The Yankee Years
by Joe Torre, Tom Verducci
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Book Reviews of The Yankee Years
Book Review: Like Bobby Knight wrote "A Season on the Brink"
Summary: 2 Stars
To say this book was a disappointment would be an understatement. Verducci (the real author of this - don't be misled by the "By Joe Torre and Tom Verducci") appears to have good insight into the Yankees, having covered them for a number of years. However, there is no question that this is HIS book, not Torre's, even if Torre claims to have reviewed it and to have approved what was in it. At the end, Torre comes across as quite bitter - perhaps petty - and Verducci as the classic second-guesser. The book is quite uneven in its style - jumping from discussion of players from different "eras" in the 1995-2007 period, going into considerable depth about some topics and skimming over others that, in my opinion deserve more a detailed examination (the primary one being why the relationship between Torre and Brian Cashman went downhill).
I imagine the nexus for this book went something like this. After Torre was unceremoniously dumped by the Yankees (and I don't agree with the way he was treated), Torre and Verducci had a conversation that went something like this:
TV: "Hi Joe. I guess you are feeling pretty bummed about how the Yankees treated you."
JT: "That's an understatement."
TV: "Well, I have an idea for a book that might allow you to get even."
JT: "Tell me more."
TV: "I was thinking about writing a book about how dysfunctional the Yankees were during the latter part of your tenure as manager. I could write in such a way that it would make you look really good. For example, we could gloss over all the managerial mistakes you made, but really emphasize the mistakes by the front office."
JT: "Hmm...I dunno, it seems like I should take *some* of the responsibility for how things turned out during some of those years where we blew things in the playoffs or World Series."
TV: "No, no, no! You see, that's the beauty of this book. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, I - I mean we - can spin things however I - I mean we - like. See, we can, for example, make it look like the front office should have known that Pavano was going to break down and be a worthless pitcher. All those things that happened. THE FRONT OFFICE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! It was THEIR fault, not YOURS!"
JT: "Hmmm...."
TV: "And you don't have to do anything! I've already done a lot of the research - in fact, I've been thinking about this book for quite a while. The Yankee Haters will eat it up. We can release little snippets of the book to the public before it's published - make it sound really juicy - to drum up sales. I already have this big mouth bullpen catcher who has provided a bucketload of quotes - even about stuff he probably doesn't know much about."
JT: "Like what?"
TV: "Like - hang on to your hat for this one, it's really hilarious - he calls A-Rod 'A-Fraud'! Hahahahaha! Can you believe it!? In fact, that's one of the things we'll emphasize - the front office SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that A-Rod would not be able to perform under the pressure of New York. And it was everybody else's fault - Jeter, primarily - that A-Rod was not comfortable with the Yankees. Not your fault at all. And everybody else - Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Tom Gordon, you name 'em - NOT YOUR FAULT! It's golden, Joe, I tell you, it's golden!"
JT: "Hmmm...well if it makes me look good and takes me off the hook...it might be an idea worth pursuing."
TV: "Great! I'll get right to work on it. You don't have to do anything! Well, I might call you for an occasional quote, but I - I mean we'll - write it in third person. That way, you'll be able to distance yourself even more from all the bad stuff."
JT: "This could be quite cathartic."
TV: "Trust me, Joe. My SI background makes me highly qualified in smarmy sportswriting! It'll be a great book!"
Having the benefit of 20-20 hindsight does make it a lot easier to appear smart. Just as an example: In this book, Verducci makes it sound like the Red Sox (and to a lesser degree, the Indians and other organizations) were light years ahead of the Yankees in terms of player evaluation. That may or may not be true. As I write this (June 26, 2009) one could ask "how is that brilliant Dice-K signing working out for you, Red Sox?" And you know what? Today, we have NO WAY OF KNOWING. But we will in a few years and then we'll be able to write about how smart - or stupid - the Red Sox were to dump all that money on a pitcher who may - or may not - have broken down because he wanted to pitch both in the Major Leagues and in the World Baseball Classic. Come see me in 2012 or 2104. This book is chock full of this kind of second-guessing. If that's your style, this book is for you.
