McCarvergate

Not much going on in Yankeeland, as the team had the night off for revelry. Tim McCarver, however, has found himself in hot water over suggestions that the Yankees front office had airbrushed Joe Torre out of their history like Nazi and Communist party leaders purging generals. Many have found this tasteless, considering the comparison of the Yankees front office to two murderous regimes insensitive; especially on the day the Yankees were honoring the Boss and Bob Sheppard, but mostly the Boss.

But it's not particularly insensitive really. If McCarver had said he was glad to see the Boss go, that would be insensitive. But when you've essentially airbrushed a former manager out of your history, it's okay to be compared to regimes who airbrushed generals out of theirs. Now sure, the Yankees haven't murdered anyone, that we know of, but McCarver wasn't comparing the relative murderousness of the Yankees, but their revision of history. I'm pretty sure the latest Yankees Media Guide lists Casey Stengel as the Manager of the bombers from '96-'07. And if you go to the Yankees Museum, the old guy wearing a navy Yankees jacket in the picture of the Yankees celebrating on the field after winning the '96 World Series looks suspiciously like Obi-Wan Kanobi. He's holding a light-saber.

Sure, Torre wrote a tell all book in which he claimed Brian Cashman betrayed him (probably true), A-Rod was a fraud (which, considering the PED revelations, turned out to be true), and that Jeter was more gangster than most people can even conceive of (also true), so maybe he started it. But that doesn't change what the Yankees have done.

As much as I hate to do it, I'm sticking up for McCarver on this one. This is, after all, America. And if I've learned one thing from the example of our elected officials is that it is always appropriate to compare your opponents to Nazi Germany. Republicans want tax cuts? They're f-----g Nazis. Democrats want to ensure health care? Those f-----g Nazis! The first non-white leader of a first world nation? You know he's a Nazi. That's just how it goes. McCarver's only sin is that he made his comments during an MLB broadcast rather than a tea party rally or session of Congress. You know what that makes his critiques? That's right. Nazis.