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

The Boogie Down Book Club: The Yankee Years - Chapters 3-11

I'm doing my best to finish The Yankee Years. I've read through chapter 11 which for those keeping score at home is 340 pages deep into the 482-page book. I don't know how many of you watch Yankees On Deck on the YES Network. They did a little feature last year (or maybe 2 years ago) about A-Rod and his children's book, Out of the Ballpark. During the spot, Alex mentioned he likes to read, but often reads multiple books at a time, so it takes him longer to get through a book than most people. That's pretty much what I'm doing right now as I've also been reading John Feinstein's Living on the Black, which for those that don't know, is a book about Mike Mussina, Tom Glavine and their respective 2007 seasons. So in case anyone was wondering why it's taken me so long to get through The Yankee Years, that's why.

Chapter 3 was an extremely interesting chapter, perhaps one of my favorite in the book. It pretty much focused on steroids in baseball and Verducci did a good job writing about it. It was also interesting to read about the rise of the Red Sox and the fall of the Yankees. Basically, the Red Sox were well ahead of the curve when it came to figuring out what was needed to win, and the Yankees were, well, late to the party. Verducci credits the Sox with being on the forefront of building a roster full of guys with high OBPs as oppsoed to high batting averages, believing that having more runners on base would lead to more runs scored. I can't argue with Verducci. The Sox were definitely on the ball and only now are the Yankees catching up in my opinion.

There are quite a few interesting stories mixed in along the way. Perhaps the funnies, and at the same time most disturbing, comes on page 132, and it comes courtesy of Yankee trainer Steve Donahue. The story has to do with Roger Clemens and his pre-game ritual of having Donahue run the hottest possible liniment of the Rocket's testicles. Ha ha ha and ewww gross. 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. I'm not sure why Rocket couldn't do that himself. Maybe he couldn't be bothered with washing his hands afterwards. But come on man, seriously? To quote Donahue, "He'd start snorting like a bull." I'll admit. I had had some mental imagery of Clemens getting his nuts rubbed down and then snorting. Thanks Tom Verducci. Thanks a lot.

Another interesting story came at the start of chapter 9 when Verducci wrote about the story told him about how Joe Torre chose who to put on the 2004 all-star ballot. I guess a team can pick one guy from each position and have their name added to the ballot. The Yankees at the time had both Bernie Williams and Kenny Lofton. The Yankees ended up going with Bernie after Torre pulled his name out of a hat. Lofton came off as a big sour-puss. That made me chuckle.

The chapter that was about A-Rod wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It didn't really drop any major developments on me. I didn't really learn anything knew. Anybody else feel the same way.

From what I've read so far I must say I really enjoy the book. I like reading about Yankees' seasons past and a lot of the behind the scenes type of stuff. I find reading about that to be enjoyable. Verducci has done a good job so far. And I'm not sure if any of you have caught this, but in this post I've referred a lot to Verducci and his efforts, and haven't really mentioned Joe Torre. That was intentional. I'm know not sure whose nuts Joe Torre had to rub down with hot liniment to get his name attached to this book, but most of it has very little to do with him. It's reads a lot like Verducci went to Torre with questions, Torre answered them, and Verducci incorporated that into the book. Joe's name belongs more in the "Acknowledgements" section than anywhere else. He's just a contributor. The author at Feenwager.com pretty much feels the same way. To quote him from his post, "Plus, if you read the book it’s pretty obvious he had almost nothing to do with actually writing it. Tom Verducci wrote a book about the Yankees and Joe Torre acts as the “brand”. " Well said.

I'm not sure when I'll get to pick up the book again. As I mentioned before, I don't like starting a chapter and not being able to finish it and this book has some pretty decent sized chapters. It's been hard to find the time. With the 1st spring training game starting tomorrow, I anticipate having less time than I do now, but I'll manage.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-boogie

Moose With Mike Francesa

Hat tip to Sam Borden, who is holding down the fort at Pete Abraham's blog, for pointing out that Mike did a radio interview yesterday with WFAN's Mike Francesa. I didn't have time to check out the interview this morning but it's definitely on my list of things to do tonight. I'm sure the focal point of the interview will be about the comments Moose made about Mariano Rivera in Joe Torre and Tom Verducci's book, The Yankee Years. As I discussed a few entries ago, I don't think Moose was bashing Mo, which many people thought he was doing. It'll be interesting to hear what Moose has to say and I'll be back with my thoughts on the interview once I've given it a listen. If anyone has checked it out, I'd love to know your thoughts.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Boogie Down Book Club: The Yankee Years - Chapter 2 (Part 1)

I finally got to get back into Joe Torre and Tom Verducci's The Yankee Years, albeit not much more. I'm about halfway through chapter 2. Between catching up on TV shows, hanging out with my 17 month old, and trying to build my Diamond Mind Baseball team into a contender. I'm actually talking shop right now trying to trade Oliver Perez and a draft pick for either Matt Garza, Carlos Zambrano, or Dan Haren. Wish me luck. I mentioned in my last entry, I'm not a fan of long chapters and chapter 2 clocks in at about 44 pages, give or take (Jane- I'll definitely pick up your book at some point--I love me short chapters). I'm currently about halfway through chapter 2 and had to stop to talk trade. I'm not planning on picking it up again tonight so I'm splitting it up into 2 parts.