I would have preferred much more that came directly from Torre. For example, how did he see the dynamic between A-Rod, Jeter, and others? What did he do to try to encourage better team chemistry? (It seems that he just accepted the good chemistry of those 1996-2000 teams, then sat back and was confused when the 2001-2007 teams lacked that chemistry - what was the manager doing? Oh, that's right - not his fault.) But, as I noted above, the thing I was most confused about was why Torre and Cashman got along so well for so many years and then, seemingly suddenly, Cashman appeared to throw Torre under the bus. What's up with that? A little more detail please - a little more context.
I always admired Torre and was willing to overlook his managerial gaffes - primarily his inability to handle relief pitchers - because I thought that, overall, he did a good job. (As Verducci notes in an 'oh, by the way' comment - even in those horrible years between 2001-07 the Yankees were 37 games better than any team in baseball). I thought the class Torre exuded was sincere. But in allowing his name to be put on this book, he certainly has led me to question my perceptions of him, both as a manager and a person. As I noted, I agree that he was treated unfairly. I just don't see the need for this book - at least not if Joe was as classy as he wanted us to believe.
My advice: don't waste your money on this book. Borrow a copy from the library or a friend.
Book Review: my team and my manager
Summary: 4 Stars
I wanted to read and review this book from before it was published when the press knock Torre for his treatment of Alex Rodriguez, his disappointment with Brian Cashman when he wanted a two year contract after 12 years of great success managing the Yankees.
Since that time Torre has been interviewed and stood by what was written in the book which the sports media blew out of proportion. What the media was saying about Torre was something I knew would be out of character for him and so I really wanted to see exactly what was written.
First of all, this is a book about 12 enjoyable years managing the Yankees. Admittedly the success of four world championships in the first five years was more enjoyable than the failures in the playoffs in the next 7. This book was ghost written by Tom Verducci and although it is endorsed by Torre, I think that the opinions expressed in the book are Verducci's which could be slightly different from Torre.
I found the book very interesting. I agree that the make up of the team from 1996 - 2000 changed a lot over the following seven years. Even though I followed the Yankee - Red Sox rivalry very closely over those years but did not know all the inside information about the players and their relationships. It was clear that the 1998 team was the best I have ever seen. Only the 1961 Yankees came close. The 98 Yanks hit home runs but were not a typical Yankee team. Like the Yankees of the 50s and 60s they were a team that focussed on winning but they did not use the home run as their major weapon. They had great pitching, the best bullpen and excellent defense. on the offensive sife they tried to beat you any way they could. That would be the little things like stealing a base at an opportune moment, taking an extra base, working the count for a walk and using the long ball when they needed it. Even Derek Jeter could hit a home run in a key situation.
I think that the theme of the book with a Tom Verducci slant is to portray Joe Torre as thee rgeatest manager in Yankee history and I am not sure I agree with that. Torre admits that his biggest mistake in his twelve years managing the Yankees was letting Chamberlain stay on the mound and take the abuse from the attack of the little mites that swarmed the pitchers mound. The losses in the 2001 and 2003 World Series are attributed to a general decline of the team and the change in attitude. In the years after Alex Rodriguez came the blame goes to his failure to ever perform well in the playoffs. I agree that there was a decline in the Yankees due to free agent blunders with free agent pitchers and the rise of the Red Sox from 2004 on due in part to John Henry, Theo Epstein and the movement to the sabermetricians (with Bill James being the top of the class and hired by the Red Sox).
The coverage of Rodriguez is not complimentary to him but is honest and fair. The Brian cashman thing does seem to show some disappoint by Torre when he saw his friend act indifferently toward helping Torre land a two year contract. But I think that maybe Cashman saw that Torre was making mistakes and that soon there would be need for a change in management. Girardi and Mattingly were both good candidates to replace Torre. I think he just did what he thought was right and maybe it was difficult to say these things directly to his friend Joe Torre. But the idea that Torre was bitter or thought that Cashman threw him under the bus were exaggerations made up by the media.
