Michael Kay was not bashful about criticizing Joe Torre on his 1050 ESPN radio show even when Torre was managing the team for which Kay works as a play-by-play man.
With Torre on the West Coast, though, Kay has added another layer to his Torre repertoire, calling him "St. Joe," as he did Tuesday in criticizing the Dodgers manager for having contact this season with former players of his such as Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada.
I asked Kay about this Tuesday between his radio and TV gigs.
"He’s earned that aura from all his years," Kay said. "He can do no wrong. I don’t think he’s doing anything in his mind that’s wrong. But he shouldn’t be calling players from other teams in my opinion.
"I said I don’t think anybody is going to do anything about it, because it’s St. Joe. You can’t go up against Joe Torre, and I know I’ll be criticized. A caller called up and said, 'You must not like Joe Torre because he was on with [WFAN's Mike Francesa and Chris Russo].'
"I don't care that he was on with them. He had a relationship with them, he got paid by them. That really has nothing to do with it. I just feel it’s improper.
"I never used St. Joe when he was here. I just put 'saint' on it. Even when he got fired it was like you’d gotten rid of Pope John Paul. So now I call him St. Joe.
"I don’t mean it in a derogatory way. I actually think that’s the way he’s thought of, as a saint. A lot of people take that as a negative."
Comments (13)
I'm no Kay fan but the name fits Torre to a tee.
Neil,
Kay has hated Torre ever since Torre called him "Rhona Barrett" for reporting some sort of gossipy item way back when. I'm surprised you've never heard that.
Joe Torre may be a saint, but we all know who the Sports Pope is.
Boonie: When did I say I've never heard that story??? Of course I have. Sigh.
Besides being a sub-par play by play announcer he's been a hypocrite for years.
Why didn't he say things like this during his Yes broadcasts over the years but had no problem saying things like it on his radio show? It's fine if he wants to say it on both platforms but to be quiet on his "paying gig" shows a lack of class. Not exactly the type of person you can trust.
if the shoe fits.
I really don't care but Kay's Yankees WS prediction for THIS year is enough for me to think his is a company YES-Man if you will.
Michael Kay is a good man who says it the way he sees it. He has nothing to gain by making these comments about Torre. What he said makes perfect sense. Another manager from another team should not be calling other players on other teams.
If he's such a good man how come he didn't "tell it like it is" during the YES broadcasts the last few years? Seems to me he doesn't respect the viewers if he's holding out on his true opinions.
Still smells like a hypocrite to me.
And a lousy play by play announcer to boot. Jeez, he makes me mute the audio and put on Sterling! It doesn't get much lower than that.
"I don’t mean it in a derogatory way. I actually think that’s the way he’s thought of, as a saint. A lot of people take that as a negative."
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Yea, right. I can't stand listening to Michael Kay.
Kay has been bitter ever since Torre called him out on the carpet of the locker room in 1996. Don't forget how close Kay is with Showalter either.
Kay has always had trouble differentiating between his personal relationships and professional responsibilities. The "St. Joe" thing is offensive.
Michael Kay is the biggest hypocrite on the airwaves. His radio show is unlistenable.
He's always had problems with both Joe Torre and Mike Mussina and the sarcasm and bitter, idiotic comments he makes about these two, frankly, give him zero credibility in my book.
His head isn't naturally large...it got that way by hooking up with his ego. I've met him in person a few times and you'll never meet a more cocky, condescending, arrogant jerk in your life.
Think of it this way:
Only someone like Kay would denigrate a manager that was 12/12 in reaching the postseason with 10 AL East titles, 6 AL Pennants, and 4 World Championships during those years.
From what I perceive, Kay is a "lazy" broadcaster and analyst. He's not very insightful in terms of analysis (either providing interesting stats or observations), and he relies heavily on a handful of terms and slogans that are used in every single broadcast.
In fairness, his talk show can be pretty entertaining though, especially when he begins his self loathing act. LOL.