Monday, July 16, 2007

Another Hole In The Torre Mystique

A lot has been said about Gary Sheffield's comments on Joe Torre, and most people, knowing Sheffield has a tendency to rant, aren't taking him seriously. But I think there are a couple of reasons to believe the guy:

1) Kenny Lofton agreed with the guy. True, Darryl Strawberry disagreed, but I'd be curious to hear the take of other black players from the Torre era (Raines, Hayes, Chili Davis, Charles Gipson, etc.). Anyway, it isn't just Sheff.

2) Why would Sheffield pick on Torre? The guy's played for many managers in his career, from Tom Trebelhorn to Jim Leyland. I know he had issues with Davey Johnson in LA, but he never called the guy a racist. If Sheffield has a beef with a manager, he's not shy about it. So why would he make allegations about Torre, and not about any other manager he's had over his long career?

It's very difficult to know whether Sheffield is correct; who knows what goes on behind closed doors. But for the reasons mentioned above, I wouldn't dismiss his statements too quickly, either.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Torre isn't a racist...he doesn't tolerate lazy self centered unprofessional guys...even if they are one of the best hitters in baseball. Lofton and Womack were awful in the Bronx..ask Straw, or Tom Gordon...

Sheff is a great hitter, but he continues to suffer from foot in mouth diseaase

Manny Ortiz said...

But Jim Leyland is another guy who doesn't tolerate any crap. You saw that last year, when he ripped the Tigers when they were struggling in May, and they ended up having a great year.

And yet, Sheffield has never had a bad word to say about Jim Leyland.