Feuds end as Yanks come together over Steinbrenner

They trailed the procession Monday, with no introductions on this night that wasn't about them. Together, they spanned the '70s through the '00s, from Yogi Berra to Reggie Jackson to, yes, Don Mattingly to David Wells.

They were George Steinbrenner's warriors, all of them, paying one final respect to the legendary Yankees owner who died in July. It proved most fitting on this night that Joe Torre, wearing a wide smile and looking a little choked up, returned to the Yankees family and made amends.

There never should've been an ugly breakup. But then again, the only thing The Boss liked better than a loud breakup was an even louder makeup.

"I'm happy the schedule allowed me to be here," said Torre, who capitalized on a Dodgers' off day to come East with Mattingly. "I was just thrilled."

Said Mattingly: "It's kind of like with Yogi. For a while, Yogi was gone. I felt the same way about Joe. Really glad that's kind of been put to bed."

It's easy to forget the specifics in how Torre's relationship with the Yankees - and GM Brian Cashman, in particular - fell apart, but the truth is this: The raging Boss united them, his fading health divided them and his death brought them back together.

When Torre arrived in 1996, and Cashman jumped from assistant GM to GM, Steinbrenner reveled in the turf war that he created between his New York lieutenants and those who worked in Tampa. In those battles, Cashman and Torre served as allies - working in tandem, for instance, to keep Andy Pettitte from getting traded in 1999.

As Steinbrenner slowed down, however, he allowed Cashman to work as a bona fide GM for the 2006 campaign and beyond. And at that point, Cashman and Torre grew apart. Tension formed over Cashman's emphasis on statistical analysis, and on Torre's choice of Ron Guidry as pitching coach. They could no longer bond over The Boss' wackiness, nor could Torre pull his old trick of confronting Steinbrenner face-to-face to resolve any and all issues.

Would Steinbrenner have endorsed the Yankees' lame, one-year extension offer to Torre in October 2007? Highly doubtful. He would've either made a real offer or simply cut bait.

"You had two parties not knowing how to say goodbye," Torre said. "That's what it turned out to be."

And when Torre (and co-author Tom Verducci) torched Cashman in his 2009 book, "The Yankee Years," you had a full-blown, pinstriped feud. The two men didn't speak from January 25, 2009, until Monday, at which point they hugged and, if not returning to old bliss, agreed to move forward.

"We're taking steps to repair," Cashman said. " . . . Whatever happened on that side was a small sample compared to the huge sample of all the good that took place. Being a new-school, statistical front-office guy, you don't let small sample sizes affect what the overall sample showed."

The "new-school" mention was a jab at Torre's literary characterization of him. No, things aren't perfect. But the truth is, with Torre's career at a crossroads - he may get another chance to manage, he may not - he's better off having the option of doing business with the Yankees. On the other side, while the Yankees already employ plenty of retired heroes, they'd certainly rather have Torre on board. The retiring of his No. 6 is inevitable.

You can tell that Torre has a real soft spot for Steinbrenner, while Cashman, who took far more abuse for fewer dollars, appreciates The Boss in his own way. That they cooled their tensions here, now, made this an even more meaningful Yankees event. "I don't know if I ever saw him as happy as when he was carrying that [World Series] trophy, wet," Cashman said. "Those are some of the Boss' happiest moments, so I'm glad Joe Torre is here to honor the day."