The Boogie Down Book Club: The Yankee Years

I've been busting my hump over the last few days trying to "clean house" before the regular season starts. One of the things I need to is finish some books and post some reviews. I finally finished Joe Torre's The Yankee Years. I've been reviewing this as I've made my way through the book and if you're interesting in reading those, you can click here.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I like reading about seasons past and getting a behind-the-scenes look at what went on. The book pretty much ran through every season of Torre's career as skipper of the Yankees. For the most part, each chapter was pretty much broken down into one of the seasons. There were some exceptions to that but by and large, it ran chronologically from start to finish.

I think the book itself was a little over-hyped. There was a lot of buzz about the book prior to its release and I don't think it lived up to the hype. Sure there were parts of the book where the curtain was pulled back maybe a little too far, but for the most part, it was pretty tame. The hype was an excellent marketing ploy. It definitely worked. It peaked my interest in the book. They were also smart to make it look like Joe Torre wrote the book. He was more of a contributor. there were some stretches where it had nothing to do with Torre. It seems like all Verducci did was interview Torre and then incorporated his quotes/stories into the book. Torre's named belong more in the Acknowledgement section than on the front cover.

My favorite story by far was the story about Roger Clemens's pre-game ritual of having Yankee trainer Steve Donahue rub down his testicles with the hottest possible liniment. That was a mental image I didn't need. I mentioned it in one of my previous reviews, and I'll say it again, I don't care who you are or how much I'm getting paid, the last thing I'm doing is rubbing something on another man's junk.

It was also interesting to read how the rest of the league pretty much leapfrogged the Yankees when it came to how to build a team. The Yankees were definitely behind the curve when it came to changing their thought process.

Overall, it was a great read. Any Yankee fan will enjoy the book. If you didn't, I'd love to know why.

I've got a few more books I'm reading that I'm wrapping up and should have reviewed by Opening Day. I've got about 100 pages left of John Feinstein's Living on the Black. That was a book about Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine and their respective 2007 seasons. I also picked up a book called New York Yankees and the Meaning of Life by Derek Gentile. One of the books is good, the other is just so-so. Check back and you'll find out which is which.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie