Torre Stands by Book

Yankee fans converged on a midtown Barnes & Noble Tuesday afternoon to hear the scoop on Joe Torre’s new book, The Yankee Years, from Torre himself, as the former skipper defended his highly anticipated work. Publicity for the book has been building on the controversy surrounding its indictment of two much-maligned Yankee subjects: Alex Rodriguez and front office management. Torre treaded carefully around the subject of the organization’s brass (specifically George Steinbrenner and General Manager Brian Cashman), indicating a generally affable relationship that turned sour when Cashman failed to fight for Torre’s desired two-year contract extension at the end of his deal. “There’s no question bitter things happened,” Torre said. “But when I left, it was more a sense of relief, trust me.”