It was so long ago that it could be considered ancient history, but the scene remains vividly imbedded in my mind, as clearly as if it happened yesterday.

As several of the reporters on the Yankees’ trip to Texas gathered for lunch on this hot July Saturday afternoon, they saw a Yankees outfielder, Johnny Callison, walking toward the manager’s bungalow at the sprawling hotel in Arlington, Tex.

Having been summoned there with no idea why, Callison knocked on the door, waited for Ralph Houk to open it and, stepped inside. Minutes later Callison emerged, a shocked look on his face. He had been released.

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The Associated Press’s mission is to report the news, not make it. The news agency’s executives will tell you that. They tell their reporters that. If I can remember that many years ago, I was told that when I started out in this business working for the AP.

The other day, though, the AP made news. To be more accurate, the AP manufactured news. It decided to have a do-over in the voting for the AP’s 2009 defensive rookie of the year award. The winner of the original vote, Brian Cushing of the Houston Texans, was suspended for four games after a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance.

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A story was circulating last week that the Yankees traded Austin Jackson to the Tigers for Curtis Granderson because they had soured on the minor league outfielder. Mike Francessa, the WFAN all-everything expert, probably gave the story its widest circulation.

Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, said he had heard the story. Cashman also said it’s not true.

“How can you sour on a guy who’s progressing each year?” Cashman said. “No Yankees people are saying that. I told Jim Leyland in spring training that this guy is going to hit. We just don’t know about his power.”

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