cover image The Yankee Way: Playing, Coaching, and My Life in Baseball

The Yankee Way: Playing, Coaching, and My Life in Baseball

Willie Randolph. Morrow/It, $26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-145077-8

Randolph played Major League Baseball for six teams, but here the former second baseman choses to focus on his time spent with the New York Yankees. Raised in New York City and a member of the Yankees' so-called "Bronx Zoo" teams in the late Seventies (winning two World Series), Randolph went on to coach third base for the Yankees (collecting four more rings) before eventually becoming the first African-American manager of the Mets. A likable guy who doesn't dish dirt, even when recounting his experiences with self-centered slugger Reggie Jackson and mean-spirited pitcher Roger Clemens, Randolph takes a semi-chronological approach. The book is crammed with fond memories of Thurman Munson, Goose Gossage, and even Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner. Randolph glosses over his time spent on other teams, rails against steroid abuse, and spends the final third of the book discussing his "All-Willie Team" %E2%80%94 chosen from Yankees who played from 1976-88 and 1994-2004. He also devotes entire chapters to recently retired shortstop Derek Jeter and pitcher Mariano Rivera. While these excursions entertain, readers are left wondering whether Randolph %E2%80%94 who's always led a quiet off-field life %E2%80%94 ran out of story to tell. (May)