George Kimball/America at Large: When one has spent the better part of four decades in the newspaper game, one is not inclined to revel when the press collectively embarrasses itself, but it was not without a certain sense of schadenfreude that we viewed the developments of the past few days in the Big Apple.

It isn't often a manager in any sport feels it necessary to convene a press conference to announce that he still has a job, but when Joe Torre did just that on Tuesday afternoon most of the occupants of the room seemed to be looking for a handy place to hide.

New York can be a great newspaper town, but its collective media didn't exactly cover itself with glory when it came to l'affaire Torre, joining forces in an irresponsible feeding frenzy that left all concerned looking downright silly by the time the smoke cleared.

Less than 24 hours after the Yankees were somewhat humiliatingly eliminated from the American League play-offs, the Daily News hit the streets with a front page photo of Torre, accompanied by a banner headline that read: OUTTA HERE! The News exclusive went on to proclaim that Torre would be imminently replaced by Lou Piniella, a former Yankee who has successfully managed four clubs, including the Yankees, but was currently, as they say, between jobs.

It didn't take long for everyone else to jump on the bandwagon, even though not a scintilla of evidence existed in support of the managerial switch.

As educated guesses go, on the other hand, it wouldn't have been a bad one. George Steinbrenner, the intemperate principal owner, changed managers 20 times in 18 years between 1975 and 1993, often for transgressions less egregious than losing three straight to the Detroit Tigers.

That the Yankees, with an annual payroll just a few dollars shy of $200 million, would be blown out by a team that had just experienced its first winning season in over a dozen years - and which, just three seasons ago, lost an American League record 119 games - seemed to cry out for a scapegoat. The press seemed almost more eager than Steinbrenner to identify one.

Going into the first round of the play-offs, ESPN polled 19 media experts, and all 19 of them picked the Yankees to beat the Tigers. That speculation appeared well-founded when the Bronx Bombers won the first game of the best-of-five series 8-4, but then the Tigers came back to win the next three in a row, outscoring the favourites by a collective 14-3 over the final two games.

The News was first with its obituary of the 66-year-old Torre, but the Post, Newsday, the radio talk-show hosts and a gaggle of television stations weren't far behind. And the wretched excess was by no means confined to the tabloids. Even the normally staid Times uncharacteristically indulged itself in the fantasy, noting on Monday that "Steinbrenner has longed in recent years to replace Joe Torre with Lou Piniella".

Torre prudently kept his head down while the bullets flew, declining to appear in public despite a stakeout of his family home by a large posse of newsmen and television trucks. ("It was like I'd discovered a cure for cancer," the manager, himself a one-time cancer victim, would later say.)

And although he plainly coveted the job, Piniella dismissed speculation that he was the heir apparent, noting that he had not heard a word from anyone representing the Yankees. (Alan Nero, Piniella's agent, confirmed that he had been in contact with four teams with managerial vacancies, but said that "we have far too much respect for Joe and the Yankees' organisation to even participate in speculation.")

Although his team had been eliminated in the first round for the second straight year, Torre had one season remaining on his three-year, $19.2 million contract, a lot of cabbage for even The Boss to eat, and when Steinbrenner left New York for Florida on Monday without having pulled the trigger, some of the doomsayers began to evince second thoughts.

By Tuesday morning the Post was shooting down its own story, speculating that Torre might not be gone after all, and once Torre agreed to meet the press shortly after lunchtime on Tuesday, you began to get the idea that it would not be to announce his own execution.

While it wasn't exactly a resounding vote of confidence, Torre and Steinbrenner had spoken by telephone that morning and agreed the manager would return for his 12th season with the Yankees.

"Let's just say that he echoed support and commitment to having me go on in this job," was Torre's version of the discussion. "I felt comfortable with the conversation."

Steinbrenner, according to his publicist Howard Rubenstein, told Torre: "You're back for the year."

Torre said he had not personally been reading the premature newspaper accounts of his dismissal, but that his family had.

Since all four metropolitan dailies somewhat enthusiastically participated in the three-day death-dance, you get the feeling that it could lead to some interesting developments in reporter-manager conversations next season.

Torre shrugged off any part that Steinbrenner might have had in prolonging the speculation by his silence. "You know going in what the requirements are," said Torre of working for The Boss.

"He requires a lot. He expects a lot, and we know that. You can't pick and choose the parts that you like about working for George Steinbrenner. When you work here, you have to understand that every year may be your last."

Torre's resurrection didn't exactly leave Piniella high and dry. As of yesterday, Sweet Lou was still mulling over offers to manage the Giants, Cubs, Rangers and Nationals.

"I'm sorry Joe had to go through that rigamarole," said Piniella. "There was no need for it."