The Yankee Years

By: Joe Torre, Tom Verducci

Narrated by: Tom Verducci

Twelve straight playoff appearances. Six American League pennants. Four World Series titles. This is the definitive story of a dynasty: the Yankee years

When Joe Torre took over as manager of the New York Yankees in 1996, the most storied franchise in sports had not won a World Series title in eighteen years. The famously tough and mercurial owner, George Steinbrenner, had fired seventeen managers during that span. Torre’s appointment was greeted with Bronx cheers from the notoriously brutal New York media, who cited his record as the player and manager who had been in the most Major League games without appearing in a World Series

Twelve tumultuous and triumphant years later, Torre left the team as the most beloved and successful manager in the game. In an era of multimillionaire free agents, fractured clubhouses, revenue-sharing, and off-the-field scandals, Torre forged a team ethos that united his players and made the Yankees, once again, the greatest team in sports. He won over the media with his honesty and class, and was beloved by the fans.

But it wasn’t easy.

Here, for the first time, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci take us inside the dugout, the
clubhouse, and the front office in a revelatory narrative that shows what it really took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world. The high-priced ace who broke down in tears and refused to go back to the mound in the middle of a game. Constant meddling from Yankee executives, many of whom were jealous of Torre’s popularity. The tension that developed between the old guard and the free agents brought in by management. The impact of revenue-sharing and new scouting techniques, which allowed other teams to challenge the Yankees’ dominance. The players who couldn’t resist the after-hours temptations of the Big Apple. The joys of managing Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, and the challenges of managing Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi. Torre’s last year, when constant ultimatums from the front office, devastating injuries, and a freak cloud of bugs on a warm September night in Cleveland forced him from a job he loved.

Through it all, Torre kept his calm, kept his players’ respect, and kept winning.

And, of course, The Yankee Years chronicles the amazing stories on the diamond. The stirring comeback in the 1996 World Series against the heavily favored Braves. The wonder of 1998, when Torre led the Yanks to the most wins in Major League history. The draining and emotional drama of the 2001 World Series. The incredible twists and turns of the epic Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series against the Red Sox, in which two teams who truly despised each other battled pitch by pitch until the stunning extra-inning home run.

Here is a sweeping narrative of Major League Baseball in the Yankee era, a book both grand in its scope and fascinating in its details.©2009 Joe Torre; (P)2009 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“One of the best books about baseball ever written.”—New York Daily News

"An insightful and non-hagiographic look at a legendary manager and team during one of baseball's most transformational eras."--Boston Globe

"The consummate insider's view of what may be the last great dynasty in baseball history."--Los Angeles Times

"An appealing portrait of a likable, hard-working man. One closes the book with a high regard for Mr. Torre, not least as a manager."--Wall Street Journal

"A lively chronicle. . . . What this book does . . . very persuasively is chart the rise and fall of one of baseball's great dynasties, while showing the care and feeding it took to bring the city of New York four championships in five years." —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"A capacious fresh account of [Torre’s] great run in the Bronx.... Verducci has range and ease; he's a shortstop on the page." —The New Yorker

"Compelling. . . . A hybrid of insider reporting [and] autobiography." —The Christian Science Monitor

“Fascinating reading.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[Filled with] many insights, some about human nature, many about the great American game.” —Bloomberg News

Cashman is a snake!

The Torre years were filled with fun, winning and a serious lack of pitching after 2001. To this day, that snake, Cashman gets to run around with immunity. Great book and recap of some great years!

How to Make the Best Yankee Years Boring

Love the Yankees. Love Joe Torre. The book seemed disjointed and made the most exciting baseball seem unexciting. Maybe because the book jumps around in time rather than telling the history of Torre's years chronologically. I think more emphasis was placed on losing than on the exciting pennant years. It just seemed ... dull. It also seemed like Torre was reluctant to do the book, and there are very few interesting stories about the ballplayers. You would think there must have been some amazing stories, but they weren't in the book.

Marginally interesting for non-Yankee fans

Though not a Yankee fan, I have followed baseball for four decades and was hoping to deepen my understanding of the sport--or at least to find out something new and interesting about the Yankee teams of the last decade. But this is a pretty bland account of the Torre years. I'm guessing that the stuff he left out is probably much more interesting than what was included.