Joe Torre Is Out, and Good For Him

Has it really been seven years?

Well, it's done. Joe Torre has turned down a one-year contract that would have him make less money in salary, but pay him more if he gets the Yankees into the World Series.

Good for him. He can leave, and in a way that makes it look like it was his decision. He walks away with his head held high, and with the moral high ground. (Not a hard thing to do when you're dealing with one of the two murderers of Yankee Stadium, the other being Massachusetts Mike Bloomberg.)

And to have this happen on the 30th Anniversary of the day Mr. Reginald Martinez Jackson became Mr. October? Doesn't anybody in the Tampa Regime think?

So let the Joe Girardi Era begin. Or the Larry Bowa Era. Or the Tony Pena Era. I can live with any of those.

If the 2nd Mattingly Era begins, the next Yankee World Series might not be until Mattingly dies, because the Cult will never let Hank Steinbrenner fire Saint Donald Arthur of Evansville. We could be stuck with Donnie Regular Season Baseball until 2040 or so. By that point, Hank will want a new ballpark built on that empty space across from "Yankee Stadium" -- you know, where the real Yankee Stadium used to be.

Anyway, maybe George or Hank (whoever's really making the decisions) can close Yankee Stadium with one more special ceremony: Retiring the Number 6 of Joe Torre, the Number 21 of Paul O'Neill and the Number 51 of Bernie Williams, and give them their Monument Park plaques, so they'll at least have it done in Yankee Stadium, not in George Steinbrenner Memorial Stadium across the street.