The character of the team did change. Not everyone followed Torre's philosophy and some players like Rodriguez cared more about individual performance than the success of the team. But ARod also has a burning desire to be on a Championship team and extinguish the stigma around him of not performing in the clutch. i think that torre is right to think that ARods problem is anxiety and the fear of failure which intensifies every time he does fail.
But I think Torre has made several tactical mistakes regarding decision about pitchers to bring in and the timing of the pitching changes. I think is started with the 2001 series when he brought the infield in with Rivera pitching to Gonzalez. I thought the infield should be back or half way. Rivera did what he wanted to do. He busted the lefthand hitter on the fist and got him to hit a soft blooper that Jeter could have caught easily from his regular position. Even with the infield half-way in Jeter could have caught it and they could have made a play at the plate on a hard hit ground ball.
It was a game of ifs. Maybe Jeter should have caught the throw to second the bunt. The bad throw made getting the out at second difficult but at least the runner would not have gotten to third base.
Of course the worst catastrophy was blowing the 2004 series to the Red Sox. That Yankee team was so close to going back to a World Series and probably winning it. But there were lots of situations where they let Ortiz beat them by pitching to him when they probably should have walked him. They definitively should have won game four and even game five.
I know it looks like sour grapes and 20-20 hindsight but I do think that in the latter years Torre got a little complacient and expected to win, maybe having a little too much faith in certain relief pitchers such as Tom Gordon or Mike Stanton. It seems to be the view of Verducci and possibly Torre also that the Yankee teams of 2004 and 2007 were not Championship calibre teams. I disagree. Despite the changes in the team I think both of those teams could have been World Champions and also the 2001 and 2003 teams that lost the World Series. It was a great 12 years and Torre may deserve some credit for the Dodger success in 2008 which made 13 consecutive seasons that he brought a team to the playoffs. But I think Girardi was a good replacement and I think he managed a good team very well last year. Unfortunately they just didn't have quite enough to catch the Red Sox. But 2009 with the new ace starters and Teixiera should make for a different story.
Book Review: RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "SAY IT AIN'T SO... JOE!!
Summary: 5 Stars
The first thing any true baseball fan needs to know... if you're considering reading this book... is that you do not have to be a Yankee fan to enjoy it. The author has done an absolute stellar job in encapsulating an entire genre of baseball history... that effected such an enormous generational change in the "grand-old-game"... that it's extremely hard to believe... that this covers only the twelve year period from 1996 thru 2007. Unfortunately for our former national pastime... and for all lovers of baseball... both young and old... the enormous amount of front page detail... and backroom gossip... and sizzling scandal... that is hypnotically... presented by this talented author... does not shine a kind light... on the men and game... we wish to idolize.
I am not a Yankee fan... but I've always admired... respected... and watched in awe... from the other side of the field... as Joe Torre... carried himself with such dignity... even when immersed... in the burning cauldron of hell... known as Steinbrenner. A lot of people may have forgotten what an outstanding ballplayer Joe Torre was during his playing days... in fact he was the *MOST-VALUABLE-PLAYER* in the National League in 1971 when he played for the St. Louis Cardinals... and led the league in hitting with a 363 average. Joe had been fired from three previous managerial jobs before the Yankees hired him... and this story follows Joe from his first day through his twelve... never dull... years as Yankee manager. These years resulted in six World Series appearances... and four World Championships. The World Championship that Joe won in 1996 his very first year as Yankee skipper... was the first World Title... the once mighty "Bronx Bombers" had won in eighteen years! You'd think life would be nothing but cotton candy and sea shells... after a debut like that... but behind the scenes... things were even worse than the dysfunctional family... that the tabloids portrayed.
