Even before it was released on Jan. 27, Joe Torre's new book, "The Yankee Years," which actually was penned in third person by co-author Tom Verducci, had caused more of a stir than either Torre or Verducci ever intended. More than a week before the book's release, two New York newspapers characterized the book as Torre's blistering tell-all of his spectacularly successful but often-tumultuous 12-year run as manager of the New York Yankees.
While Torre was set to appear on Larry King Live on Jan. 30, three days before the book's release, Verducci was doing his own media tap dance in an effort to clear up any misunderstandings -- and as an apparent pre-emptive strike against any ruffled feathers among those who played for Torre with the Yankees. The one element of the book that seems to have garnered the most attention was a claim that early in Alex Rodriguez's tenure with the Yankees, his teammates began referring to him as "A-Fraud," and that Rodriguez developed an obsession with team captain Derek Jeter akin to that portrayed in the movie "Single White Female."
Verducci, in an interview with WFAN radio last week, denied those claims came from Torre.
"Joe Torre certainly wasn't name-calling," Verducci told the station. "(He) certainly didn't use the phrase 'A-Fraud' or 'Single White Female.' That is why it is so important to know it is a third-person narrative."
While Rodriguez went on record last week as saying he wasn't bothered by Torre's comments, at least one of Torre's former players in New York, pitcher David Wells, clearly was. USA Today's Game On! blog reported that Wells called Torre a "punk" in an interview with an ESPN Radio affiliate in Los Angeles.
"What we do as athletes, that's our problem and our business," Wells told the station. "And a lot of guys have come out and destroyed that. That's why they don't have any friends. ... People just don't do it, and that's what Joe did. When you break the code, you're a punk. If he broke the code, he's a punk, absolutely."
