The 120-foot Louisville Slugger outside Gate 4 -- actually a boiler stack fitted to look like a bat, complete with a knob at the top, tape at the handle and Babe Ruth's signature on the barrel -- seems to have been overlooked as the Yankees prepare to make the move across the street to a new Yankee Stadium in 2009.

"We do not have knowledge of what will happen to 'The Bat,'" Yankees spokesman Michael Margolis said.

"So what do you think about the Mitchell Report?" I ask.

Jeter doesn't hesitate. "It just sheds a terrible light on the sport. Now everything in baseball is steroid-related. Now everything is speculation. You hear people saying, 'Well, that guy must be doing it, too, and that guy.' That's unfair. I'm not talking about any particular player, but people are having to defend themselves against speculation. I think that's only going to become worse."

"Baseball is trying to clean itself up, which is good," he says. "But you're always going to have people saying it's not enough. You could say if a guy tests positive once, he's kicked out of the game for 2 years, and someone out there will say it should be 3 years. You're never going to please everyone." Then I ask, "So, to you, is using steroids or human growth hormone cheating?"

Again, Jeter does not pause. "First and foremost, you're cheating yourself. You're making a deal with the devil. You're affecting your health. I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell you, 'If you do this, 10 years from now this is going to happen.' But you really have to pay attention to what you do to your body." He taps his chest with his finger. "This is what I use for a living. Like I said before, you're only going to play this sport, or any sport, for a small portion of your life -- and I think you're cheating yourself."

Mike Gardner was returned to the Yankees organization on Wednesday after spending three months as a Rule 5 Draft selection of the Padres.