The Yankee Years

I finished reading The Yankee Years by Joe Torre Monday and I must say it is a good book. It starts out in the end of 1995 with the decision to make Torre the manager of the Yanks. How the NY press was ripping into him before he even started! We following the historic run of Torre's tenure from World Series hero to his leaving in 2007. He goes into detail about the players like Derek Jeter, who he puts on a pedestal, and the management like Cashman. It was interesting to read about the different personalities that they players have. Like Jeter being the calm, no complaining ever, stay the course and do your best out there everyday attitude. As well as how big name players who are traded to the Yankees can't handling playing in New York and collapse.

He writes about the elation of winning his first World Series in 96 as the under dogs and how it set the tone for the years to follow. There is quite a bit about the 98 Yankee season and how everything just came together for them. As well as how they embodied the team mentality and went on that magnificent run of three back to back World Series wins, a feat not seen since. He broke down how the Steroid Era came to be and the early warnings that players tried to give while MLB ignored it. The subsequent fallout that was the aftermath of steroids in baseball.

Torre writes a good transition showing how the Yankees were getting farther and farther from the team mentality of the "good old days." How certain players required special attention/needs , Clemens, and that others were so stats centric it hurt their performance as a team player and a member of the family, Rodriguez. The book shows how Steinbrenner was a boss who was involved with his team, even if it was in eccentric ways, to his state of declining health and a back burner role. One quote of Steinbrenner's that I particularly enjoyed was when a player threw a bag of chips ( I think it was chips) or something and it wound up hitting the boss. He just stood there and said "Who threw that?" upon finding out who it was he stated, "I knew it was you because it didn't hurt." Classic Steinbrenner! One thing I didn't like was how the Boss grew so accustomed to winning the World Series that he expected it to happen every year. The years that it didn't he viewed as a total failure. Now granted they lost the 01 and 03 World Series but, damn those were two amazing seasons and postseason runs!

It was interesting to read how baseball as a whole was changing. From batting percentage and gut feelings being the end all be all to how on base percentage and information became king in baseball. How revenue sharing gave weaker clubs a chance to compete against big teams like the Yankees. Baseball today really is a different world than how it was even in the late 90s.

Torre then writes about the gradual falling out of favor with the management to the point where they were gunning for Torre. That is what made me sick to my stomach. This man who brought the Yankees out of an 18 year post season slump to 12 out of 12 playoff appearances. Going to the World Series 6 times wining 4, 3 of which were back to back! Having the team give amazing season after amazing season, making sure the Yankees were the best team in baseball every year, and the management grew pompous and wanted to get rid of him because they weren't advancing to the World Series. Now I am all for don't let your managers get complacent but damn give the guy some slack. Towards the end all he wanted was a 2 year contract so as not to feel like he had his head in a noose and retire after the first year in it. But no they chose to sideline him.

Before I get ahead of myself with another rant I will end it here with this is a great book to read regardless of whether you are a Yankees fan or not. Not only does it chronicle his tenure with the team well but it peers inside the world of baseball as a whole during those years and how things transformed in this fast paced world we live in today. Definitely give this book a read if you are a fan of Baseball.

Talking Baseball

Hey look at the top of the page. See the new logo? I made it pretty fast so please tell me what you think of it, if anything needs to be changed or just general comments. Depending on what you write I may heed it or flat out ignore it.

I am a huge Yankees fan. During baseball season if you cut me I bleed pinstripes. (during football season my blood is Giants blue, go G-Men!) Needless to say that when I found out that Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids I was hurt. Upon hearing that news I instantly thought of when he hit his 500th home run in 2007 how excited I was, and how from that moment on I would tell people that he did it without cheating because he is all talent and that is what baseball needs. Now I feel kind of embarrassed having said that, which is a shame. However, I for one do accept his apology.

He claims to only have done it from 2001 - 2003 when he was with the Texas Rangers (pre drug testing years). It is unfortunate that he did it then, but in my eyes as long as he didn't use them when he because a Yankee in 2004 that softens the blow a bit. For those who are unaware in 2003 Major League Baseball decided to do a ramification free anonymous drug test of all it's players to see if there really was a steroid problem, and depending on the results they would start mandatory testing the following year. 103 tests came back positive forcing MLB's hand into a full on testing program. Here is what gets me this test was supposed to be anonymous, but each player had to write his name next to a number that would be used to identify their sample. Not very anonymous to me. Here is the clincher this list was not destroyed, no, it was given to the players union who by rights shouldn't have access to that at all. It was from here that A-Rod's name was leaked to the press, (someone's bank account just got padded). I feel it is unfair for A-Rod to have to shoulder the blame for the other 102 players who also popped for steroids.

As much as you assign the blame to the individual players for jucing, I place the majority of it on MLB itself and the clubs for allowing, even pushing for jucing to happen. In the Steroid Era (early 90's - 2003 or present) Everyone knew about steroids being in use even though it was banned from baseball in the 70s and reiterated in 90 or 91. Just look at the home run spree that Mark Mgwire and Sammy Sosa had a few years back. They were jucing and MLB and the clubs took a blind eye to it because baseball was getting media attention and it was putting asses in the seats. So the average joe player who is struggling to stay in the majors is forced to compete with juice heads who are getting payed tons more than he is because of their juice enhanced performaces. They wind up taking performance enhancing drugs just to keep up, and since all of this is illegal in baseball but rarely enforced everyone gets away scott free. This is why it was so previlent in the steroids era. Most players were doing and getting away with it while others felt they had no choice but to use them in order to stay where they were at. I think MLB and the commisoners office itself should have to answer to congress not the players. MLB is supposed to be enforcing it's anti-drug policy not tipping of players that they will be tested on "X" date so clean out your system. ( I'm looking at you Orza) It makes me sick when I think that players are using drugs but it makes me feel even worse when it's MLB who let it happen and is running a shoddy ship. Your job is to watch for these offenses and exact appropriate punishment for those who commit them. Not tip off players and turn a blind eye just because it generates revenue.

Anyway, back on subject. I believe A-Rod is sorry for what he has done. I can see how both sides point of view. In a time of low morals and basically lawlessness not everyone has the fortitude to take the high ground and stay pure especially when the powers that be don't care about what is right and what is wrong.

I have read the Sports Illustrated article that broke this shit storm and it is kind of weak. It doesn't live up to the hype or the PR that the 24 hr news cycle has created around it. To summarize my thoughts on this before I go deeper into a rant.

-Alex took the roids from 2000 - 2003.
- He poped on the anonymous test that was ramification free.
-He hasn't failed one since that initial test
- I can see both sides of the story when it comes to him not knowing his results
- The media needs to stop going after the individual players even if they deserve it (BONDS!) and focus on Bud Selig and his administration's short comings on this issue.
- I still like A-Rod as long as he has never done and continues to never take steroids while wearing pinstripes.

If anyone reading this feels I have missd a few points or has some new information I would be more than willing to listen and tender a response. I still love baseball, and I still love the Yankees. We as fans of this great sport need to find a way to put this behind us and learn its valuable lessons so we may never repeat them again.

I want to end it on a good note so I am going to modify Joe DiMaggio's quote.

"I'd like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankees Fan."