| Andrew Perna. 13th March, 2009 - 4:01 pm
 As a resident of the tristate area and an avid follower of the Yankees, I could barely contain my excitement when I finally got my hands on a copy of “The Yankee Years” by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.
In the weeks leading up to the book’s release, many of the comments Torre made provided headlines from New York City all the way to Chávez Ravine.
Sitting down with the book for the first time, I armed myself with a pen and notepad ready for pages upon pages of comments in reaction to the juicy nuggets I’d find in each paragraph. I even read each chapter twice, for good measure.
While the book was entertaining, and at times provided insight as to exactly what happened in New York during Torre’s 12 years as the team’s manager, it was highly overhyped. The buildup was unquestionably by design, so Torre and Verducci could pump up the sales of their Doubleday publication.
Verducci quotes Torre constantly throughout the book, but the framework is much different than a casual observer might believe. It’s well constructed, with Verducci showcasing how much baseball changed during Torre’s tenure as the manager of the Yankees. In the process, Torre, as expected, pulls no punches.
The overwhelming theme of the book is the downfall of the Bombers, and the rise of teams like the Indians and the rival Red Sox. The front office, mainly general manager Brian Cashman, is portrayed very negatively, while George Steinbrenner, for all his transgressions and demands, is often regarded in a positive light.
Not surprisingly, Torre rarely said anything negative about any of the players that helped him win four World Series titles. The same, however, can not be said about virtually anyone who came to New York after the team’s championship win over the Mets in 2000.
Torre thinks of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada as sons, and had only good things to say about his shortstop and catcher. David Cone and Paul O’Neill are “gamers” and earned their manager’s respect for their hard work, intensity and dedication.
David Wells and Roger Clemens are the only members of a Yankees’ championship team that drew any off-putting comments from Torre in the pages of the book. He called Wells “lazy” and Clemens “needy and insecure.” He lumped Jeff Weaver and Sidney Ponson into the lazy category, and often touched on the similar egos of Clemens and Alex Rodriguez.
He enlightened us a little bit on how vastly Chuck Knoblauch was afraid to fail, as was the infamous Kevin Brown later down the line. He also talked favorably about Andy Pettitte and Bernie Williams, who appeared to indirectly trigger the breakdown in the relationship between Torre and Cashman. It’s public knowledge that Torre wanted to bring Williams back after the 2006 season, but Cashman found him ineffective.
Torre didn’t “endorse” the acquisitions of Randy Johnson and Jason Giambi. Johnson couldn’t handle the media attention in New York, and his feud with Posada was a lot more intense than the Yankees let on during his time in pinstripes. Giambi, who got along well with Torre, was at times considered to be a clubhouse leader.
Brown and Carl Pavano, two high-priced pitchers that were horrible failures in New York, are rightfully showcased as the perfect examples of what has been wrong with the Yankees this decade. The players despised both Brown and Pavano, and Mike Mussina’s utter distain for “15-Day Pavano” is one of the most entertaining aspects of the entire book.
As badly as Steinbrenner made things for Torre at times, they had a love/hate relationship. It’s repeated multiple times in the book that Torre wouldn’t refer to the owner as the customary “Mr. Steinbrenner”, preferring “George” and “Boss,” which in my opinion was just Torre stoking his own ego.
The declining health of Steinbrenner, coupled with the rise of Cashman in the front office, was, without a doubt, the reason Torre is managing in Los Angeles and not New York right now. Torre accuses the team of giving YES Network reporter Kim Jones questions to undermine him following games, and took shots at Cashman’s reliance on numbers over “heart” and intuition.
Often, Verducci contradicts Torre’s opinion. He highlights and praises the work of the Athletics, Indians and Red Sox recently, specifically touching on their statistical analysis, but throughout Torre questions Cashman’s attempts to follow what Verducci plainly states has worked on numerous occasions.
Rodriguez is obviously the hottest topic in the book, getting an entire chapter dedicated to his “diva” persona.
Torre commends Rodriguez for living up to the billing right out of the gates as a Major League player, but states that the Yankees “changed” when the shortstop-turned-third baseman came to the Bronx.
“When Alex came over it became strained in the clubhouse,” Torre says in the book. “I can’t tell you for sure who you can put finger on there, or if it was just one of those things that was pretty much unavoidable with the strong personalities.”
A-Rod’s inability to hit in the clutch has been well-documented, but Torre “reveals” just how vain the third baseman really is in the batter’s box.
“When it comes to a key situation,” Torre says, “he can’t get himself to concern himself with getting the job done, instead of how it looks.”
Torre very often discusses Rodriguez’s focus on individual statistics rather than the team’s success, and his inability to leave both his ego and self-consciousness at home.
“There’s a sort of trust, a trust and commitment thing that has to allow yourself to fail,” Torre observes. “Allow yourself to be embarrassed. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. And sometimes players aren’t willing to do that. They have a reputation to uphold. They have to have an answer for it. It’s an ego thing.”
Rodriguez was knocked at any opportunity within the book’s 482 pages. Torre says that he often asked Jeter to speak up during meetings, but A-Rod would “never” address his teammates, even when Torre urged him to do so.
Torre takes his final shot at Rodriguez when discussing the moments after his final game with the Yankees. The loss, coming in Game 4 of the 2007 ALDS against the Indians, only officially became his last game as Yankee manager a few weeks later, but the players were well aware that his tenure was over.
He mentions several players “coming to say goodbye” as he sat in his office following the season-ending loss, including a tearful farewell from the young Joba Chamberlain. However, he also takes the time to reveal that A-Rod failed to say goodbye to him in the wake of the defeat.
Overall, the book is a must-read for anyone who follows the Yankees, Torre, or really anyone that loves baseball and a good drama. I like to compare the Yankees to the Corleone family, and “The Yankees Years” only feeds into the belief that the franchise is as dramatic as they come.
When reading, I actually was waiting for Torre to call up Cashman and say, “you’re dead to me” or compare A-Rod to Fredo.
With that said, don’t sit down with the book expecting to be shocked and appalled by every sentence. The bits and pieces that were “leaked” prior to the public release were really the juiciest nuggets. It wasn’t unlike a theatrical trailer, highlighting the funniest and most action-packed scenes from a movie.
Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM’s Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com |
