Deroga-Torre

I've had mostly positive things to say about former Yankee manager Joe Torre here. He always had the best players, but it was some feat to keep them on course through each long baseball season to make the playoffs twelve times and reach the World Series six.

Yesterday Torre appeared on Live with Regis & Kelly to a standing ovation and almost convinced me he did nothing wrong giving readers a look inside the locker room in his new book, The Yankee Years.

It can be argued he did nothing wrong. Many coaches and managers slam their players by name in the media, but after Torre took on the aura of a multiple World Series winner, an emblem of how to play the right way (intentional Larry Brown allusion), he held himself to a higher standard: never embarrassing his or opposing players.

Perhaps rightfully vindictive toward the Yankees, he's violated only his own standard in writing the book. And as well as he's mastered the art of spin, he can't expunge his personal failure.