Just another Yanked employee

By Max Dickstein, amNewYork Sports Editor | mdickstein@am-ny.com

October 20, 2007

Firings, rumblings, ultimatums and general off-stage bluster are the Yankees' style under George Steinbrenner.

For years, Joe Torre tipped his hat back over his forehead after each game, kept his voice even and assured, and thrived under pressure that would have, and has, beaten down so many other managers.

There was a dignity to Joe Torre in the way he conducted his work.

Understanding that media relations and ego supervision comprise much of a Yankees manager's job, he projected emotional clubhouse solidarity.

His rewards, in riches and titles, were many, but when Torre rejected an incentive-laden, one-year, $5 million contract offer Thursday, he showed that he no longer wished to be a Yankees lackey.

Torre had engaged admirably with his work for 12 seasons, winning four World Series championships and the love and respect of a city's people, Yankees fans or not.

But Torre was always begrudged the respect of his masters, something he must have sensed once again as he sat across the table from the assembled Yankees brass in Tampa, Fla.

It appears that the Yankees, searching for a way to dispense with the popular Torre, extended their offer in order to have it rejected.

Winning intentions aside, Steinbrenner's insistent reminders to his employees of their expendability cost him his best one.