Friday, October 10, 2008

Frank Torre nails Hank

When I read the headline "Torre's brother: What Yanks did to Joe 'was not right'", I was prepared to read some whiny, griping story showing one brother sticking up for another. And to a point, that's what this is. But what made it more interesting to me was the way Frank nails Hank directly and without fear of reprisal:

What really disturbs Frank Torre is not so much the Yankees didn't want his brother back, but the way they've acted since his departure.

"I hear (Yankees co-chairman) Hank Steinbrenner say where would Joe Torre be without the Yankees," Frank Torre said. "Well, let me tell you, Hank Steinbrenner was fortunate he was born in the Steinbrenner family. His inheritance is a whole lot bigger now than it would have been if not for my brother. I think he gained a lot more money than my brother after all of those World Series."
Well said, sir. Born on third base, thought he hit a triple. Such is Hank.

3 comments:

Mark said...

Born on third base, thought he hit a triple. That has to be one of my favorite baseball-flavored metaphors. Is there someone in particular of whom it was first said?

Jason @ IIATMS said...

You ask, I deliver:
Q: I always thought the line, "He was born on third base and thought he hit a triple," originated in Ann Richards' keynote at the 1988 Democratic convention [referring to George H.W. Bush]. Someone told me the line originated elsewhere. If so, who and when did it first surface?
A: It wasn't Ann Richards who delivered that line at the '88 convention; it was a fellow Texan, then-Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. He followed it with, "He [Bush] is threatening to lead this country from tweedle-dum to tweedle-dumber."

But it wasn't Hightower who originated it. Barry Switzer, the legendary head football coach at the University of Oklahoma, was quoted in the Chicago Tribune in 1986 as saying, "Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple." It's usually Switzer who is credited with the quote. But the wonder of Nexis has produced this quote from Time magazine's Susan Fraker, who wrote this in the May 30, 1983, issue about Superior Oil head honcho Howard Keck: "People who know him say that he can be vindictive and that he often acts capriciously. And like many very rich people, he is not accustomed to anyone disagreeing with him. The trouble with Howard, an acquaintance says, is that 'he was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.'"

There you have it.

Source: "http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4093121" (down towards the bottom of the Q&A)

Mark said...

Wow. What did any of us do without the internets?