Joe Torre, From Brooklyn to Cooperstown

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COOPERSTOWN, NY — At 74 years old, Joe Torre seems sanguine with his position in the annals of baseball. He freely admits he wasn’t inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for his talents on the field as a player or for being a manager for three teams – the Mets, Braves and Cardinals – from which he was fired from for poor performance.

“You might as well cut to the chase, I’m here because of the New York Yankees.”

But Torre also credited the fans from all the teams he worked for with inspiring him to succeed.

“I’m here because of the fans,” Torre said. “The fans across the country have been great to me but the fans in New York, I want to tell you, you have turned New York City into a small town for me. Thank you very much.”

Prior to the induction ceremony, Torre said, “I’m nervous as a cat. It’s something they can’t take away from you once you have it.”

Growing up in Marine Park
Torre lived on Avenue T and East 34th Street in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn, where his family owned a two-story brick house. He was often described as a soft, pudgy 230-pound youngster who came out of his shell during high school at St. Francis Prep when it was located in Brooklyn. Known as “Toots” in high school, Torre still holds with record for most doubles with 45.

Torre was married three times. He has one son, Michael, by his first wife, Jackie, whom he married in 1963. He has two daughters, Lauren and Cristina, by his second wife, Dani, whom he married in 1968. Both of these marriages ended in divorce. On August 23, 1987, he married Alice (Ali) Wolterman, his third wife. They have a daughter, Andrea, who recently graduated from high school. Torre now lives in Los Angeles, Calif. He says his family wants to stay out there.

On missing Brooklyn, Torre says, “The memories never go away. My sister just sold her house that she lived in and where I was basically raised in. New York will always be home because it’s always comfortable. The fans in New York City have turned that city into a small town for me and that’s pretty cool.”

Torre admits to being a New York Giants baseball fan growing up, even while in Brooklyn.

“Even though I wasn’t a New York Yankees fan, you couldn’t help but admire Mickey Mantle. He was a mountain of a man for me,” Torre remembered fondly.

Torre’s brother Frank, 82, was a player with the Milwaukee Braves and Philadelphia Phillies from 1956 to 1963. Recently suffering from heart and kidney ailments he did not attend the induction ceremonies. Torre had another brother, Rocco, an officer with the New York City Police Department, died in 1996. Torre has an older sister, Marguerite, who is a Roman Catholic nun, teacher and was the principal of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School in Ozone Park Queens.

In 1999, Torre was treated for prostate cancer. He currently holds the position of Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. He is rumored to be next in line to be the commissioner of Major League Baseball when Bud Selig retires in January of 2015.

Torre’s years as a player
As a player for 17 years with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1960 – 68), St. Louis Cardinals (1969 – 74) and New York Mets (1975 – 77), Torre had amassed a .297 batting average, 252 home runs and 1,185 runs batted in (RBI).

Torre was a nine-time All-Star (1963–1967, 1970–1973) and a Gold Glove Award winner in 1965. As a Cardinal, where he was named the team captain, 1971 was Torre’s big year as a player. That year he accumulated three major player awards – National League Most Valuable Player, National League batting champion (.363 batting average and 230 hits) and National League RBI champion (137). Six short years later after playing in 2,209 games he was finished as a player and moved on to managing.

Torre’s years as a manager
Torre managed 4,329 games for five teams – the New York Mets (1977 – 81), Atlanta Braves (1982 – 84), St. Louis Cardinals (1990 – 95), New York Yankees (1996 – 2007) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2008 – 10). He had a win-loss record of 2,326 to 1,997 and a winning percentage of .538 and is a four-time World Series champion (1996, 1998 to 2000).

“In order to be ready you had to make stops and fail along the way,” Torre said philosophically. “I got fired three times. That’s in the category of failure. The only way you’re going to learn, the only way you’re going to get better is to experience setbacks and get yourself up, dust yourself off and move on. And learn from it. Learn from it.”

Despondent, after being fired from the Braves as a manager after only three years, Torre moved to the broadcast booth where he spent six years as a color commentator for the California Angels (1985 – 90) and for NBC’s Game of the Week. Torre then took the helm as the skipper for the Cardinals. Then during the end of 1995 the call came from New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner that would change Torre’s life and put him on the road to the Hall of Fame.

