A couple of things to say out front.
I’m just a loudmouth with a blog and a laptop. I was just as guilty of Torre outrage as anyone else when I first heard the book, and wrote about it on metspolice.com several times.
I also haven’t actually read the book. I’ve ordered it from Amazon and hope it’s waiting for me at home. Yes I could have gone to the bookstore but I’m lazy and have a job other this blog that draws nearly four million dollars in revenue every month.
So I’m guilty of all that.
Joe Torre spoke with Bob Costas on the MLB cable network last night. I thought both Joe and Bob were excellent.
Some things that drew my attention:
Joe mentioned that A-Rod is way more talented than Jeter. My initial reaction was that of a typical New Yorker. The hairs on my back went up and I was thinking, “Yo, don’t diss Jeter!”
Then I thought about it. Joe is right. Alex is way more talented.
Jeter is one of those ballplayers you will have to have seen. I always tell the “kids” I work with that they don’t understand how the game has changed. Look at Dale Murphy’s MVP numbers some time. Half the time, Manny Ramirez has those numbers on June 1st. I will need to explain to my kids how good Jeter was, because his numbers won’t tell the story (other than a likely 3,000 hits and 4 rings – not too shabby). Jeter is clutch. Jeter makes the flip play when you need the flip play. He’s always in the right place at the right time….but A-Rod has more talent.
Costas mentioned that at one point not long ago it seemed a lock that #6 would be retired and that there would be Joe Torre Day at the stadium, and now that day seems far off. Torre didn’t seem bothered by it. It would bother me, but it doesn’t seem to bug Joe much.
Steroids were discussed. I thought Joe made a good point, one that I hadn’t heard before. Say you did suspect someone was on steroids. What would you do? Ask the player? Ask a teammate?
Play it out. Hey Barry, are you on steroids? No, skip.
Then what?
Hey teammate, do you think Barry is on ‘roids? Yeah skip I do.
Then what? Hey Barry, Charlie says you are on ‘roids? Hello Bud Selig, Charlie says Barry is on ‘roids.
That’s an interesting take.
I also came away from the interview with a better understanding about how much of the book is actually the words of Tom Verducci.
As for the Costas show itself, it was solid yet nothing revolutionary. Two chairs on a big soundstage. Costas being Costas.
It looks like the MLB network is starting to get better. There are some Caribbean World Series games on today, and over the weekend they are showing a bunch of old games with 19 and 20 strikeouts (Cone, Randy, Clemens, etc). That’s a better use of the channel than showing the 2008 NLDS for the 7 billionth time.
Nice debut for Costas!
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