First, I love Joe Torre, the player, the manager, the man.
Such justice for him that many managers never receive to get to manage a club with TALENT.
And he very ably guided those teams except for a blip or two...the midges and the '04 collapse..
Anyway, ever since the Yanks announced they were retiring his No. 6 it has been like a dagger to me.
You see there was ANOTHER No. 6, not so long ago. A Number 6 who was on 2 World Series winners. A number 6 who before that played at least 10 -12 years on Yankee teams that bordered on awful. And was an exemplary player with a career avg. of 271. And would lead the league in walks one year and set a record for sacrifice flies the next. His only flaw was a middlin' throwing arm, yet he would lead the AL four consective years in fielding average.
Now these are not blow you away stats, but pretty damn good stuff on a team that rarely reached .500 in over a decade. Yes, Mr. Torre had quite a nice run as a pinstripe manager, but for me the other number 6 had as equally impressive a run as a player during the Dark Ages most Yankee fans never want to talk about.
And it will forever be a blot on the Yankees and even Mr. Torre (who in my world should have insisted) that ROY WHITE is not honored in the same manner as the number 6 who hangs on the wall in Monument Park.
Thank you for letting me get this out, it has been festering for quite a while.