NEW YORK -- They told Mel Stottlemyre it was just another Old-Timers' Day. That the '30' painted on the Yankee Stadium grass was Willie Randolph's, not his. That they'd introduce him with everybody else.
Stottlemyre, who had to convince his oncologist to let him fly to New York, sat in the Yankees' dugout as Randolph received his Monument Park plaque. He watched as his fellow Old-Timers were introduced, a history of the club unfurling in front of him.
He waited for his name to be called until he was the last one left.
"I was sitting there by myself, and I actually thought they forgot me," he said.