I’m guessing Mike Lupica doesn’t write his own headlines, but he probably has the power to change them if they’re stupid. And the headline above today’s Lupica column in the Daily News is stupid:
New York Yankees face first showdown with Joe Torre, the greatest
manager Big Apple has ever seen
This wouldn’t be accurate even if they limited it to the Yankees, but the fact that they include all of New York makes it even more preposterous. I mean, without even getting to the hard cases you have to put John McGraw, Joe McCarthy, and Casey Stengel ahead of Torre. I don’t know enough about Miller Huggins to be sure, but I’m guessing he has an argument. Leo Durocher is likely ahead of Torre as well, though I’ll accept arguments to the contrary.
Some of the closer calls could go either way: Billy Martin has an argument, though maybe not a great one based on New York time only. Walter Alston is the same deal inasmuch as he was more famous for his work while in L.A. (but he did win a ring in Brooklyn). Bill Terry won three pennants for the Giants, though that was really with the remnants of McGraw’s teams. Torre likely has all of them beat, but it’s not an assertion that is unassailable.
I like Torre, don’t get me wrong. But if he’s the greatest manager in New York history, Mike Lupica is a Pullitzer Prize winner and Nobel Laureate.
