'Yankee Years' quote of the night

This is priceless. From pages 118-119 of "The Yankee Years":

George Steinbrenner would shovel debris out of six inches of gunky, green water while dressed in loafers and slacks if it meant winning a World Series, which is exactly what he was doing in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the 2000 World Series at Shea Stadium. A fire had started in a third-deck trash container at Shea. When firefights opened one standpipe to extinguish the fire, pressure built in another standpipe located over the Yankees' clubhouse. The pipe burst, spewing torrents of dirty water and eventually causing the clubhouse ceiling to collapse. Great waves of fetid water cascaded over the clubhouse, and headed in the direction of the Yankees' principal owner.
...

As firefighters arrived to shut off the standpipe and clean up the mess, Steinbrenner jumped in to help them. After they did the best they could to move the water out and shovel away the pieces of the demolished ceiling, Steinbrenner, soaked himself, took a wad of bills from his pocked and peeled off fifties and hundreds to give to the firefighters in appreciation of their effort.

Wow. That is all I have to say about that.

This book is fantastic so far.

'Yankee Years' quotes of the night

I've only gotten through the first 10 pages of "The Yankee Years" (long day), so I'm still on the chapter entitled, "Underdogs." It deals with the 1996 team.

If I come across anything that stands out to me, I will post it here.

Page 6 mentions the David Cone negotiations during the 1995 offseason. Cone was ready to bolt to Baltimore, but those talks died over complications regarding deferred money and interest rates. George Steinbrenner, who was visiting a sick friend in the hospital, called Cone from the hospital's pay phone.

"We want you not just for this deal," Steinbrenner told Cone, "but for the rest of your career. Before your career is over with the Yankees, you will be pitching in a new ballpark on the West Side of Manhattan and I hope we're drawing three million people a year."

Cone, as you know, left the Yankees after 2000 and signed with the Red Sox. The Yankees, meanwhile, drew at least 4 million fans in each of the final four years of the old Yankee Stadium.

And here's another one I enjoyed. Page 8 talks about Joe Torre's meeting with the team during the first day of spring training in 1996.

"All of my coaches have been to the World Series," Torre told the team. "That's what I want. But I don't want to win just one. I want to win three of them in a row. I want to establish something here that's special. I don't want to sacrifice principles and players to do it one time. I want to establish a foundation to be the kind of ballclub that is going to be able to repeat."

Little did we know that Torre would actually fulfill that promise.

Just bought Joe's book

I decided to be generous and donate money to Joe Torre's personal bank account. I picked up "The Yankee Years" at the North Haven, Conn., Barnes & Noble today (their last copy!).

I am not much of a reader, but now I have two books to read (thanks, Jane!).

Did anyone else go out and buy it today?

Saturday evening reading: Larry King transcript

Joe Torre appeared on "Larry King Live" last night. The Post has a transcript of the interview, that can be found here.

More on Torre's book

Joshua Robinson has a good summary of other topics in Joe Torre's new book, "The Yankee Years."

Covered here: Carl Pavano, George Steinbrenner's health, how the Yankees do business and steroids.

Meanwhile, this Times article by Michael S. Schmidt mainly focuses on Alex Rodriguez.

Torre rips Yankees in new book

Joe Torre is releasing a tell-all book on Feb. 3 called "The Yankee Years." In it, he apparently pulls no punches, ripping the organization and some players.

From Bill Madden:

According to a new book by Sports Illustrated baseball writer Tom Verducci, Torre was a bitter man by the time he left the Yankees in October of 2007, and he takes a few rips at the team that he led for 12 seasons.

In "The Yankee Years," due to be released on Feb. 3, Torre describes general manager Brian Cashman as a less than supportive ally who betrayed him on several fronts, and says that his star player, Alex Rodriguez, was often referred to by his teammates as "A-Fraud" and was obsessed with his perceived rival, shortstop Derek Jeter.
...

According to a source familiar with the book, Torre does not step out of character. He simply recites the facts as he saw them and does not unfairly disparage the Yankees. As has been reported, he reiterates the claim that Cashman did not stand up for him at the crucial meeting with the Steinbrenners in Tampa as the 2007 season wound down and the Yankee brass discussed whether to bring him back or not, even though publicly Cashman had let it be known that he wanted Torre back as manager.

According to the source familiar with the book, Torre confronted Cashman about his role in the meeting and the Yankee GM confirmed to him that he had offered no opinions to the Steinbrenners on whether they should upgrade their offer from the one-year deal to the two-year deal Torre wanted.

That all said, there has to be some positive parts in the book. The media will only focus on alleged rifts between the organization and manager, but there were also four championships in five years during this time.

But from this report, it appears as if Torre is bitter at the team that essentially resurrected his career.

I don't read many books (Jane's book is in the mail), but I may have to read this one. If anything, Torre and his publisher are doing a great job of promoting it.

Torre will appear on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and sign books at the Yogi Berra Museum on Feb. 3.