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The Yankee Years

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Features
  • ISBN13: 9780385527408
  • Condition: NEW
  • Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Categories Textbooks Trade-In   General   Baseball   Hardcover   Printed Books  

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Description

Twelve straight playoff looks. Six American League pennants. Four World Series titles. This is the definitive story of a dynasty: the Yankee years

When Joe Torre took over as manager of the New York Yankees in 1996, the much storied franchise in sports had not won a World Series title in eighteen years. The famously tough and mercurial owner, George Steinbrenner, had fired seventeen managers during this span. Torre’s appointment was greeted together with Bronx cheers from the notoriously brutal New York media, who cited his record as the player and manager who had been in the much Key League games not including appearing in a World Series

Twelve tumultuous and triumphant years later, Torre left the team as the much beloved and successful manager in the strategy. In an era of multimillionaire free agents, fractured clubhouses, revenue-sharing, and off-the-field scandals, Torre forged a team ethos this united his players and made the Yankees, one time again, the greatest team in sports. He won over the media together with his honesty and class, and was beloved by the fans.

But it wasn’t simple.

Here, for the first time, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci get us inside the dugout, the
clubhouse, and the front office in a revelatory narrative this shows what it really took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world. The high-priced ace who broke down in tears and refused to go back to the mound in the middle of a strategy. Constant meddling from Yankee executives, many of whom were jealous of Torre’s popularity. The tension this developed between the old guard and the free agents delivered in by management. The impact of revenue-sharing and new scouting techniques, which allowed other teams to challenge the Yankees’ dominance. The players who couldn’t resist the afterwards-hours temptations of the Big Apple. The joys of managing Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, and the challenges of managing Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi. Torre’s last year, when constant ultimatums from the front office, devastating injuries, and a freak cloud of bugs on a warm September night in Cleveland forced him from a job he loved.

Throughout it all, Torre kept his calm, kept his players’ respect, and kept winning.

And, of course, The Yankee Years chronicles the amazing stories on the diamond. The stirring comeback in the 1996 World Series against the heavily favored Braves. The wonder of 1998, when Torre led the Yanks to the much wins in Key League history. The draining and emotional drama of the 2001 World Series. The incredible twists and turns of the epic Strategy 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series against the Red Sox, in which two teams who truly despised every other battled pitch by pitch until the spectacular more-inning home run.

Here is a sweeping narrative of Key League Baseball in the Yankee era, a book together grand in its scope and fascinating in its details.

Customer Reviews

Customer rating is 4 of 5  Scored with this one!   2010-02-06
By Msfits55 (Columbus, OH)
My husband requested this book for Christmas; he is a big baseball fan and loves the Yankees so this gift was definitely a 'home run'. He is currently reading it and it enjoys it very much. Thank you.
Customer rating is 3 of 5  Entertaining but Disconcerting   2010-01-17
By CJA (Minneapolis, MN)
This is a very quick and entertaining read, particularly for Yankee fans who followed the great teams of the Torre era. The book is written by Sports Illustrated reporter Verducci, not Torre -- though Verducci has access to extensive interviews with Torre. As a result, some of the sources for the book are third persons, sometimes even anonymous ones. Press reports that Torre was ripping A-Rod and others are not quite true. Third persons, not Torre, called A-Rod "A-Fraud." Torre was concerned about perceptions of A-Rod and his concern about A-Rod's fear of failure as undermining his performance is something he told A-Rod directly. One surprise to me is that Damon essentially lost interest in baseball at the beginning of 2007 and almost walked away from the game. He ended up playing catch-up the rest of the season.

Given the extraordinary performance of both Sheffield and Giambi as clutch hitters, I was a bit surprised to hear criticism of those two. Yes, it was stupid for the Yanks to go after Sheffield instead of the younger Guerrero. But I was surprised that Torre was never a fan of the Giambi deal -- the guy was a terrific hitter and clubhouse presence. He is criticized, somewhat unfairly, for telling management that he was too lame to play defense in the 2003 World Series. Yet, this is precisely the kind of honesty Torre wanted from his players. Still, Torre emphasized defense and reliability, which I suppose was his root problem with Giambi.

The real problem of the Yankees from 2004 to 2007 was not Giambi or Sheffield or A-Rod, but their pitching. Their offense was terrific in this period. But all great offenses are prone to being shut down against post-season pitching, and the Yankees lacked the top starters necessary to match up with the pitching of the Red Sox, Angels, Tigers, and Indians in these years. The book makes a very good case that the Yankees went after the wrong pitchers in this period -- Vazquez, Pavano, Contreras, Brown, Johnson, Wright. Vazquez may not belong on this list, but he certainly was not the number 1 or number 2 pitcher the Yanks were looking for.

One of the problems, however, was what was the alternative? As Verducci points out, the rest of the league was on to the Yanks. They were signing their young pitchers to long term deals to keep them away from the Yankees. Still, the Yanks just plain blew the opportunity to get Schilling and should have held on to Pettite and Lilly. This would have made a huge difference and may have produced another championship during the end of the Torre era.

My criticism of the book is threefold. First, it is poorly organized and repetitive. Second, the criticism of Cashman is unfair. Yes, he blew the pitching moves. But he was a big supporter of Torre and put his neck out for him to help save his job. Only when the franchise was irretrievably committed in another direction does Cashman back away from Torre. I think Torre should have seen Cashman's conduct as simple business as opposed to a personal betrayal. Third, and most importantly, if Torre's management is based on trust, doesn't he breach it by doing a tell-all book so soon after his departure? Revealing locker room secrets is a betrayal of trust. I could see writing this book several years after the fact, but writing it now was unfair to A-Rod, Giambi, Damon, Sheffield, Cashman, and some of the others who do not come off well in this book. As an admirer of Torre, this lapse in judgment is very disconcerting.
Customer rating is 5 of 5  Amazing look at the Torre Years   2010-01-08
By P. Wilson (Northeast Ohio)
Very well written book that flows smoothly and very easy to read. A must read for any Yankees fan!
Customer rating is 4 of 5  Interesting Read!   2010-01-03
By adk
I am neither a baseball fan nor a Yankee fan. I picked up the book because I was interested in knowing how a baseball team runs its organization. This book did not disappoint me in this sense. Basically, working in Yankee is pretty much similar to working in a corporate as a office worker.It explains why the Yankees were able to achieve a couple years of continuous success and then goes on to describe their quest in trying to win the championship under the leadership of Joe Torre. It also provides a semi-baseball history of the Torre years as well as behind the scenes tales.

The book is not told by Joe Torre as I would have imagined. Instead, Joe Torre as well as many other players and coaches were being interviewed and quoted so the reader gets a lot of perspectives from different people. It was well written and compact. I would assume that a Yankee fan would appreciate it even more.



Customer rating is 5 of 5  Awesome!   2009-12-06
By C. McClusky (Syracuse, NY)
Bought this book for Christmas Present for family member. All of us have been Yankee Fans for years. I read the insert and part of the book. I know it is a must read for any Yankee Fan! I feel that it is especially important for those fans who enjoyed Joe Torre when he was manager of the Yankees. In my opinion he is as much a part of NY as the Donald Trump only better. It was a sad day when he left.


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