Joe Torre, another manager/coach you might imagine as a fine “foster father” — as indeed he was to his Yankee team for 12 years — just got fired by his “Boss.” Sigh.

I remember Noll and the 70s Steelers with a lot of fondness.
Larry, Torre wasn’t fired he was insulted and quit. It’ll be interesting to see who leaves with him. Some of the players have talked about following Torre and most of those are past their prime but are there two more terrifying words in baseball than “Mariano Rivera?”

Doug:
You are naive about baseball — and major league sports in general — to think that if the Yankees wanted Torre back, they wouldn’t have found a way to bring him back. He clearly loved his job.
I guess you could say technically “let go” rather than fired, since he was between contracts, but otherwise …

Blessed are the naive about baseball, Larry. Obviously, Yankees management wasn’t trying too hard to keep Torre but it’s not like Steinbrenner is tender about firing coaches.

Baseball – the game that mirrors the spiritual life of the nation.
When the nation could not integrate – Branch Rickey comes along. When the owners have too much power and ignore the world outside of their large cities – Denver wins. When arrogance of the Steinbrenner ilk seems to determine baseball’s way of being – Joe Torre quits.
OK – a bit over the top – I admit. But, I had met Buck O’Neill – baseball’s saint. I remember Roberto Clemente – baseball’s martyr. In a game filled with ordinary people – a few stand out. It’s not a religious game – but it is a spiritual one.
I really get that George Bush wanted to be baseball commissioner. Thank God, he only got to be president or we’d be in real trouble. He didn’t get the big picture. Steinbrenner doesn’t get it. Giamatti did. O’Neill did. Ken Burns did.

I wish somebody would insult me for $6 million/year.