October 19, 2007

NOBODY ASKED ME BUT...

"A reflective reading of history will show that no man ever rose to military greatness who could not convince his troops that he put them first, above all else."--Gen. Maxwell Taylor

Let us now praise famous men:

Joe Torre was never the greatest tactical manager; Bobby Valentine, Tony LaRussa and others have been more open to employing advances in Sabermetric research. Torre was not an innovator, like Casey Stengel. However, Churchill was not the greatest military tactician either. Both Torre and Churchill were exceptional, inspiring leaders of men who understood human psychology and got the most out of their followers. Torre brought out the best in his players and the worst in the Yankee ownership.

If there’s a corner in hell for people who dishonor the great game of baseball, the Steinbrenner family and Randy Levine deserve a special place.

Joe Torre should be manager of the year for 2007. He led an injury plagued, pitching starved Yankee team to the playoffs. The Yankees never quit, even when they were 14 games back, and that testifies to Torre’s skill as a leader, a motivator of men.

Among his other recent accomplishments, Torre integrated a contingent of young Latin players into the Yankee team culture. It’s known among baseball players that Latin players don’t patiently wait out pitchers because “you don’t walk your way off the island.” The interests of the team are not their primary concern. Notice that Joe Torre got such players as Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera to be team players, willing to take walks and sacrifice when needed. That’s no small achievement.

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of sabermetrics knows that a short series is a crapshoot. A team that has won 58% of its games going against one that has won 56%. Anything can happen. To fire a manager for failing to win a 3 of 5 series suggests not just malice and stupidity, but infantile grandiosity. Joe Torre leading a team of celebrity millionaire young athletes into the playoffs 12 years in a row puts him up there with the greatest managers in major league history.

Mariano spoke. Jorge spoke. How come Derek Jeter had nothing to say about Joe Torre when a word from him could have assured Torre's return? Oh Captain, my Captain.. where were you?

This 60+ year season ticket holding Yankee fan will be rooting for the Red Sox. The lifelong love affair is over--unless and until Joe Torre is part of a group that buys out the Steinbrenners.