Torre say his say in New York
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Joe Torre was back in New York today, hosting his annual charity golf tournament at Trump National in Westchester.
Journal News reporter Harold Guttman was on hand and sent along these comments:
On coming back to New York: “It still feels like home, there’s no question about it. I’m glad I’m in L.A. because of what I do for a living, it’s not as stressful, but it’s always nice coming back to New York. I have plenty of fans and friends and family, and it always feels very comfortable.”
Comparing Jason Giambi to Manny Ramirez: “Jason was a little more comfortable talking. What Manny wants to do is just play baseball and be a teammate. He really doesn’t want to talk about it. There are some similarities, but Manny with who he is and what he’s done over the years, probably gets more attention than he wants, although his antics sometimes makes you think he wants that, but I think that’s just him having fun.”
On Manny’s comeback: “He’s admitting he did wrong and he got suspended and he’s not crying foul in any way. But this is where we are as a society. It doesn’t matter if it’s for a positive or a negative thing, there’s a good deal of attention. The message you don’t want to send is what he did is OK, and have the youngsters take that and think it’s OK. We glorify a lot of stuff, whether it be positive or negative, it’s all about being the eye of the storm. The one thing I go back to is Manny’s a fun person, and he’s been a good teammate.”
Was he offended by Manny: “I think we’re disappointed, but if you look at the big picture, they’re talking about 100-and-something names. … It’s something that may have started small but evidently the competition thing, if you’re going to be able to compete on a level playing field, I’m going to try and keep up with what you’re doing, and I’m not saying it’s the right thing, but I’m guessing this is what snowballed into what it became.”
On the steroids issue: “I think we’re all guilty. I’ve been in baseball my whole life, even though I didn’t literally see anybody do anything, and I’m naive in a lot of ways, I don’t want to think bad things about people because I want to trust people, but I certainly didn’t think it was as widespread as it turned out to be.
I remember seeing Bob Gibson on TV, somebody said they had something for you to make you better, not that it would be illegal, you’d think about it. The difference is, years ago you would have done something to help you win a ballgame. The more recent years it’s all about putting statistics up. Different motivation, I think.
I put players in certain catagories. You’re Alex’s and Manny’s, you watch them play over the years, when they hit home runs it doesn’t surprise you. That middle group is the one where there’s a lot of questions about numbers. Would these guys have hit as many home runs? Possibly. Would they have hit them as far? Maybe not.”
On steroids users being in the Hall of Fame:” I feel that ability-wise there are guys that, cheating aside, Barry Bonds is a Hall of Fame-type player. Before anyone questioned him about anything he won four MVPs. Does that mean he should be in the Hall of Fame? I’m not saying that. Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame, and he certainly has the credentials. I think Clemens and Manny and Alex and all those people are in that upper group of guys who, ability wise, with steriods-stuff aside, are legitimate players to be in.”
Did Manny taint what the Dodgers did last season? “I don’t think so. He obviously did something he got punished for. As far as tainting, no. What do you think about Andy Pettite and Alex? I think baseball right now is tainted, and we need to get the trust back. Even your guys who have never possibly taken anything will hit a home run and there’s still going to be someone sitting in the stands saying, ‘What do you think?’ Hopefully we have a grip on it now and we’re going in the right direction.
“When I say we all have to take blame for it, a lot of stuff went on. Guys were hitting 60 home runs every year like it was no big deal and we were glorifying that instead of wondering about it. We all have to take our share of the blame, and it’s too bad, but it’s an era that hopefully we can get through and gain trust back. The most important thing in life is trust.
“When you go out to a ballpark you want to be entertained, you don’t want to be deceived. You’re getting away from your problems. They don’t want to work hard when they go out to the ballpark. They pay money to get away from that part of their life, and they want to be entertained. We’ve seen players hit 10, 15 home runs. All of a sudden they’re hitting 30, 40. That’s a suspicious thing. If you see someone who’s a good-sized guy, all the mechanics seem to work, I can see myself believing he legitamately does that. I don’t think we should question every single thing that happens in that game. The middle group that was hitting more home runs than made sense, those are the guys you scratch your head over.”
