(l-r : Alex and Derek, in happier days)
The New York Post’s Susanah Calahan and James Fanelli report this morning that Tom Verducci’s forthcoming “The Yankee Years” (Doubleday) features no shortage of dirt dished by former Bombers skipper Joe Torre. Jim Bouton, while not neccessarily unavailable for comment, isn’t on my IM buddy list, either.
Torre gets most personal in his attacks against Alex Rodriguez, who he says was called “A-Fraud” by his teammates after he developed a “Single White Female”-like obsession with team captain Derek Jeter and asked for a personal clubhouse assistant to run errands for him.
Torre, who left the Yankees and became manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2007 season, says Brian Cashman never told the brass that the manager wanted a two-year deal and instead remained silent during Torre’s tense final sitdown with the bosses.
The book also reveals that, during spring training in 1999, team doctors revealed to owner George Steinbrenner that Torre had prostate cancer – even before informing the manager himself.
Looking forward to this book as much as any sports book in recent memory, if only because I’m jealous I didn’t think of “A-Fraud.” As for A-Rod’s personal asst in the clubhouse, well, jeez, most people with $250-mil contracts have whole corporations under them running their errands. A-Rod’ list of lameness has plenty of entries above that.
As to Torre — do his career numbers as a player put him in the Hall of Fame? .297 with 252 HRs isn’t bad, esp if guys like Rice and Dawson are constantly on the bubble with what they’ve got. I only looked it up today, but Torre has been in MLB continuously as a mgr since his playing days ended. Do they not vote on you until you have retired from pro-ball completely, including manager, coaches, etc?
I’m pretty sure that the local tabs have used the A-Fraud tag since our favorite metrosexual had that awesome moment with Bronson Arroyo in the 2004 World Series. It’s funny that the players have to repeat the words of the dreaded beat writers in New York. Too funny.
As for the personal assistant stuff, I just assumed a lot of those guys already had them. Didn’t Kevin Brown get his own plane when he was a Dodger? I’m hoping that Verducci hasn’t given us the best stuff yet because I’m a little underwhelmed with this stuff. I’m sure there will be an entry in there about Clemens being a douche. *yawn*