Contrite Joe: "I'm Not A Bad Person"

As skittish advertisers began to pull their billboards from the stadium and calls for his resignation reverberated, embattled manager Joe Torre yesterday continued a campaign of contrition over racially insensitive treatment of former Yankee Gary Sheffield, even while insisting that he shouldn't lose his job.

"I don't deserve to be fired," Torre, 67, told reporters after yesterday's loss to Toronto. "So I should be punished, and I'm being punished, and not insignificantly, by the way. I'm not whining, because I don't feel as bad as Sheff feels."

"I'm not a bad person," he added, his voice breaking with emotion. "I'm a good person, but I did some bad things."

Torre has gone past the edges of propriety before. When the Yankees let starter Andy Pettitte defect to the Houston Astros after the 2003 season, Torre referred to the "Jewish management" of the team as "money-grubbing bastards" according to Yankeeography, an investigative series on the YES Network.

Praising Kyle Farnsworth two days ago in a column he wrote for this space, Torre went out of his way to point out that the struggling reliever is white, adding, "That's huge for us."

Still, nothing has approached the storm that now swirls about him. Analysts say Torre picked the wrong victim at the wrong time when he aimed his barbs at the blameless and generally well-liked Sheffield.