as Greensboro, N.C., and Prince William County, Va., but they didn't become a foursome until 1994, when they were on the Yankees' Class AAA team in Columbus, Ohio. In 1996, all but Posada were regulars on the Yankees team that won the team's first World Series title since 1978.

"If they get bookend World Series titles, it will add to the legacy they've already stamped in Yankees history," says team broadcaster David Cone, who was a starting pitcher on all four of the club's most recent championship teams.

The bond among the players has grown through the years. After Jeter and Rivera reached milestones this season, Pettitte and Posada organized and spoke at a pregame ceremony to honor their teammates Sept. 29 at Yankee Stadium.

Jeter reached 2,722 hits Sept. 11 to pass Lou Gehrig as the Yankees' all-time leader, and Rivera became the second player in history to have 500 career saves June 28. During his ceremony, Jeter received home plate and first base from the game that he passed Gehrig. Rivera was given the bullpen bench from the old Yankee Stadium and the pitching rubber from Citi Field, home of the Mets, where he earned his 500th save.

"I'm really proud I got a chance to play with you," Posada told them during the ceremony. "You guys represent what the Yankees are all about."

'They have presence'

The Yankees will be playing the first postseason games in their new $1.5 billion stadium, but Jeter, Pettitte, Posada and Rivera are reminiscent of another time in the team's illustrious history. From 1947 to 1962, the Yankees won 10 World Series titles behind a core of players who called each other best friends.

During that span, 21 players won at least four championships each, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Catcher Yogi Berra was there for all 10 titles; outfielders Mickey Mantle and Hank Bauer each won seven. Five others — pitchers Whitey Ford, Vic Raschi and Allie Reynolds, shortstop Phil Rizzuto and backup catcher Charlie Silvera — were on six of those championship teams.

Today, winning the World Series is more difficult, partly because baseball has expanded to 30 teams from 16 and a team has to advance through three rounds of playoffs, as opposed to winning the league pennant and advancing to the World Series, which was the system until 1969.

"The guys on the team today have been around awhile. The team is like the teams I played on," says Berra, 84, a Hall of Famer. "We came up through the minors. We were friends. It makes a difference."

Former Yankees first baseman Moose Skowron, who won four World Series rings with the team from 1956 to 1962, recalls how old guard players disciplined newcomers, including himself when he was a rookie in 1954.

"If you didn't play the game right, they gave you heck," he says. "Hank Bauer told me, 'Don't mess with my World Series check. We want to win. We want to go to the bank in October.' "

And they did. According to the Hall of Fame, Skowron's biggest World Series share was $9,900, and he says his highest annual salary was $48,000. By comparison, each member of the Philadelphia Phillies got $351,000 last year for beating the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. In addition, Jeter, Pettitte, Posada and Rivera have made a combined $502 million in annual salary in their career. But Bauer's sentiment still echoes throughout the Yankees clubhouse.

"They are the modern-day representation of what the Yankees are," Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher says. "They have presence. When they walk into a room, there's energy."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi won World Series titles with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999 sharing playing time with Posada.

Girardi says the four veterans are like coaches. Jeter gets on players when he sees breakdowns in fundamentals. Posada guides the pitchers. Rivera keeps order in the bullpen. Players go to Pettitte for advice on handling the pressure of New York.

"Derek will remind a player in batting practice to work on hitting to the opposite field instead of trying to hit home runs," says Girardi, 44. "If someone is talking about having to pitch two consecutive days or doesn't like the way he's being used, (Rivera) will tell him to worry about pitching only when they are called upon."

And Girardi says it is no coincidence this year's key newcomers — Swisher, first baseman Mark Teixeira and pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett— are having good seasons, thanks to the old guard's leadership.

Teixeira is an American League MVP candidate with a league-leading 39 home runs and 122 RBI. Sabathia led the team with 19 wins and is scheduled to start Game 1 of the Division Series. Swisher hit 29 home runs and Burnett won 13 games.

"We call Andy the godfather," Sabathia says. "He's been around a long time and had success. He's easy to talk to, and he's always there. I would definitely give Andy credit as one of the reasons I've had such a good year."

Growing up together

Nearly 20 years ago, Jeter, Pettitte, Posada and Rivera were a cornerstone of a different kind for the Yankees. Most of the 1980s were lean years for the team, so it de-emphasized free agent signings and started to develop players through the draft.

Pettitte was a chubby left-hander from San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College. Posada, from Puerto Rico, started as a second baseman. Rivera, the son of a Panama fisherman, was a starting pitcher, playing in the shadow of his cousin, Ruben, a top prospect with the Yankees.

And Jeter, from Kalamazoo, Mich., was a skinny kid who struggled on defense, committing nine errors in 11 games in his first season at Class A Greensboro (N.C.) and 56 errors the next year for the Hornets.

"I remember thinking, 'This is our first-round draft pick?' " Pettitte says.

At 20, Posada wasn't going to make it to the majors as a second baseman. So the Yankees converted him to catcher, a move he resisted. "Catching is a hard position," Posada says. "But I changed my mind when I realized where my career was going."

Rivera was almost going to a different team. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner didn't think Jeter was ready to be the team's shortstop in 1996, so he backed a deal that would have sent Rivera to the Seattle Mariners for journeyman Felix Fermin.

Gene Michael, the Yankees' vice president of scouting at the time, and Brian Cashman, the assistant general manager and now the GM, argued to let Jeter start the season at shortstop.

"We had long hours of discussions about it, and we told him that Derek was going to have growing pains," Cashman says. "We told him Derek was going to make mistakes and that he shouldn't watch until after the All-Star break."

While with the Astros, Pettitte kept in touch with Jeter, Posada and Rivera. When Pettitte returned in 2007, the Yankees lost in the Division Series to the Cleveland Indians. Now, Pettitte says, he realizes time is running out for the group.

"It's hard to explain what it means to play baseball in here," he says. "Baseball is really important in New York. It's the passion of the fans. It's just different."

Rising from disappointment

A year ago, the foursome was in danger of being broken up for good. The Yankees went 89-73 and ended a streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances. Questions were piling up about their health and performance.

Posada played in 51 games as a result of right shoulder surgery that threatened his catching career. Rivera had another stellar season with 39 saves and a 1.40 ERA, but he had offseason shoulder surgery. Pettitte, usually a strong second-half pitcher, had shoulder pain as well and went 4-7 with a 5.35 ERA after the All-Star break before becoming a free agent. Jeter was slowed by leg injuries that led to a decline in nearly every significant statistic.

"It was a major disappointment," says Pettitte, who took a $10.5 million pay cut to re-sign with the Yankees for $5.5 million this year. "I didn't know my future and what my future here was. My shoulder was in extremely bad shape, and I just didn't know."

This season, they know. The Yankees go into October with baseball's best record (103-59) and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Jeter is coming off a season in which he is an MVP candidate again, hitting .334, his highest average since 2006. Rivera, with 44 saves, had his seventh season of at least 40 saves. Posada caught 100 games and hit 22 home runs. And Pettitte had 14 wins.

"I'm happy for them," says Joe Torre, the Los Angeles Dodgers manager who was in the same role for the Yankees from 1996 to 2007. "Getting back to the postseason motivates them. They've kept the fire going. They like the excitement of the challenge."