What comes around goes around.
Joe Torre is under fire for his new book, detailing his years as the Yankees manager. His revelations that Alex Rodriguez was called ‘A-Fraud’ and details on his strained relations with Yankee GM Brian Cashman are causing people to fire back at Torre, accusing him of being a hypocrite who’s using the book to settle scores, make money and promote his own agenda – not necessarily in that order. But in doing so, his legacy in NY – four World Series wins – becomes obscured by his own pettiness.
In 2003, David Wells wrote a book about life on the Yankees. Torre was reportedly furious that Wells would air the Yankees dirty laundry, and the team ended up fining him $100,000. Yet now Torre is doing the same thing – throwing his former team members under the bus.
Torre is trying to backtrack on some of the statements from the book, saying they are from writer Tom Verducci, but it’s got his name on it, he approved what was written.
Ironically, his book, which he no doubt meant to settle some scores and promote his own legacy, will only diminish his stature amongst baseball people.
Here’s some reaction on the book from around the web:
Some of the Yankees who found themselves on the receiving end of Joe Torre’s seething scowl called it “The Stare” — his face tight, his mouth frozen into a horizontal line, his dark eyes seemingly blackened by a slight inward tilt of his eyebrows. The Stare was reserved for capital offenses, for missing signs, for awful decisions. Reporters sometimes got The Stare as well, most often when they asked questions Torre deemed to be driven by a quest for sensationalism, and the manager would chastise them bluntly, the way a fourth-grade teacher speaks to a wayward pupil. When I covered the team for The New York Times, he expressed particular distaste for ESPN, especially after Roger Clemens’ beaning of Mike Piazza and the subsequent bat-throwing incident, because he felt the network replayed the ugliness over and over only to sell its programming. In an honest moment today, Torre would aim The Scowl again — into a mirror. Because this time, Torre is guilty of fostering and feeding on sensationalism, at the expense of former colleagues. – From ESPN
It turns out that Alex Rodriguez wasn’t the only player Joe Torre slammed in his book, “The Yankee Years.” It is clear, the Daily News found after obtaining a copy of the book, that the ex-Yankee manager didn’t hold back in his criticism of certain players on the teams that stopped winning championships for him after the 2000 season. Neither was he shy about detailing disagreements and personality conflicts with the front office, primarily GM Brian Cashman and team president Randy Levine. – From NY Daily News
As hype and controversy continues to build around Joe Torre’s book “The Yankee Years,” it would seem everyone around the team has something to say. Today, former New York Yankees players and Joe Torre himself are delivering their opinions. Torre spoke directly to the New York Times and said the story of him feeling “betrayed” by Yankees GM Brian Cashman was not part of his book. – From NJ.com
