Black Box Report

Good for Joe Torre. Not because $5 million is offensive - please offend me. But because after 12 years he deserved to be treated better, he deserved not to be treated like a piñata, like a back page punching bag. If Steinbrenner and sons didn't want him, they should have said so a week ago. Instead, they dragged it out, made Joe a sympathetic figure and Yankees management the picture of dysfunction.

Even from a fan who remembers all too well when the Yankees making the playoffs was a foreign concept, no manager, not even Joe Torre deserves a lifetime contract. But for a guy who went to the postseason every year, handled a galaxy of stars and egos without incident, handled the New York press and the boss with patience and honesty, he did deserve better.

Amid it all Joe Torre kept his dignity, and he ended just like he began. Face to face he told the boss where he could take his pay cut, and he reportedly did it with a smile. He left on his own terms, and he left with class.