Chapter 2 focuses on what is arguably one of the best teams of all time, the 1998 Yankees. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite books and I haven't even gotten to the much-hyped "good stuff." One of my favorite books of all-time was Buster Olney's The Last Night Of The Yankee Dynasty. I love being able to read about the players and what goes on. The Yankee Years is taking it to a whole new level. I enjoyed reading about the meeting the team had in Seattle when they struggled out of the gate. I always knew David Cone was an integral part of the Yankees' success but I didn't know how much he was until I read the chapter. It's great getting such detailed insight from the guys that were involved with the team. I'm looking forward to reading more of the same as I get deeper into the book.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book so far was written on the last 2 pages I read, which were pages 59 and 60. Torre recounts his morning on the day of game 4 of the 1998 ALCS, when the Yankees were down 2 games to 1 to the Indians. He went to the hotel coffee shop for breakfast where he noticed a man with a shaved head busing tables and helping to serve the customers. He thought the man looked familiar and he was right. It was El Duque, who was scheduled to start that night's game! I read that and I couldn't help but laugh. I can't for the life of me picture walking into a hotel coffee shop and seeing a major league pitcher helping out, especially on the morning of his playoff start. Classic. You learn something new every day.

The trade talks have been tabled for the night and will resume tomorrow. I often drift off to sleep pondering deals that can be done. I wonder if big league GMs do the same??

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Boogie Down Book Club: The Yankee Years - Chapter 1

I started reading Joe Torre and Tom Verducci's "The Yankee Years" tonight. I got thru the 1st chapter. Before I started, I looked at the table of contents to see how long the chapters were. The first chapter clocked in at 40 pages. Ugh. I prefer shorter chapters myself. I don't like putting down a book in the middle of a chapter. Something always comes up and it always seems to happen. Long chapters and I don't get along.

Some standouts of the chapter:

Pg. 11 - Torre is talking about honesty and how he won't lie to people, saying he's misled the media but has never knowingly lied to them. He's quoted as saying, "I may not have answered something directly or changed the subject and gone in a different direction, but I don't remember purposefully lying to somebody." As soon as I read that I immediately thought about the Larry King interview from the other day and thought to myself, "Joe's still go it." He's the master of the dodge.

Pg. 11 - By far my favorite quote of the book so far: "My one point to the players was they were never going to read something that they haven't heard from me, at least something significant. " I wonder if this book counts because from all the hype, it sounds like there's a lot of things in here the players will be reading that they didn't hear from him. I guess we'll find out.

The chapter then recaps the magical season that was 1996. I'll admit it. I got goosebumps reading the recaps of the World Series. Leyritz's HR. O'Neill running down Luis Polonia's gapper. The series-clinching foul out to Charlie Hayes. Awesome. Just awesome.

The rest of the chapter is pretty much a Derek Jeter love fest, which there isn't anything wrong with. He is the Captain and has been the face of the franchise since joining the Yankees.

So far it's a good read. Can't wait to get back into it tomorrow. But right now, it's time to watch me some Scrubs.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Yankee Years

If you got the book raise your hand. Or leave a comment, same thing. I went out and got my copy at lunch. Now if only I could figure out how to get out of work. I may "live blog" the book as I read it. Maybe like a chapter-by-chapter account of the book. Haven't decided yet.

Enjoy it. It sounds like a doozie.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joe Torre On Larry King

Just got done watching Joe Torre's interview on Larry King Live and all I have to say is man, Larry King looks a lot like a gargoyle. He's one creepy dude. As for the interview itself, I didn't get much out of it. I thought Joe did his best to answer the questions he was being asked without even answering them, specifically about breaking the clubhouse code. It also seemed like every question Larry asked was met with a somewhat contradicting response. Basically, not much came from the interview. Torre's main point was that we have to read the book to fully understand it and to get what he's trying to say. His goal in writing the book was to talk about his years with the Yankees, both the good and the bad. I can appreciate that and am still reserving judgement for when I actually read the book. I don't think this interview did anything to help Torre. If anything it hurt him a little bit but that's more the fault of CNN for not hammering him with tougher questions about people's perception of what's in the book. But that's Larry King for you. He may look like the thing from Tales From The Crypt, but he's far from scary.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joe Torre On Larry King Live

