NEW YORK - It turns out the other teams courting Carl Pavano didn’t have much of a chance.

“My heart was always with this team,” he said Wednesday after signing his $39.95 million, four-year contract with the Yankees. “Who doesn’t want to play for the Yankees? Everyone dreams one day to play for the New York Yankees.”

Pavano, who turns 29 on Jan. 8, was among the most sought-after free-agent pitchers, courted by Anaheim, Boston, Baltimore, Detroit and Seattle in addition to Florida, his team the past 2½ seasons. He told his agent, Scott Shapiro, on Dec. 11 to work out a contract with the Yankees, the team Pavano rooted for as a child in Connecticut.

Pavano remembered imitating the hitting stance of Don Mattingly, now New York’s hitting coach, and imagined batting against Roger Clemens.

“I’ve playing baseball since I was 7 years old, and I always dreamed of playing for the Yankees,” he said.

Pavano was 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA for Florida last season. He has a 57-58 career record with a 4.21 ERA in seven seasons with Montreal and the Marlins.

On Tuesday night, the Yankees took him to a Broadway show and he met actor Billy Crystal, who told him stories about Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson. When Pavano visited the Yankees before the winter meetings, New York took him to the hit musical “Mamma Mia!”

“I like just the fact that he’s standing here not making any promises to anybody other than he feels his that best years are ahead of him without trying to spell it out chapter and verse and trying to convince anybody,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “Usually, when you’re trying to convince other people, you’re basically trying to convince yourself.”

With the pitcher’s family looking on, Torre helped Pavano put on a pinstriped jersey with No. 45 on the back. Pavano joins holdovers Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown on a rebuilt Yankees rotation. New York also has a preliminary $21 million, three-year agreement with free agent Jaret Wright and is trying to acquire Randy Johnson from Arizona in a trade that likely would send Javier Vazquez to the Diamondbacks or another team.

Pavano, who is 6-foot-5, is impressed with the 6-foot-10 Big Unit.

“He’s probably one of the few guys in the league I have to look up to, in more ways than one,” Pavano joked. “I think he’d be a great addition to the ballclub. Who wouldn’t want to be part of a staff with one of the most dominating left-handers, if not the most dominating left-hander to play the game?”

Pavano was a teammate of Vazquez’s in Montreal.

“I’d be sad to see him go,” he said. “I played with Javy for four years and I know what Javy’s capable of doing. I thought he pitched great last year. He was a first-time All-Star last year, he pitched deep into a lot of ballgames, he has a track record of being a horse.”

Pavano told Torre he is looking forward to pitching in front of the frequently loud fans at Yankee Stadium. He’s looking forward to the energy of New York.

“I’m used to playing in front of 5,000 or 6,000, and it’s tough to get up for games,” Pavano said.

Notes: New York’s preliminary agreement with RHP Tanyon Sturtze calls for him to be guaranteed $1 million. He would get $850,000 next season and the Yankees would have a $1.5 million option for 2006 with a $150,000 buyout. ... The Yankees sold 234,717 tickets Tuesday, their first day of individual-game sales. That was up from 137,989 on the first day tickets were sold for the 2004 season, when New York drew a team record 3.78 million at home.

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