What's becomes totally apparent... is that Joe's ability to literally be an amateur "psychiatrist"... and handle everything from a meddlesome owner... who thought he was part General Patton... and part Hall Of Fame Yankee manager Joe McCarthy... to multi-millionaire... egomaniacal ballplayers... to dealing with the untold masses of reporters and journalists in the media capital of the world... was nothing short of astonishing. Joe and his co-author pull no punches in describing the changing of the Yankee guard... from "old-school"... proud... pinstripers... like Captain Derek Jeter... Paul O'Neill... Tino Martinez... and pitcher David Cone... who despite not being a daily "position" player... stood up as a leader... in front of the whole team... at every crucial turn... these were the kind of players Joe loved... and he would do anything for them. As the core of these players left or retired... it was no longer the Yankees... whose mantra was... "A-DESPERATION-TO-WIN". When Alex Rodriguez joined the team... the author remains... a "stand-up-guy" in his writing... just as he was in the clubhouse. Joe shoots straight from the hip... in describing the major difference between Captain Jeter... and "A-Fraud"... Jeter only cared about victory... "A-Fraud" cared about his statistics.
Two major subjects that have literally changed the entire game of baseball are covered with "no-holds-barred"... the first is steroid and drug use... in fact according to the Mitchell Report... at some point during the 2000 and 2001 season... drugs were provided to... "Jason Grimsley, Chuck Knoblauch, Denny Neagle, Glenallen Hill, David Justice, Mike Stanton, Jose Canseco, Jim Leyritz and Andy Pettitte... plus... Roger Clemens. That's ten players... minimum! On a twenty-five man team... that's "at- least" forty-per-cent of your players... using performance enhancing drugs. And of course... that's before Alex Rodriguez joined the team in 2004... and the absolute *UP-TO-THE-MINUTE-BOMBSHELL* released to the public yesterday... February 7, 2009... is that Rodriguez failed baseballs steroid test in 2003.
The second major subject covered in this book... is happily... more positive... and should be of interest to all fans... regardless of their team affiliation... and that's the drastic changes... in the way teams... scout potential ballplayers... and the way they calculate... who they should trade for. This all came to pass... because of the advantage... in monetary riches the Yankees had over other teams. Competitive teams had to dig deeper... and use every ounce of knowledge they had... to try to combat their lack of money. Quoted heavily in this engrossing analysis is Billy Beane of "MONEYBALL" fame... and the Yankees hated rivals... the Boston Red Sox... who completely re-invented the way to build a winning team. One such example was... "INTELLECT AND PLAYER DEVELOPMENT IS WHERE BOSTON LAPPED THE YANKEES. THE RED SOX, FOR INSTANCE, BECAME SO INSATIABLE ABOUT THE POWER OF INFORMATION THAT THEY DEPLOYED EXPERT NUMBER CRUNCHERS TO THE NCAA HEADQUARTERS IN KANSAS TO INPUT EVERY AVAILABLE STATISTIC ON ALL COLLEGE PLAYERS IN HISTORY INTO A DATABASE. THEY THEN CROSS-REFERENCED THOSE NUMBERS AGAINST THE PERFORMANCE OF THOSE COLLEGE PLAYERS WHO MADE IT TO THE BIG LEAGUES, AND FROM THERE THEY DEVISED THEIR OWN TABLES OF HOW COLLEGE PERFORMANCE MIGHT HELP PREDICT MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCE-INFORMATION THAT WOULD BECOME CRITICAL IN THEIR DRAFT-DAY DECISIONS."
I predict this book will become a modern baseball classic... as it digs into intricate details... not only on the field... but in the executive offices... which are now so much more tightly intertwined with scouting... along with the tawdry clubhouse... locker room... and "drug-den"... that baseball has unfortunately become.
