* More on the Torre storee

January 26, 2009

(Man, I wish I had a named that rhymed cooly with something.)

Can’t believe WINS radio led off some of its segments with the “controversy” of the new book. One person interviewed sagely opined that the whole media blitz was just a way to sell more copies, to which the reporter added something along the lines of, really? This tempest in a teapot was just a commercial ploy?

Anyway…

The New York Times followed up with a couple of stories today, including Michiko Kakutani ‘s review of the book (and how often do you see a book review in the sports section?).

A few upshots:

The Yankee Years does a nimble, if at times cursory, job of reanimating the long highlight reel of the Torre era…

The book does not hide Torre’s bitterness over his departure in 2007 (he was offered a one-year contract that involved a pay cut in his base salary) and takes a few swipes at the general manager, Brian Cashman, and some players — most notably, Alex Rodriguez. But the volume is most interesting in its thoughtful analysis of why the Yankees’ fortunes began to spiral downward after 2001, analysis that has been made before by baseball reporters and fans, but never with such insight and detail by a former Yankees insider….

What this book does do and does very persuasively is chart the rise and fall of one of baseball’s great dynasties, while showing the care and feeding it took to bring the city of New York four championships in five years. “There exists a mythology that the championship Yankees teams under Torre operated on autopilot, blissfully riding their talent and their will to preordained titles,” the authors write. “No team requires no care.”

Does Torre criticize his players and bosses? Sure he does. Is it a rip job? It doesn’t seem so. (Joshua Robinson blogs about some highlights in the Times’ Bats blog.) Consider this: How could he have written his story without such observations?

In the second piece, Michael S. Schmidt picks out the A-Rod-centric items. Even here, the relationship is not a screaming diatribe, but an honest appraisal of a manager saddled with yet another high-priced, high-profile, and high-maintenance superstar.

So what do you think? Will Sports Illustrated — where Tom Verducci is their senior baseball writer — excerpt pages in this week’s issue? Here’s an excerpt from SI.com. And here’s a Q&A with Verducci, who notes the book isn’t just about Torre. I’m still trying to get behind the style of writing: seems the books, although ostensibly written by Torre is narrated in the third person. I think I’m going to start doing that pretty soon: “Ron doesn’t like this book.” “Ron thinks this hamburger isn’t well done enough.”)

Tastes great! Less filling!

"Tastes great!" "Less filling!"

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1 BaseballinDC January 27, 2009 at 2:27 pm

All I can say is it worked on me – I already pre-ordered it, but only after learning that it will take a good look at the game from the mid 90s to today and how its changed.

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