09/24: Did They Really Not Mention Torre at the Final Game Ceremonies?
Posted by: Patrick
I missed the final game at Yankee Stadium and the ceremonies and coverage surrounding it. Sacrilege, I know. I felt bad. But, I was in Las Vegas for the Blog World & New Media Expo from Thursday through Monday. Sunday was particularly insane for me, as I had a book signing and was speaking on two panels. In fact, right as the game was starting, the "Avoiding Disaster: How Not to Use Social Media" panel was wrapping up.
I go away for a few days and what happens? The Yankees close out Yankee Stadium with a win, my Dolphins beat the Patriots and the U.S. wins the Ryder Cup for the first time in 9 years. Figures.
I've spent several hours today going over a lot of coverage from the big day, mostly from my fellow Yankees bloggers. However, there was a little bit of coverage that I saw before this. On Monday, after I finally made it back home, I was watching ESPN for a little while, when they talked about the ceremony that the Yankees held before the game. Or, more specifically, the lack of any mention of Joe Torre. My first reaction: "What? How could this happen? Unbelievable. Man, that makes us look bad."
They had a reporter from L.A. on there who... well, wasn't terribly on point. He went on to say that the Yankees didn't mention Don Mattingly (no one else spoke up about this - and it was a panel discussion - so it seemed so unbelievable that I didn't see how it could be true, and it wasn't) and Larry Bowa, who he claimed had had a hand in some of the Yankees' titles. That is also not true, of course. Bowa didn't join the team until long after our last title.
Nonetheless, the omission of Torre is glaring. The man has more wins than Miller Huggins and Casey Stengel and more titles than Huggins, as well. I've read comments indicating that the Yankees didn't do anything for managers that didn't play for the team. If that's true, I've got an issue with that, in and of itself. Joe McCarthy, Torre, Stengel and Huggins all should have been honored. And the fact that Torre wasn't, it just makes us look petty and disrespectful. For his part, Torre handled it gracefully.
Via Ben Kabak, Joel Sherman of the Post outlines all of the disappointments that he witnessed. Some of it is a bit much, but there are some things I agree with. Namely, that Don Mattingly was shown on screen as long as Robinson Cano was, according to Sherman. There are only five men alive who have held the Yankee captaincy. Craig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, Mattingly and Jeter. Enough said.
Besides Torre, the other missed name making news is that of Roger Clemens. It has been said that he was heartbroken by the snub, holding hands with his wife and mother-in-law. I don't know about all that, and I can understand why they might have held him out, but I do think he should have been mentioned. You are going to mention David Wells and Al Downing, but not Roger Clemens?
It just doesn't make sense. The listing of players and people mentioned should, by and large, be a science. By making it a science, it's easy to knock down virtually everyone you have to mention. For example, anyone who has played X number of games. Anyone who has won X number of games as a manager. Anyone who has won an MVP or Cy Young award as a Yankee. Things like that. Only five Yankees have ever won the Cy Young. They are Clemens, Guidry, Sparky Lyle, Whitey Ford and Bob Turley. All of these should have been mentioned.
By the way, if you missed the whole event, like I did, I'd recommend checking out posts by Cliff Corcoran and Ben and photos by Brent Nycz, Ben and Steve Lombardi.
I go away for a few days and what happens? The Yankees close out Yankee Stadium with a win, my Dolphins beat the Patriots and the U.S. wins the Ryder Cup for the first time in 9 years. Figures.
I've spent several hours today going over a lot of coverage from the big day, mostly from my fellow Yankees bloggers. However, there was a little bit of coverage that I saw before this. On Monday, after I finally made it back home, I was watching ESPN for a little while, when they talked about the ceremony that the Yankees held before the game. Or, more specifically, the lack of any mention of Joe Torre. My first reaction: "What? How could this happen? Unbelievable. Man, that makes us look bad."
They had a reporter from L.A. on there who... well, wasn't terribly on point. He went on to say that the Yankees didn't mention Don Mattingly (no one else spoke up about this - and it was a panel discussion - so it seemed so unbelievable that I didn't see how it could be true, and it wasn't) and Larry Bowa, who he claimed had had a hand in some of the Yankees' titles. That is also not true, of course. Bowa didn't join the team until long after our last title.
Nonetheless, the omission of Torre is glaring. The man has more wins than Miller Huggins and Casey Stengel and more titles than Huggins, as well. I've read comments indicating that the Yankees didn't do anything for managers that didn't play for the team. If that's true, I've got an issue with that, in and of itself. Joe McCarthy, Torre, Stengel and Huggins all should have been honored. And the fact that Torre wasn't, it just makes us look petty and disrespectful. For his part, Torre handled it gracefully.
Via Ben Kabak, Joel Sherman of the Post outlines all of the disappointments that he witnessed. Some of it is a bit much, but there are some things I agree with. Namely, that Don Mattingly was shown on screen as long as Robinson Cano was, according to Sherman. There are only five men alive who have held the Yankee captaincy. Craig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, Mattingly and Jeter. Enough said.
Besides Torre, the other missed name making news is that of Roger Clemens. It has been said that he was heartbroken by the snub, holding hands with his wife and mother-in-law. I don't know about all that, and I can understand why they might have held him out, but I do think he should have been mentioned. You are going to mention David Wells and Al Downing, but not Roger Clemens?
It just doesn't make sense. The listing of players and people mentioned should, by and large, be a science. By making it a science, it's easy to knock down virtually everyone you have to mention. For example, anyone who has played X number of games. Anyone who has won X number of games as a manager. Anyone who has won an MVP or Cy Young award as a Yankee. Things like that. Only five Yankees have ever won the Cy Young. They are Clemens, Guidry, Sparky Lyle, Whitey Ford and Bob Turley. All of these should have been mentioned.
By the way, if you missed the whole event, like I did, I'd recommend checking out posts by Cliff Corcoran and Ben and photos by Brent Nycz, Ben and Steve Lombardi.
