Tim McCarver: comments on New York Yankees treatment of Joe Torre were inappropriate - ESPN New York

Tim McCarver says his comments on the New York Yankees' treatment of Joe Torre were inappropriate

McCarver's comments: "You remember some of those despotic leaders in World War II, primarily in Russia and Germany, where they used to take those pictures that they had ... taken of former generals who were no longer alive, they had shot 'em," McCarver said Saturday. "They would airbrush the pictures, and airbrushed the generals out of the pictures. In a sense, that's what the Yankees have done with Joe Torre. They have airbrushed his legacy. I mean, there's no sign of Joe Torre at the Stadium. And, that's ridiculous. I don't understand it."

Actually, I think McCarver's apology was inappropriate. His original point was quite cogent and accurate in spirit. Is it offensive to compare Steinbrenner to Stalin? I dunno. Consider the context. If Stalin had been born in a different time and place that would have led him to dictatorship of a baseball team rather than a country, would he have run things like Steinbrenner? As they say on TV, you make the call.