Who better than Roger Angell, the New Yorker’s veteran baseball analyst, to opine on the strange
conclusion of the 2007 season, one which saw the epic collapse by the Mets to lose their hold on first place in the NL East, three three-and-out divisional playoffs, and the dismissal/ resignation of Joe Torre, who had enjoyed the longest tenure as Yankees manager since the time of Casey Stengel. As he writes in the Nov. 5 issue:
Torre was victim of a corporate midfield takedown: the decision by the owner, George Steinbrenner, and his nepotic front office not to
renew—or not acceptably renew—his contract, after the team’s failure to progress beyond the first round of post-season play in the past three Octobers.
Later in the piece, Angell writes
What has set apart the Torre era is not just winning but a sense of
attachment and identification that he effortlessly inspired among the
fans and the players and the millions of sports bystanders.
I feel sorry for Joe Girardi, or whoever becomes the next Yankees manager. That’s a tough act to follow and Yankee fans — tremendously spoiled over the last decade-plus — will not settle for any “rebuilding’ era.
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