LOS ANGELES — Former pitcher David Wells fired back at Joe Torre on Thursday, saying the manager has unfairly criticized his ex-Yankees players in his new book.
“I’m kind of like blown away because of the fact that he’s coming out and he’s bashing,” Wells said in a radio interview in Tampa, Fla., with “The Mason &Ireland Show” aired on 710 ESPN in Los Angeles.
“I found out last night that he was bashing me and Kevin Brown. He bashed Kevin Brown as a player, when he said he tried to make his life miserable,” said Wells, who is out of baseball. “Nobody tries to make anybody’s life miserable out there on the diamond. You’re there for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to win.”
Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years,” co-written with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, deals with the team Torre managed in New York from 1996-2007. He is now the Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager.
Torre said of Wells: “The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to.”
Wells said, “If I was trying to make his life miserable, I would have succeeded. … If he had that many problems with those guys, why didn’t he face them while they were there?”
Wells, who has not read the book but plans to buy one when it becomes available next week, was especially critical of Torre for talking about things that happened in the clubhouse.
“What we do as athletes, that’s our problem, our business, and a lot of guys have come out and destroyed that,” Wells said. “That’s why they don’t have any friends. You just don’t do that, and that’s what Joe did. When you break the code, you’re a punk.”
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