Book Review: Managing people
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked the book because I like baseball and Yankee gossip and personal tidbits. It also filled in some holes about why they let Pettitte leave; the process leading to casting off Bernie; and the steps leading to Torre's estrangement with Brian. I also remembered much of the things that Joe talked about. The book confirmed my judgment that management does play an essential role - and that Joe needs to be blamed for much of the perceived [they were in the playoffs each year and did have the winningest record in baseball] failures his last 6 years, just as he got credit for much of the successes his first six years.
As a CPA consulting with clients on managing their businesses, I found gems in this book that could be applied to most any organization. Joe talks about the team's desperation to win in 1998. My most successful clients have that desperation - obsession - commitment - to succeed. It is manifested in everything they do and with every contact they have. That single minded focus - ferocious will to win - elevates the entire organization feeding more success upon each success. It is a feeling of entitlement to winning. Teammates so focused with the shared vision serve to compliment managers using peer analysis, advice and pressure to keep straying members in line.
Age plays a role in sports and an aging Yankee team couldn't cut it. I advise on management succession planning. Throughout the book Joe talks about the ages of his players - some of the later teams lacked a succession plan to younger players with the older guys holding on longer than they should - with the one guy they should have kept being discarded in a disrespectable way. Business continuity depends on it as do professional organizations. The Yankees' lack of an effective pipeline from their farm system and the utter failure with their draft picks stunted the internal growth that would have applied the proper training and development into the organization's culture.
The Moneyball technology and information systems brought new ways to assess players and assemble teams. The last to adopt these are usually the [previously] most successful of the group, feeling that they don't need to change their ways; and when they do it is with a catch up mentality with shortcuts and perceived arrogance that they are probably not as good as the old ways. That is the way it seemed with the Yankees and Cashman's use of the new systems. This is one part of the book where Joe blames others for the team's failures and I agree with him. Joe tried to apply a human element to the analysis and it was rejected. It seemed to me that Joe was right - and if he wouldn't have been right, it couldn't have been worse. An example is his analysis of why he wanted to keep Bernie while Cashman's "numbers" showed that a Mientkiewicz and Phelps combination would be far superior. Coincident to the IT systems is the application of new ideas and energy. This was illustrated with the story of how Boston signed Curt Schilling from under the Yankees. Also supporting this is the low days lost to players on the disabled list by the Cleveland Indians in 2007 versus the very high number of days lost by the Yankees. Aggressive new approaches.
A favorite story I tell clients is The Emperor's New Clothes. That is a simple tale of perception and how people can be influenced by others. Joe's discussion of the myth of the benefits of free agency is a perception fallacy. The book tells of the system's inefficiency where a team overpays for a great payer slightly past his prime with talent guaranteed to decline over the life of the contract. Also the teams with overblown payrolls like the Yankees subsidize the lower rung teams who are better able to lock in younger lower paid players with long term contracts removing them from availability until they reach just past their prime.
Joe places a high value on trust following set rules. Without them you can't have discipline and order and an effective organization. I have nothing to add to this - this is the way it is.
When Joe wrote about Cashman's seizing control of the baseball operation he described the methods everyone should follow when they introduce new ideas. Prepare a clearly defined memo stating everything you want and why, and the benefits to the organization. Be thorough and complete. Address every item that might come up and give your considered analysis. Put it in a way where the only response is a "Yes" or a "No." Unless you are living in a dream world, you will get what you want. I personally have been very successful with this technique, and have also used it to help clients innumerably.
Joe says that preparation and training are essential to winning. My successful clients work the hardest, prepare the most and practice to improve their weaknesses. A thought that comes to mind is when Chesley Sullenberger landed his plane safely in the Hudson River and he gave great credit to his training. Without the right amount of preparation, practice and training there cannot be consistent long term success.
The management aspects of the book shouldn't be passed over. Joe Torre took over as manager of an unsuccessful franchise and under him they appeared in the playoffs every one of his twelve years at the helm, winning four World Series. He was given a team to manage that he didn't choose and had to use somewhat unfavorable resources to produce winning results. Management does matter and there is a lot in his book that can be applied to every type of business and organization.
