Making The Call: Joe Should Have Stayed Slient

Photo of Joe Torre, George Steinbrenner, and Brian Cashman at spring training in 2005 by AP/Tony Gutierrez

Joe Torre left town just over a year ago with an impeccable reputation. He had led the Yankees to four titles and had done so with class and dignity. You may not have liked the team, but you had to respect the way Torre ran things. While the breakup between Torre and New York was ugly, it seemed like it would just take time to heal the wounds and that Joe Torre’s #6 would one day grace Monument Park.

Sadly, that seems unlikely in light of the revelations in Torre’s new book. In excerpts published in today’s Post and Daily News, Torre describes how A-Rod was known as “A-Fraud” by his teammates, how Brian Cashman betrayed him and how he felt insulted by the Yankees final contract offer. You cannot fault Torre for feeling angry about the treatment he received from the Yankees. George Steinbrenner has a long history of being impossible to work for and the fact that Torre survived twelve years under him is amazing, but you can wonder why Joe felt the need to air this dirty laundry.

Sure, the book will probably make him a bundle of money, but Torre has made over $50 million managing, so is the motivation really money? Maybe it is a quest to tell his side of the story and to settle some scores against those who wronged him. It is impossible to blame him for feeling the need to do so, but by doing so Torre cheapens his own legacy. Through the tumult of his Yankees’ tenure, Torre was always above the fray, refusing to name names or take shots. Now he engages his detractors and you can be sure that they will respond. Maybe Joe can brush away the criticisms that will appear about him in the near future, but what usually happens in these situations is that both sides come out looking a little smaller.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Peter Trinkle in News on January 25, 2009 7:00 PM

Comments [rss]

jaycjay

"The book is not a first-person book by Joe Torre, it's a third-person narrative"

Yet... Joe Torre's name is right there on the cover as one of the authors.

cary whittier

fuck the Yankee cry babies! spend more money and still not make the playoffs! boo hoo!

i have no sympathy for a team always based on bloated salaries and built on zero chemistry! Joe Torre was the only thing going for that club and look what they are without him! they clearly had no loyalty for the man in the end, so why should he?

the Yankess made millions during his tenure so why shouldn't he make a little exploiting the slim & greed that is the Yankee club! for once earn a playoff spot the hard way like the Marlins!

moorecor

Listen. I love torre as much as the next yankee fan but lets not forget that those late 90's teams were a product of Gene Michael's scouting and Buck Showalter. Joe inherited a pretty damn good team that had a heart breaking loss in the playoffs the year before. Love ya Joe but to bash the team that gave you so much...hmmmm.

jaycjay

I'm still sticking with this: I'm making no judgments until I can actually read the book. Until then, everyone's reacting only to the Post's reporting of what it says, and we all know that the Post approach is to sensationalize and exaggerate anything it "reports" on.

Homer2323

You obviously have no idea of the players on the Yankee Championship teams. They never had a huge player. Never anyone with huge numbers, like Arod now who sucks. They had a handful of good players, Tino, Bernie, ONeill, Jeter, Brosius, Wells, El Duque, Pettitte, and the real reason they won, Rivera. The yankees won 3 titles before even having a starter in the AS game. But, they were a team. That is why then won.

And lookie here, Torre leaves, and then what? No playoffs. Funny how that worked out.

longacre

That's exactly my point. The team Torre inherited was perfectly balanced and had amazing chemistry. A great manager would have maintained that chemistry to ensure continued winning. Instead, the team hasn't won in 10 years. You can make an argument that is partly Cashman's fault, too. But at the end of the day the manager is responsible for making his guys win.

longacre

Torre is clearly a greedy prick. He felt insulted at the Yankees' offer, where he STILL would have been the highest paid manager in baseball, even though he mailed it in the last few years he was there. You get paid for future expected performance, not for past results, Joe.

The fact is Torre is a mediocre manager. Buck Showalter and Stick Michael molded one of the greatest teams in history, and as soon as some of the original pieces started falling off, Torre was never able to get things right again. The fact that they had winning records and made the playoffs at all is a testament to Steinbrenner and Cashman stocking the team with an all star at almost every position, which should have made Torre's job even easier. Once Torre's job required some actual ego management and strategy, however, he was never able to get the team another championship.

As for the cancer thing...talk to a lawyer. Sounds like a blatant violation of HIPAA, even if he was examined by a team doc.

I hope his current players turn on him after this. How can you play for a guy that might snitch out all his players?

Homer2323

This isnt Torre directly speaking. These are not quotes. Its not a first person book. Its called PR...to..ya know, sell more books.

Says the Co Author, the sports writer who actually wrote it

Verducci: I think it's important to understand context here. The book is not a first-person book by Joe Torre, it's a third-person narrative based on 12 years of knowing the Yankees and it's about the changes in the game in that period. Seems to me the New York Post assigned this third-person book entirely to Joe Torre and that's not the case. In fact, if people saw that Post story they probably noticed there are no quotes from Joe Torre in it. Joe Torre does not rip anybody in the book.

NannyState

Thank you. Even if Torre penned these remarks, it's helpful to understand that book editors do everything they can to juice up a manuscript with red meat. And speaking of 'classless' and 'cheapened',Big Stein himself has lived by that ethos since time immemorial.

Mr Mel

Say what you will, Jose Torre is a gentleman and a credit to baseball. Steinbrenner and his children can't carry his bat. Martin & Steinbrenner,Sr., deserved each other.

blablanyc

The Yankees made Torre.

snoopydog

And Torre made the Yankees when he was the skipper. He didn't need that bullshit at the end of his involvement with those overpaid fools.

snoopydog

As noted in the article Joe doesn't need the money. It shows that even working with a bunch of fools he kept it to himself and waited until the time to expose those same assholes just to show the public that he was aware of them but kept his mouth shut. He was and still is class.

What would Billy Martin have to say about those fools he worked with?

Let's see what they do with their new stadium. Ten years down the road they might make it to the playoffs again. As New Yorkers are still making the payoffs for their new playpen.

Knarf

Cheapens his own legacy? Anything but, in my book. By talking now, he shows himself to be an aware individual. And by not talking during his employ, it demonstrates company loyalty.

Torre, we now know, was not a patsy.