That’s when Torre said he knew he had to take the job with the Yankees. “I knew that if I was going to find out if I could do this stuff, this was going to be my best opportunity,” Torre recalled.

Torre’s Tenure with the New York Yankees
Torre’s most successful stint as a manager came with the Yankees for 12 full seasons, which he led from 1996 to 2007, managing 1,942 regular season games (with a won-loss record of 1,173 to 767). He took the team to the post-season playoffs every one of his 12 seasons with the club, winning six American League pennants and four World Series. This was by far the longest tenure for a Yankees manager in the Steinbrenner era. Torre’s was the second-longest managerial tenure in the club’s history. Only Joe McCarthy (1931–1946) lasted longer.

Torre says he was a players’ manager but it wasn’t until he became a winning manager with the Yankees that he realized that was not an insult but a compliment.

In 2007, Torre got his 2,000th win and became the first major league employee to win 2,000 games as manager and have 2,000 hits. Torre later notched his 2,010th managerial win, overtaking Leo Durocher for ninth place on the MLB all-time managerial wins list. He also passed Casey Stengel on the Yankees all time managerial wins list in 2007 and recorded his 1,150th victory with the Yankees.

Dubbed “Clueless Joe” when he was hired in 1996, Torre quickly proved that moniker to be a misnomer. He was named American League Manager of the Year twice, both times with the Yankees (1996, 1998). Yankees reached the postseason each year and won ten American League East division titles, six American League pennants, four World Series titles, and compiled a .605 winning percentage overall. With 2,326 wins, he is fifth all-time in MLB history for wins as a manager.

The tragedy of 9-11 was tough for Torre and the Bronx Bombers.

“There was so much motivation for us when we resumed play after 9-11 I remember telling our players that the N-Y on our hats represents more than the Yankees.”

Torre said Yankees coach Don Zimmer taught him many lessons including how to be a thoroughbred horse racing enthusiast.

“Aside from costing me a lot of money by introducing me to horse racing, eight years sitting next to me, he made me the manager that I turned into. He had more guts than I did. He got me off the conservative platform.”

Torre set the record straight about his final years with the Yankees.

“The last few years with the Yankees weren’t a whole lot of fun. It was a lot of stress. It got a little ugly at the end. I had no intention of going anywhere else to manage. I was concerned if managing could be fun again (with the Dodgers) because the last couple of years it wasn’t fun in New York and it was (in Los Angeles).”

Torre forgot to talk about Steinbrenner during his off-the-cuff speech during the induction ceremony. He did speak about his relationship with Steinbrenner to reporters before and after the induction.

“George meant a great deal to me, allowing me to manage his club,” Torre said. “It wasn’t always easy. There was some misunderstanding when I left because they cut my salary and I said I was insulted. The insulting part was not the money they were offering me but the fact that they felt I had to be motivated to get my pay cut back.

“It’s a business and I don’t feel anybody owes anything to anybody. I was trying to finish with the Yankees and then just go home. I know I didn’t make myself clear to Brian (Cashman) when I said I wanted a two-year contract and if I got fired the first year you had to pay me for both years. My intention was just to manage for one more year.”

In 2010, Torre returned to New York for a memorial service honoring Steinbrenner, who died July 13 of that year. Coming back to the new Yankee Stadium seemed surreal for Torre.

“It wasn’t uncomfortable when I went back there. It felt a little strange because here I am in a ballpark I was never in. I feel comfortable going back there now. I have credentials, they can’t keep me out now,” Torre said with a tone of victory in his voice.

The Other Inductees
Two other managers were inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame with Torre – Tony LaRussa who managed the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals along with Atlanta Braves skipper Bobby Cox.

“Our careers just mirrored each other’s and it would have been an injustice if we didn’t enjoy this together.”

Also inducted into the Hall of Fame before a crowd estimated to be 48,000 spectators were Atlanta Braves pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux along with Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas.

“There is a power to patience and persistence,” Torre acknowledged. “Baseball is a game of life. It’s not perfect but it feels like it is. That’s the magic of it. We are responsible for giving it the respect it deserves. Our sport is part of the American soul and it’s ours to borrow. Just for a while. This game is a gift and I am very humbled to receive its greatest honor.”

Torre predicts Derek Jeter, Paul O’Neill and Mariano Rivera will be future Hall of Famers.