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Interesting comments there by the skipper. He had Bill Clinton, Yogi Berra, Donald Trump, Don Mattingly, Tino Martinez, Larry Bowa, Darryl Strawberry and others in the tournament.
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on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 8:29 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Maybe we should have sent Cano to caddy for Larry Bowa.
Is this all just an excerpt from Joe’s next book, “The Steroid Years: I Had No Idea, Really”?
I heard Frank Torre – a great listen, not just for his stories about Joe, but for plain old baseball history.
I heard part of Donnie’s interview as well – still miss the guy and I wish he were part of the organization (not necessarily as manager).
>Maybe we should have sent Cano to caddy for Larry Bowa.
You got it the other way around, it’s CANO who can’t play without the help of Larry Bowa.
4-0 A’s Top of 6.
Its hard to blame any manager for the PED era.
Managers aren’t going to ask questions of players. That just ain’t happening.
Its happened, you deal with it and move on.
If the media wants to “celebrate” Manny Ramirez’s return to baseball, which ESPN did, while trashing Arod and others, which EVERYBODY in the media did, that’s not Manny’s fault.
That’s the hypocritical, selective morality of some media outlets.
Best of luck Joe. No hard feelings here. I hope the Yanks meet & beat you in the World Series.
Just finished reading your book. It wasnt as negative as some made it seem. However, I wish I had a dollar for everytime I said to myself “why is he even talking at all about players while he’s still makes a living as a manager?”. I know that if I were a player he currently is managing, I wouldnt trust Joe Torre for a second.
Holy Phillies, Batman
Phillies flexing em muscles.
Manny did taint the Dodgers.
As for the HoF, I have no problem if players who acknowledged PED usage for whatever reason get in, but liars shouldn’t be voted in.
Hamels 2-3 2 R and 2 RBI. That’s a decent day for a cleanup hitter.
I think the first three quotes came from Torre, the last four came from Tom Verducci.
It was a loosy-goosy interview day…
A’s 5-0, bottom 6.
Smoltz line: 102 pitches, 6 innings, 10 hits, 5 runs. 6.38 ERA for the season.
I think by the time guys like Manny and A-Rod are HOF elligible a lot of the steroid stigma will have gone away. I have a feeling they will both get in some day. Although, the longer those guys put off retirement the better their chances of getting in will be IMO
LOL @ Torre’s lame excuses for Manny. Torre should of been fired after 2004.
A’s 5 RS 0 top 6th
Erica – newly OPPC July 6th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
SA-
Mine was Jon. And yes, I did scream at the NKOTB concert like a 10 year old girl
=========================
Haha. I liked Jon too. He was the nice quiet one
Is this all just an excerpt from Joe’s next book, “The Steroid Years: I Had No Idea, Really”?
=============================
Might want to proofread that transcription.
Last update for me tonight….
5-0 A’s after 6.
Have a good night everybody.
‘nite, SJ
SJ44 July 6th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
A’s 5-0, bottom 6.
Smoltz line: 102 pitches, 6 innings, 10 hits, 5 runs. 6.38 ERA for the season.
*************
I thought he was their savior.
jennifer
July 6th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
SJ44 July 6th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
A’s 5-0, bottom 6.
Smoltz line: 102 pitches, 6 innings, 10 hits, 5 runs. 6.38 ERA for the season.
*************
I thought he was their savior.
***
No, he is ours
What a great manager Torre is.
He turned around the Yankees franchise AND the Dodgers franchise, both after major droughts and brought back winning tradition and spark to the franchise.
He’s going to pick up another ring this year… good for him. Not many people can say they were the key reasons for turning around 2 of the most historic franchises in sports.
