The Yankee Years
by Joe Torre, Tom Verducci
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Book Reviews of The Yankee Years
Book Review: Not just a baseball book
Summary: 4 Stars
Originally, I bought it because the hype about it intrigued me. I've discovered three things about the book.
First, it is interesting if you have any feelings about the Yankees, past or present, and if you like baseball. So, on the surface its a decent baseball book with some interesting dirt about a team I love to hate and hate to love.
Second, the press about the book is mostly wrong. I think that most of the writers either didn't read the book or they just don't read enough to understand much more than their own column or the script that was handed to them.
And third, and most important, is that it is useful as a managerial learning experience... about leading people and working with difficult people. Of course, you have to read it after you have had some reasonable experiences of your own in life. Baseball is not much different from other big business and managing players, bosses, and public relations is pretty much the same. The roid scandal and the changes in how teams are managed that have taken place are most interesting. Learning about Torre's management style and philosophy vs "George" is revealing but sort of what one expects. For example, the characterization of "the boss" on Seinfeld is actually pretty accurate.
Book Review: A very interesting and descriptive book!!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a good read, It is written in a conversational style and is very interesting and descriptive. I almost would call it a Psyco-History because we get some much insight into the way Torre is thinking and also the Players. About a 1/3 of the Book is Joe Torre's recollections of his 12 Years in Pin Strips. You get a lot of insight into his managing decisions, his relationships with the players, management and the fans. And a good year by year history and game by game synopses (some times play by play) in the Playoffs. About 1/3 of the book is about Baseball operations and Verducci does a great job explaining the rise and fall of the Yankees, the rise of Money ball, the rise of both Boston and Cleveland etc.,. We find out how baseball, in general, was doing and what teams were doing in those 12 years, including a good section on steroids (And other banded substances), and revenue shearing, the Yankees farm system as opposed to others etc., The Other 1/3 is basically interviews with the players going over all the same subjects, its all interspersed and laid out in time order. This is really a great book if you want to get inside baseball. It offers a lot of information for the Yankee fan as well as any sports fan.Book Review: The Yankee tenure of Joe Torre by Tom Verducci
Summary: 4 Stars
First, Joe Torre put his name on this book and may have approved of the material but it reads more like an analysis of Joe's tenure with the Yankees as written by Tom Verducci--with interviews by Joe included. In fact a few coaches, notably Mike Borzello and Larry Bowa, and pitchers David Cone and Mike Mussina, seem to be interviewed almost as much as Joe. So, yes, the title is a bit misleading. Once past that, this is a great book. It details how character was the factor that separated the World champs of 96, 98-00 and the under-achieving teams from 2002 until the end for Joe. While A-Rod comes across as a guy who "just doesn't get it," Carl Pavano is the real butt of jokes in the book, as he is painted as a player who took every excuse possible not to play and the rest of the team knew it. He also shows how Yankee execs stopped signing the character guys and started bringing in many bad-fits. Surprisingly Red Sox fans may like this book, especially the second half as Joe candidly explains how the Red Sox finally figured out how to build a team and surpassed the Yankees to win two titles. In the end, Joe is all class, even when he is critical in the book, and should make Yankee fans wish he were still there.Book Review: The Joe Torre Marketing Scheme
Summary: 4 Stars
I got this book because Joe Torre was one of my favorite players when I was a kid. I thought it would be interesting to get Mr. Torre's take on managing the Yankees. I found that, though this is a good book on the current state of baseball, it is not Mr. Torre's book.
"The Yankee Years" feels like it was cobbled together out of Tom Verducci's magazine articles. There are whole sections that have nothing to do with Mr. Torre or the Yankees. We get Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, and Mark Shapiro's takes on the "Moneyball" era. We get Rick Helling and Jason Giambi's opinions on the steroid culture.
These things affected the Yankees as they did all major league clubs, but this book is not focused on Mr. Torre, nor does it generally show Mr. Torre's point of view. In short, Mr. Torre's name was successfully deployed as a marketing scheme to sell more books. . This is not a bad book. It just wasn't the book I was expecting.
I believe Red Sox fans would probably enjoy this book more than any other group..."The Yankee Years" makes the New York club out to be a bunch of bumblers while the Red Sox are almost declared to be a new dynasty
Book Review: An Insightful Narrative On The Yankees in Particular And On Major League Baseball In General During Torre's Years As Manager!
Summary: 5 Stars
Verducci and Torre do a very commendable job in providing an insightful, realistic perspective on life inside the dugout, the clubhouse and the front office that demonstrates what it took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world during the twelve years in which Joe Torre was the manager. The book clearly portrays Torre's joys of managing Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and David Cone, as well as the irritation associated with managing players such as Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, David Wells and Randy Johnson. Further, The Yankee Years provides an interesting narrative on the constant meddling from Yankee executives (particularly from Brian Cashman, who in Torre's final years helped to "push Torre under the boss" with the Yankee top brass), Torre's professionalism in managing the tension that developed between the old guard and the free agents brought in by management, and on the impact of revenue sharing and new scouting tools which allowed other teams to challenge the Yankees' dominance. The Yankee Years accomplishes all of this without coming across as whiney and and as a "gotcha" tell-all sports book. Highly recommended!