Joe Torre's new book, "The Yankee Years", has been a hotbed of discussion amongst Yankee fans in recent days. Joe is scheduled to appear on Larry King Live tonight at 9pm EST. It should be interesting to see what Joe has to say for himself. I doubt Larry will ask him any tough questions. I'm inclined to think that all questions, whether they be from Larry, callers, or whoever, are going to be screened. As much as I'd love to see it, I don't see them backing the bus up over Torre. I hope it doesn't end up being a powder-puff piece but I have the feeling it's going to be. Only one way to find out and that's to tune in.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Moose Bashes Mo? Say It Ain't So

I was at work this morning, sifting through the comments on Jason's (from Heartland Pinstripes) guest blog at Pete Abraham's blog and a particular comment caught my eye. It mentioned Mike Mussina and it referenced comments he made about Mariano Rivera. It basically said that Moose said Mo isn't as good as he used to be. Unfortunately, some work came up so I didn't get to scour the net or the rest of the comments to find where that came from.

It was posted in an article at the NY Daily News. The article had to do with what else, Joe Torre and his book. Surprise surprise. The article was written by Mike Lupica, who I've never really liked. Moose comes into the story on page 2 of the article. I'm guessing the book talks about the collapse to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS and it quotes Mussina:

"We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series."

Let's break that quote down, my comments are bolded.

• We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. True.
• As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. Hard to argue with that considering the Yankees haven't won the World Series since 2000. Mo was invincible in that run and as Moose points out in the next part of the quote, Mo wasn't as invincible since Moose joined the team.
• He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. It's hard to argue with that. I know it's a team game but when Mo came in during the World Series run, the game was over. Mo did blow the lead in 2001, something he had never done. Mo also blew it in 2004.
• I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series. Again, it's hard to find fault with that statement. Mo was and still is awesome. But in 2001 and again in 2004, he wasn't the Mo from before Moose made it to NYC.

I know some people think I'm biased to Moose. But come on. If anyone out there really thinks Mike was bashing Mo with his comments, I'd like to know why. I definitely don't read it that way. All Moose is saying is Mo was automatic before the 2001 World Series and he hasn't been since. I don't think he's bashing Mo. He's merely stating his opinion, which I find to be deeply rooted in fact. Mo hasn't been as automatic since 2001. He did blow the 2001 World Series. He did blow game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Pre-2001 Mo wouldn't have done that. That's all Moose was saying.

So, Moose bashes Mo? It ain't so.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joe Torre Needs To Stuff A Sock In His Pie Hole

OK, maybe the title of this post is a little harsh, and to be completely honest with you, I don't really feel that way. The title was meant to elicit a reaction and pique your interest so you'd want to read it, which is pretty much what's been happening the last few days with Joe Torre's (and Tom Verducci's) soon-to-be released book, "The Yankee Years", available February 3rd at book stores everywhere. I don't put too much stock in anything that's been leaked. That's what happens. They leak a little bit of info to whet the appetite, everyone starts talking about it everywhere, and then it's at the top of the bestseller list.

Until I read it for myself and see exactly what's printed and in what context it's used, I won't have a real opinion on it. For all I know, I'm going to open it up, turn to the part where it mentions that some Yankees called Alex Rodriguez "A-Fraud" and find that it's used in a light-hearted context. Something like, "the guys used to tease Alex and call him A-Fraud because he had frosted blond tips." To me, that's not so bad. Now, I highly doubt that's what it says but again, haven't read the book, so how do I know? The book is 477 pages long. I guarantee that about 450 of those pages are all positive. I'm sure there will occasionally be a little nugget of negativity, but if you're expecting the book to be nothing but Torre ripping the Yankees, I think you'll be disappointed.

What surprises me the most about this is the timing. I'm a little surprised that Joe didn't wait until he was done managing for the book to come out. In all likelihood, this is probably his last season and maybe he doesn't give a crap. But if I'm a member of the Dodgers organization, whether it be on-the-field or off, I'd be scratching my head wondering if he's ever going to open up his trap about his time with the Dodgers. I'm also a little surprised that Joe is talking about what went on in the clubhouse. He always struck me as the type of guy who believed what happened in the clubhouse, stayed in the clubhouse. Isn't that pretty much how it goes? An unwritten rule maybe, but I'm pretty sure it's a code that most of them go by.

The book drops a week from today and I'm definitely going to buy it, likely the day it's released. I'll admit it. My interest is piqued and I want to read it for myself before i hear about it from everyone else. I can't wait to get my hands on it and see what Joe really has to say. I have a feeling I'll definitely be blogging a little about it.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie