Joe Torre stopped by Larry King Live last night to discuss the new #1 bestselling book on Amazon, "The Yankee Years." The controversial memoir has been drawing headlines over the last week due to Torre's candor in criticizing his former pinstriped players. Last night Torre stood by everything that's thus far been attributed to him, but suddenly the haymakers that he was throwing off the sports pages in block quotes came across like love taps through his laid back, punch-drunk demeanor.

Torre says he's not worried about the criticisms of betrayal that have been launched at him because he seems to believe that those written about will take it in stride once they gain the perspective of the context of the book. When asked about "the non-disparagement clause" the Yankees are allegedly considering putting in contracts to prevent future revelations from getting out, the manager said that he was asked to sign such a promise, but had refused to.

And there certainly didn't sound like any bad blood on Torre's part toward ARod, who he accused of having a Single White Female-like obsession on teammate Derek Jeter. Torre said that he texts ARod on occasion and that if the two met on the field, "There would be a hug involved."

The even-tempered Torre even took a moment during the interview to express how okay he would be managing an openly gay ballplayer and said he hopes to see a day when an active player will free to do that. Below is the intro to last night's show where Joe explains, "It certainly wasn't my intention to shock anybody. I simply wanted to put a heartbeat behind these players that a lot of people see as robotic."