Torre: “I'm Proud of the Book”

Former Yankees manager Joe Torre made his first admission that he's not totally thrilled with every part of his new book, "The Yankee Years," during an interview with WFAN's Mike Francesa on Tuesday afternoon. When Francesa asked Torre if there was anything he wished wasn't in the book, Torre responded that some of the "stuff with Alex (Rodriguez)" wasn't to his liking.

That includes the reference to Rodriguez's relationship to Derek Jeter being something out of the film "Single White Female." It was a reference that Torre admitted he didn't get when he read through the book before publication. That allusion came from his co-author, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, and Torre said that he didn't raise objections about anything that Verducci wrote as a result of his reporting.

"I really didn't have any control over what he wrote," Torre told Francesa about Verducci.

Torre welcomed the New York media like an old friend and downplayed the portions of his book that have upset some fans and members of the Yankees organization.

Torre defended his book Tuesday, saying he doesn’t think he violated any clubhouse code by making public statements about things that occurred in the Yankees clubhouse during his 12 years as manager.

“I don't think I violated anything. At least, that wasn't my intention,” Torre said in front of a scrum of New York media squeezed into the antiques and collectibles section of a Manhattan bookstore.

Torre was back in New York to sign copies of "The Yankee Years."

In the book, the authors reveal Alex Rodriguez was called "A-Fraud" by some in the Yankees clubhouse and Torre was critical of David Wells, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield.

"The A-Fraud thing was something that was certainly taken out of context," Torre said. "It was more in the clubhouse where guys were joking rather than saying something behind his back."

"I was warned by Tom Verducci early on: 'You know there is going to be something that someone is going to take out of this book and they're going to run with it,'" said Torre, who won four World Series titles in his first five seasons with the Yankees.

Hundreds of fans stood in the snow on Fifth Avenue and the line snaked around the corner halfway to Madison Avenue for the opportunity to get his autograph on their copy. Torre said it wasn't his intention to write a tell-all book or to settle a score with the Yankees organization, but rather to give the fans a look inside baseball's exclusive fraternity.

"The final copy I was very comfortable and very proud of because I think it gave people the flavor of managing 12 years and it was the greatest 12 years of my professional life."

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