Re: [閒聊] The Yankee Years

看板NY-Yankees作者decorum (Brave New World)時間17年前 (2009/01/29 11:18)推噓10(10推 0噓 3→)

留言13則, 12人參與討論串2/3 (看更多)

紐時的 Tyler Kepner 匆匆地瞄了這本書，挑了幾個有趣的事情談談。大家對 Pavano 都很不客氣，連作客的 Billy Crystal, Robin Williams 都當面挖苦他一番，而這老兄也壓根兒沒想在紐約闖出一片天，真是糟糕透頂的一段賓主關係！ Torre on Jeter, A-Rod, Beltrán, Pavano, Brown and More By Tyler Kepner http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/ torre-on-jeter-a-rod-beltran-pavano-brown-and-more/?hp I am not a speed reader, like my colleague Jack Curry, so there is no way I can quickly finish my copy of “The Yankee Years.” But just from scanning it for a couple of hours, it is filled with extraordinary tidbits and rich detail. It demands a full read, first word to last, but for now, here are some remarkable highlights beyond what I’ve seen published already: ¶To demonstrate a key difference between Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, there is an anecdote about Rodriguez visiting Jeter’s house and flipping on the TV. Rodriguez asked Jeter where he could find the baseball package, and was stunned that Jeter did not subscribe. “It was just so funny because Derek will never watch a baseball game other than the one he’s playing in,” said the former Yankees bullpen catcher Mike Borzello, who was there that day. “They’re just complete opposites. I remember Alex’s reaction to it was like, ‘How is that possible?’ ” ¶Remember the story about Carlos Beltrán’s willingness to take a major discount to play for the Yankees instead of the Mets? Joe Torre tells why: “ Beltrán wanted to come to us, so he could hide among the trees. Nobody wants to be that guy to lead.” ¶The Yankees should have talked to Tim Raines before signing Carl Pavano. Raines, the former Yankee who was coaching with the White Sox when Pavano signed, had played with Pavano in Montreal. During Pavano’s first Yankees season, Raines told Borzello: “He didn’t want to pitch except for the one year he was pitching for a contract. I’m telling you, he’s not going to pitch for you.” Of course, by then, the Yankees already had a bad feeling about Pavano — team officials were startled to see him rudely rebuke his mother in April, using a mild curse word. Why? He was angry at his mother for wearing a Yankees ’ NY in face paint on her cheek to the game. ¶Though he accuses Kevin Brown of “pitching stupid” by taking the ball in Game 7 of the 2004 A.L.C.S. despite an ailing back, Torre expresses more pity than anger at the troubled right-hander. “There were a lot of demons in this guy,” Torre says, and he mentions that after Brown allowed six runs in the first inning of this 2005 game, he stormed into the visitors clubhouse at Tropicana Field, curled up on the floor in a corner of a storage area and told Torre, “I’m going to go home.” Torre told Brown that if he did that - – if he quit on his teammates — he would never be welcomed back. Brown got up, fired his cellphone across the locker room, put his jersey back on and threw four more innings. The authors do not mention it, but Brown won his next four starts, the final four victories of his career. ¶After George Steinbrenner saddled Torre with Kenny Lofton, a clearly extraneous center fielder, in 2004, Torre had to decide whether to list Lofton or Bernie Williams as his center fielder for the official All-Star ballot. Not wanting to show favoritism to either player, Torre called both into his office, folded two pieces of paper –- one with Williams’s name, one with Lofton’s — and put them in a hat. When Williams’s name fell out of the cap, Torre felt he had to show Lofton the other slip of paper to prove that his name was on it. “I had to open it up to show him that he was on the other one, to make sure he didn’t think there was two Bernies,” Torre said. “That was a big deal to him, being on the All-Star ballot.” ¶When the pinch-runner Dave Roberts stole second base in the fateful ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 A.L.C.S., Tom Verducci and Torre write, he had no intention of stealing second on the first pitch because his legs were not yet loose. But Mariano Rivera helped him by making three pickoff attempts before his first pitch to Bill Mueller. “Rivera had done him a favor,” the book says. “Roberts was now fully immersed in the flow of the game. His plan had changed. He made up his mind to steal on the first pitch.” ¶Torre has a telling comment about George Steinbrenner’s mental state when recalling a meeting in Tampa, Fla., in September 2007. Steinbrenner’s health had clearly deteriorated, and Torre drew a comparison to “The Godfather“: “ It’s not quite the same (as) when Don Corleone was shot and was recovering and was sitting in the garden. At least he was talking to his son in a very lucid way, explaining what was going to happen. I don’t think George had those capabilities.” ¶Before the 2007 playoffs, when Torre arranged for his friend Billy Crystal to make a short film to show the players in the clubhouse in Cleveland, Crystal knew how to get laughs. The film started with a pornographic scene, prompting nervous laughter, before Crystal replaced the pornography and said, “Now that I’ve got your attention. … ” Crystal and Robin Williams then went into a 12-minute comedy bit, poking fun at various players before turning serious. They told the players to be grateful for the opportunity and for their health. “And there is somebody we should all pray for, because he has not been blessed with the same great health. So before you go out there, when you hit your knees, say a prayer … for Carl Pavano!” The room, the authors write, erupted in laughter. -- There are a lot things we don't want to know about the people we love. --- Chuck Palahniuk -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.67.146.230