
Posted: Sunday January 25, 2009 5:00PM; Updated: Monday January 26, 2009 1:27PM

SI's Verducci: New book about Yankees, not just Joe Torre

Story Highlights

Two New York papers say Joe Torre rips Alex Rodriguez and George Steinbrenner

Co-author Tom Verducci says the newspaper claims distort the book's context

Verducci says the book is about the Yankees, not a first-person book by Torre

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'The Yankee Years' will be published by Doubleday on Feb. 3.
Courtesy of Random House spoke with Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci on Sunday about his soon-to-be released new book, co-authored with Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, called The Yankee Years. The book is published by Doubleday and will be released on Feb. 3. Two New York newspapers are reporting that Joe Torre rips Alex Rodriguez and George Steinbrenner in the book, and that Brian Cashman was not as supportive of Torre returning as Yankees manager after the 2007 season as was previously believed. What can you tell us about these reports?



Verducci: I can't comment on specific content of the book because it hasn't reached its publication date yet and there are contracts to honor. But like I said, it's important to understand the context of the book. The interviews with Torre were done specifically for the book but this is the result of hundreds of interviews with not only Torre but players, front office executives, executives of other teams, players on other teams. It's a 477-page book about 12 years of baseball history. Again, it's not a Joe Torre first-person book, so there's a lot of reporting that's presented in there in addition to Joe's insights.

Smart people will judge the book upon actually reading it and not reading preliminary reports prior to its publication. Once you understand the context of the book you understand the information. It's not a tell-all book. Anybody who reads it will understand that.

He's honest and he takes things head on. He never goes after people in the way it's portrayed in the headlines. There's a lot of information in the book. Will Joe Torre be surprised by anything that is in this book?

No, Joe Torre is not surprised by anything that's in this book. He has read and re-read and re-read the book. We've been working on it since last November. Do you think this will be a distraction for Joe Torre?

Verducci: No, it won't be a distraction. It's not a tell-all book; it's a very insightful book into baseball. It's a much larger book about the Yankees, not only how the game changed around them, but the growth of information analysis, revenue sharing, growth of intellect in front-offices, changes in Red Sox ownership, the Steroid Era, etc.

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