It was with great eagerness that I dove into The Yankee Years, which seems to be the most talked-about baseball book of this still young 2009.

As with anything – a bottle of wine, a cigar, or a book – the hype and talk surrounding it often skews one’s vision of it once it is finally consumed. You hear the chatter, you read an excerpt here and an opinion there, and if nothing less – simply the idea of Joe Torre writing a book about his time with the Yankees piques your interest and seems to elevate whatever expectations you have to a higher level.

Certainly that was the case with this book – at least it was for me. I watched the interview that Bob Costas did with Joe Torre and Tom Verducci on the MLB Network, and read some other people’s early thoughts on the book. But I did my darndest to go in within an open and unbiased mind.

The first thing I noticed is that it is written in the third person. Going in, I assumed that this would be Joe Torre telling me about his twelve years in pinstripes – his name is on the book after all. But such is not the case – The Yankee Years is written in the third person – and clearly not by Torre. This was a disappointment to me – and if you go into the book thinking the way I did, I fear you’ll be disappointed. Instead of this being an autobiography, Torre is quoted throughout the book – just as several players, executives and other recognizable names are.

Names such as David Cone, Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Pedro Martinez, Brian McNamee, Theo Epstein, an anonymous GM, and several others who you’ll come to know throughout the book’s 482 pages.

One of my main issues with the book though, is the attribution of quotes – I was constantly wondering if the quotes came from direct interviews with the individual, or whether they were part of Torre’s recollections of how certain things transpired.

Memoir or biography, be aware that not once does Torre say “I did this” or “I thought that” without being quoted.

Another issue for me was that as a result of being written in the third person, there are opinions scattered throughout the book that aren’t necessarily attributed to either Torre or Verducci – or anyone in that matter. For instance – when talking about steroids and the 1998 season on page 86, the statement is made that “it was a freakshow and baseball loved it.” I would really love  to know that Torre felt that way – and maybe he does, but it’s hard to pin down that quote to him as opposed to him and Verducci, or Verducci on his own.

Tom Verducci

Second – there is an important distinction to be made between what you see on the cover and what is actually in the book. Looking at the cover, it certainly would seem that the book would be all about the Yankees under Torre’s tenure as manager – but the book is much more than that. There are frequent explorations into other topics that came up in Major League Baseball while Torre was at the helm of the Yankees.

The Yankees don’t operate in a vacuum. They are part of the bigger picture of baseball – from the rebuilding of the Red Sox, to the strategic advantages the Indians have developed in response to the Yankees gobbling up the prized free agents, as well as the aforementioned steroids – it’s in the book. You’ll see how the changes in the game affected the Yankees, and how the Yankees helped affect changes in the game.

A decent amount of the third chapter, appropriately entitled “Getting An Edge,” discusses the issue of  steroids, including quotes from Rick Helling, the former big leaguer who is credited with bringing the steroid issue to light in 1998. It’s in this early section of the book that I first realized that The Yankee Years would cover more than just Torre and the team – it would expand into the larger landscape of what was going on in Major League Baseball.

This originally bothered me a bit – I didn’t want to read about these things, I wanted the dirt on the Yankees! If anything, I’m a bit embarassed to admit that – I despise reality TV, gossip mags and pretty much anything that tries to tear down celebrities, and even non-celebrties, all while making a quick profit.

You’re probably wondering about the dirt factor of the book, as I mentioned above. To put it honestly, there aren’t sensationalistic tales of rampant, well, anything in the book. You will read a fair amount about Torre’s relationships with George Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman and numerous players, but to say that it’s a mudslinging book wouldn’t be accurate. Sure, some may surprise and even shock you – especially those for whom the Yankees are sacred – but I certainly didn’t walk away from the book with a feeling of having learned some deep down smut about people. If anything, Odd Man Out, which I recently reviewed, has more dirt on players than I thought The Yankees Years did.

But what did I walk away from the book with? Certainly a deeper understanding of the Yankees and, to an extent, baseball in general from 1996-2007. Certainly a look inside what motivates certain players, why the Yankees were so good from 1996-2000 and so bad from 2001-2007, and even 2008 if you accept Cashman’s assessment of the club heading into “an abyss.”

I certainly saw different sides of Joe Torre. Not being a Yankee fan, I always saw him as this dark, shady, gruff character in the story line of baseball. To me, he always had a bit of a sinister look to him as was winning another World Series, or even just playing my hometown Mariners.

Torre shares a good amount of himself in the book – albeit through a third-person lens – from his feelings after 9/11, to his views on steroids, and of course his time with the Yankees. He also readily admits situations where his judgment could have been different and where he made mistakes – something I applaud him for doing.

The Yankee Years seems to stem from an observation made on page 456 in relation to the moments before Torre was to manage his final game in pinstripes: “there was no hiding the hurt.” For me, this simple statement, summarizing the breakdown in trust between Torre and the Yankees’ executives seemed to tie everything together. Whether or not that’s what led to the book being written – well, that’s up to you. Reports of this book being in the works surfaced back in November of 2007, so make of that what you will. (Verducci and Torre also worked together on Chasing the Dream back in 1998, making this book a repeat pairing.)

It also does a good job of showing how a team went from utter dominance of baseball – four World Series championships in five years – to missing the playoffs in 2008 and becoming suddenly beatable, especially in the postseason. Building a dynasty is never easy, and in this case, the process of that dynasty coming apart wasn’t particularly easy, especially on Torre.

The Yankee Years is a very good read for any baseball fan, while inching closer to a must read for Yankee fans and serious baseball fans who appreciate the complex nature of the game. However – don’t expect sensationalism, and don’t expect this to be the Joe Torre tell-all. It’s simply not – and there’s lots of other pieces to the book that add merit to it being on your bookshelf. While the book itself isn’t challenging – keeping in mind who you’re actually reading can be, while figuring out Torre and Verducci’s motivation for writing the book – other than profit – well, that’s another story.