Book Review: Don't let the door hit the knife in your back on your way out, Joe
Summary: 4 Stars
At first glance it seemed strange that when "Sports Illustrated" published an excerpt from this book in a recent issue that it was the final chapter of "The Yankee Years." But now that I have read the book it makes sense because from start to finish the punchline that the Yankees let Joe Torre walk away from the job of managing the team pretty much overshadows everything that happens. It is like there is a subliminal message behind every success Torre had on the field that whispers to the reader "Can you believe they would ever fire this guy?" I started rooting for the New York Yankees in 1965, and for those of you without an encyclopedic recollection of the history of the team that was the year they stopped winning World Championships until George Steinbrenner bought the team from CBS and started playing his own peculiar brand of money ball. When Torre was hired to manage the Yankees I did not think it was necessarily a bad move, but I certainly did not think it was a great move. Any doubt that it was the right man in the right place at the right time, was removed years ago and "The Yankee Years" only confirms what seems obvious to everybody in baseball. It also reinforces the idea that the aforementioned punchline is not even remotely funny.
Joe Torre's name comes before Tom Verducci's and there is no doubt as to which of them has the greater cachet (I was always suprised that he was not the first manager that McFarlane Toys put out as an action figure in their quest to have at least one Yankee in each and every series). But "The Yankee Years" is much more Verducci's book; he is the one telling the story and making the arguments, with Torre providing period commentary. There is a sense in which the book reads like a documentary, and you can imagine the clips of Torre or any of the players and other baseball people quoted running. In fact, there are portions of the book in which Torre's voice disappears, and that brings into focus the other supporting voices in the story. Representing the "Before" and "After" perspectives are Yankees pitchers David Cone and Mike Mussina, with the attendant irony being that unlike the old Charles Atlas ads, the "Before" period for the Yankeees is the better one where they were winning four championship in five years.
As the years go by and Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams are repalced by Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, and Johnny Damon the reader is repeatedly reminded that these new players have not produced titles like their predecessors (I would be willing to bet that Brosius, O'Neill and Martinez are mentioned more often in the book after they had retired or left the Yankees than when they played for Torre, and with each mention they take another step towards being on the fabled plateau of Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio). It is not privileged as such, but for me the decision not to resign Andy Pettite is the line of demarcation and it has been all downhill for the Yankees since that point. That being said, despite Torre's refusal to blow his own horn when he speaks in his own voice in this book, Verducci makes an excellent case for Torre's Hall of Fame credentials as a manager, not just because of the seasons with the rings, but with the results he got with teams that should not have made the playoffs. For Steinbrenner and Yankees fans a year without a World Series title is an empty cup even if it is otherwise filled almost to the brim. This is presented as the stark reality of the New York Yankees, and although there is an obvious impulse to think it is not fair, I am reminder that in life nobody promises fair and then you die.
The villain in the piece ends up being Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, in part because George Steinbrenner's deteriorating health becomes an abrogation of the Boss's power. A strong undercurrent of the book is Verducci's indictment of Cashman as the GM, specifically in comparison to a couple of his counterparts, Oakland's Billy Beane and Boston's Theo Epstein. "The Yankees Years" certainly chronicles all of the bad moves Torre has made on the field, but on balance the good moves certainly outweigh. However, by the end you are hard pressed to use up all of the fingers on one hand trying to count the good moves Cashman made as GM, especially given the growing litany of overpriced broken down pitchers the Yankees have signed this century. In a lesser battle, now rendered irrelevant because of his admitting using steroids, A-Rod is seen as not even playing the same ballpark as Derek Jeter, and if there is a new indication of steroid use as a result of this book it is going to tar any player that demands his own trainer. It is unfortunate that Rodriguez's admission has become the unwritten coda to this book, but it should have been the final masterstroke of irony, namely that last season for the first time since before Torre took the helm, the Yankees did not make the playoffs, while Torre's new team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, did make it to the postseason. Yankees fans might not want to admit it, but it makes for a better punchline.