Smoltz will pick it up soon… he is just building arm strength now. This is like Spring Training for him.
As Gammons said, he will be the best pitcher in the AL in September. He actually had a decent start in Baltimore before the rain.
I’m late to the Marty Foster celebrity roasting. Hard to believe he would admit to the phantom tag play. What a dummy.
You have to understand – for the first 75 years of baseball there was no daily TV coverage. No ESPN. No 8 different camera angles with slow mo. There was the Saturday Game of the Week – that’s it.
The fans in the stands, and the players in the dugout were the audience. If the ball beat you – you were out. Everyone watching sees the ball beating the runner. There were no replays. You’d get more arguments and boos – for correctly saying the fielder missed a tag.
Now with every game being televised and with different angles being shown on replay – you need to make sure the tag is applied. Plus, the managers and players go into the clubhouse and re-watch the play. All the more reason to get it right.
Marty Foster must have had a brain lock. Calling the phantom tag is one thing, admitting to it – is just dumb.
new thread
“As Gammons said, he will be the best pitcher in the AL in September. He actually had a decent start in Baltimore before the rain.”
Gammons never said that, and if he did, his Red Sox fanboyism knows no bounds.
Smoltz is 42, coming off shoulder surgery and is pitching his first time around in the toughest division in baseball. Good luck with that.
As long as Roy Halladay, Beckett, Sabbathia, Lackey, Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee and assorted others are around, he won’t be the best pitcher in the American League.
Now now, not ever.
If you believe John Smoltz will be the best pitcher in the AL in September, you are as senile as Gammons.
John Smoltz won’t even be one of the 20 best pitchers in the AL in September.
Stop drinking the Kool Aid. It does nasty things to your brain.
“If the media wants to “celebrate” Manny Ramirez’s return to baseball, which ESPN did, while trashing Arod and others, which EVERYBODY in the media did, that’s not Manny’s fault.
That’s the hypocritical, selective morality of some media outlets.”
Amen. It’s a pose, a contrivance. The shame of it is that the media all too often operates the same way in reporting the REAL news too.
Oh well… back to watching the Sox lose – hopefully
A’s 5 RS 0 bottom of the 7th
It’s so weird seeing Jason back in an A’S uniform.
“Smoltz will pick it up soon… he is just building arm strength now. This is like Spring Training for him.”
If he’s just building arm strength now, what the heck was he doing before he got to the big club? Working on his vocabulary? Don’t get me wrong. I like Smoltzie as a player and as a decent guy. I’m not expecting anything other than serviceable from him however.
“Was he offended by Manny: “I think we’re disappointed, but if you look at the big picture, they’re talking about 100-and-something names. … ”
This is where Joe is wrong. Manny wasnt suspended because he got nabbed on the same list that ARod showed up on but rather tested positive THIS year, well after all the testing and rule changes took place.
randy – I reposted this from the last thread, because I really want to thank you for the thoughts and discussion.
It sounds like we’re talking about varying shades, as my wife likes to say.
From where I am, it’s hard for me to tell certain things. Like how much input any one person had on any one decision. Or just what instructions one gets from on high. For instance, we know how much the Steinbrenner Family has approved for the major league roster. Do we know how much they’ve approved for minor league coaching and instruction? I’ve read that the scouting staff, under Billy Eppler, has improved over the past 1-2 years – is that because the Steinbrenners have finally approved a larger budget for that? Same for conditioning. We all remember the fiasco with hamstrings, and the quick turnover in leadership there. If Cash orchestrated all that, he deserves to be nailed on it; if it was one of George’s or Hank’s cronies who was ordained, that’s a different story.
Anyway, we all have our frustrations. Mine lately have to deal with Cano hitting 5th and Swisher starting on an almost regular basis (Brett and Melky, please, or now Hinske).
Have a good night, buddy.
trade deadline prediction yanks get jarrod washburn
Unless Seattle falls out of the race completely and we overpay we will not get Washburn