The Yankee Years -- A Review

A Review of The Yankee Years

The book The Yankee Years was released almost a year ago today and as a die-hard pinstripe fan, one would assume that I got my copy as soon as it came out. I didn’t simply because prior to the 2009 season where the Yankees climbed back to the top of the Mount Olympus of baseball, it was a heartbreaking and dreadful seven years. The early sensationalized stories were on Alex Rodriguez and I wondered if it would be a rag; a tell-all that was scandalous and malicious so I didn’t read it on purpose.

When the Boston Red Sox reversed the curse in 2004 and overtook the Yankees, I remember sitting in front of my computer listening to a friend of mine let loose tears of joy as the Idiots won their first World Series since 1919. That was more than a week after they completed the greatest comeback in sports at the expense of my Yankees in the ALCS and some of the sting of the ignonimous defeat had been taken out of me but I felt some genuine happiness for my friend but not the Sox’s victory.

As the Yankees crumbled deep into the new millennium, I would tell anyone who I discussed baseball that their problem was that they had a bunch of star players who didn’t do the small things they needed to win. The 90s teams didn’t exactly have stars but were a curious but exciting mix of veterans, cast-offs, and rookies. The most tangible proof of their greatness lay in the typical Yankee at bat where they would milk the pitcher for 10 pitches before they manufactured a hit or a walk. They played small ball – the same manner they were beat by the Florida Marlins in 2003 (yes I know pitching as well). They didn’t worry about stats. They trusted one another. One any given day, they’d have a different player leading them. Sure they would acquire very good players who had seen better days but that’s the whole point of reloading, right? After all, they are still serviceable and baseball is the one sport that allows players to compete even at their late 30s.

But after 2001, you could see that the worm had clearly turned for this team. Paul O’Niell and Scott Brosius retired. Tino Martinez, David Cone, Chuck Knoblauch moved to other teams. David Wells was traded away. Tim Raines, Dwight Gooden, Jim Leyritz, Joe Girardi, and Darryl Strawberry were gone. The team that battled back and played great baseball was almost undone.

Sure they had Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, and Roger Clemens. Mike Mussina was a nice addition to the pitching staff and they had a phenom at second base with Alfonso Soriano. They were still solid and they had character. But they began to lose pieces of their soul. The first five names I mentioned were youngsters and by the time the team had a different look to it as the clubhouse filled with mercenaries who cared for their stats and thought that being a Yankee meant an automatic berth in the World Series, they were now the grizzled locker room vets.

And The Yankee Years confirmed my thoughts and fears.

The book is tricky. I can’t be faulted for thinking that it was a memoir in Joe Torre’s voice that was structured by a pro writer in the manner of Michael Jordan’s For the Love of the Game (Mark Vancil sure cleaned it up). I wondered if it ran the risk of John Feinstein’s collaboration with Red Auerbach in Let Me Tell You A Story where Feinstein was totally drowned out and after a while I actually got bored. I was also fearful that it would come out like LeBron James’ effort with Buzz Bissinger (of Friday Night Lights fame) in Shooting Stars where his story was diluted and you could feel given the spin and phrasing only a pro writer could do.

The Yankee Years isn’t solely Joe Torre’s voice. It essentially the story of Major League Baseball in the last 12 years. It touches lengthily on the steroid issue, moneyball, and parity that saw the Yankees beaten by their own money as it spread to the smaller market teams. We hear the voices of everyone from David Cone, Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera who spice up, corroborate, or tell yarns of their own. I have to admit though that it confused me for a while there since it had the name of Joe Torre in front of the book.

In the twilight of Torre’s managing the Bronx Bombers, I was already critical of not just him but of the entire team. In his final year, I was all for his removal and wrote about it too. I followed the team and felt for them as they lost badly and for all the petulance of certain players, surely, at the end of the day, the manager is responsible for their final record, hence, my pointing a finger towards Torre.

There is only so much information available to fans or even sportswriters let alone one thousands of miles away. And having read what happened now to the team, the resonating theme is all about trust. It is mentioned countless times throughout and I should have given that until the end. After all, Skip did lead them to the playoffs for 12 straight years.

This book plugs many of those holes but not all (because there are always two sides to a coin). Am I shocked with the demystification of my beloved team? Just a bit. Being a writer, I am privy to a lot (not all) of locker room talk and behind the scenes matters. Much of it never sees print for a variety of reasons. At times it has to be sanitized lest I become excommunicated. Where does one draw the line between privacy and public knowledge? I cannot give you a proper answer for that. So I try to read more to learn.

Torre was lambasted by some quarters for this book because he “ratted” on matters best kept in the locker room. I never liked TMZ and Page Six. I’m not fond of tabloids. I’d say there’s a difference in malicious content and old-fashioned storytelling.

Having followed Tom Verducci in Sports Illustrated, I’d say he really is the best baseball writer since Roger Khan and that already says a lot about his undertaking this book with Torre. Some topics might have few sources such as the steroids portion but it is far from inaccurate. If ever, the over-all story is a home run to the short right field porch in the old Yankee Stadium in itself. Not one of those mammoth shots to dead center because it does have a few flaws but a home run nevertheless.

I don’t read too many baseball books. In fact, the ratio is 14:1 in favor of basketball. That doesn’t mean that I love the game any less. But this is well written and maybe even more enjoyable but just as interesting as Michael Lewis’ Moneyball.

Torre’s tenure in the Bronx should be far more voluminous than the entire seven-part Harry Potter series as every season has stories to tell. The book provides the Reader’s Digest version and only morsels of info. However, the steroids and moneyball portions are expounded and generous. After a while, I realized that the Bosox’s Theo Epstein and Oakland’s Billy Beane among others gave exclusive in-depth interviews for the book.

The Yankee Years is never meant to be the definitive story of the New York Yankees because much of those championship stories are told elsewhere. If Verducci liberally used other members of the cast to tell the story, then I wish he had Torre expound more on certain things. The manager claims he never knew about the use of steroids in the clubhouse. At the time that it was a hot issue, was it never raised in team meetings? When Giambi’s body was breaking down, did he ever ask? I know the book is about trust but it is his job to get the best out of his club. As the team continued to get high-priced veterans, why didn’t he really voice out his concern? Is it because hindsight is 20/20?

I guess this was a long piece of work because I noticed that some of the anecdotes first surfaced in Verducci’s A-Rod Agonistes piece in Sports Illustrated in 2006; a full year before Torre called it quits.

It was easier to read this more so after the Yankees won the 2009 title. But I have to admit that I squirmed when I got to the part of their infamous meltdown in 2004. I guess pain, is good every now and then.