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Torre On Congressional Hearing: 'Tough To Watch'

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 14, 2008

VERO BEACH - Joe Torre took pride in his ability to gauge the mood of the clubhouse during his 12 years as Yankees manager.

But there was a self-imposed level of detachment, he said Wednesday on the eve of his first spring training as Dodgers manager, that precluded the kind of intimacy that might have tipped him off about the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs by World Series-winning Yankees such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Mike Stanton.

All were implicated in the Mitchell Report.

"Part of what I do is to honor somebody's privacy, too," Torre said. "I'd never try to interfere, unless I saw something that I felt, 'This guy's not right,' or I think I should talk to him.

"But I never saw anything that sort of raised the red flag to me."

Like most of the baseball world Wednesday, Torre watched on TV as Clemens and former trainer Brian McNamee - who was hired and fired by the Yankees during Torre's tenure - testified before a Congressional committee. For Torre, seeing it unfold as it did was surreal and disturbing.

"It's sad to turn on the TV and there's Congress," he said. "You'd like to believe that baseball should be able to take care of its own house and make it right. It might be pie-in-the-sky, but that's the way I feel."

Torre said that because of his personal relationship with his former players, it was particularly uncomfortable seeing Clemens and Pettitte, who became close friends playing under Torre in New York, caught up in the scandal.

"Unfortunately, not a lot of people know the individuals," Torre said. "They only go on 'this guy said, that guy said.' You really take the human element out of it, for me. It's just tough to watch. I'm just sorry it has to happen, but in order to move on, I guess we'll have to go through this process."

When asked whether Clemens deserves Hall of Fame consideration, Torre deflected the issue.

"I don't think that's a priority here," Torre said. "I think right now, we're dealing with the health of the game and human beings' lives, and I think that's far more important than the Hall of Fame."

Torre also was asked whether his own legacy with the Yankees would be tainted because of the accusations.

"To me, it's obviously going to take a great deal of attention away from how good these players are," Torre said. "As far as my legacy, that's for somebody else to decide. I know I enjoyed my 12 years in New York and was very proud of what we accomplished."

Torre admitted to a level of naivete regarding performance-enhancing drugs during his years with New York and lamented the shattered trust between fans and those who are charged with safeguarding the game at its highest level.

"Baseball, to me, was always a sport that you could trust," Torre said. "And I think right now, we have to gain that trust back, because, unfortunately, every time somebody hits a home run that's farther than somebody thinks it should go, that question's going to be there. The sad part about it, it's going to take some time for the fan to believe what we're doing and what we're saying."

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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