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Jason English
Is The Old Boss Back?
by Jason English - April 30, 2007 - 10:41 AM

“We plan absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees is concerned. We’re not going to pretend we’re something we aren’t. I’ll stick to building ships.”
–George Steinbrenner to The New York Times, 1/4/1973

yankees_lede.jpgDuring his first twenty-three seasons as owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner changed managers twenty times. Like your classic serial dater, The Boss refused to settle down. He was on-again, off-again with Billy Martin five times. He briefly tied his fortune to guys named Dallas (Green) and Bucky (Dent) and Stump (Merrill). When Steinbrenner jettisoned the popular Buck Showalter after the 1995 season, the New York tabloids were furious (”Clueless Joe,” read the NY Post headline, referring to Buck’s replacement – Joe Torre).


But four World Series rings and eleven playoff appearances later, Torre and Steinbrenner are still together. For now, that is. A seven-game losing streak (broken Saturday) has the marriage on the rocks. Yankee pitchers have been routinely shelled, and the injuries are mounting. “I think [Steinbrenner] is going to wait and see what happens this weekend, and then we’ll see,” said Howard Rubenstein, The Boss’ spokesman.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

When I started this post, the idea was to transition into a list of Steinbrenner’s suspect decisions. Though I guess firing a struggling manager in his twelfth season can’t really be called hasty. I’m a big Torre fan, and own a #6 Joe Torre t-shirt. As much as I’d hate to see him go, he has made a number of questionable moves this season. So let’s wait until tomorrow to break down The Best of The Boss.

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Comments (6)

  1. Poor Joe. Is he the one stranding runners left on base? Is he the one with the ERA problem? Is he the one blowing saves?

    It’s a thankless job, for sure, but then you look at the team and say: okay, but something has to change, who they going to fire? Larry Bowa?

    posted by David on 4-30-2007 at 11:26 am

  2. I’ll keep sleeping in my #6 Torre t-shirt for good luck. I’m also not sold on Mattingly being the second coming. I had multiple Mattingly posters on my wall growing up, but I’d hate to see him fail post-Torre.

    I’d like Torre to stick it out this year, retire, then let Joe Girardi come out of the booth for ‘08.

    posted by Jason on 4-30-2007 at 11:59 am

  3. Being a Red Sox fan, I find it difficult to generate much sympathy for anything Yankees. I do, however, think that Torre is being scrutinized unfairly for this season’s (is it even a season yet?) difficulties. If anybody deserves the blame, it’s Cashman for not building any sort of depth in either the rotation or in the bullpen – and Cashman is indeed being the classy professional and taking responsibility.
    The point is that unless Torre is actually causing his rotation’s injuries, then he shouldn’t be held responsible for the team’s pitching troubles.

    posted by Bill T. on 4-30-2007 at 12:54 pm

  4. It is unfair to blame Torre, but its physically impossible for me to feel bad for anybody in pinstripes…GO SOX!

    posted by mri on 4-30-2007 at 10:22 pm

  5. meh.

    posted by Jason! on 5-1-2007 at 10:59 am

  6. I prefer the fake TV version voiced by Larry David.

    posted by James Bond on 11-15-2007 at 12:51 pm

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