JOE TORRE…FOR MY DAUGHTER
I am a born and bred Boston Red Sox fan–seven decades worth.
In so being, I learned that the Yankees were no good.
Why?
Because they always won.
Always.
27 World Series titles, The Bronx Bombers, Monument Park, etc.
Alright already, enough.
Yecch.
Times have changed.
The only Yankees I ever cared about, number two.
Lou Gehrig.
And manager Joe Torre.
Torre–and his brother Frank–played major league baseball, cutting their teeth in the sandlots of Brooklyn.
Their abusive father may have been proud.
Frank was good enough, including being a WS champion with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957, but Joe was better.
In 1971 while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals Joe Torre was the NL MVP; Batting Champion (.363); league leader in Hits (230); RBI (137); and Total Bases (352).
As a manager, Torre led the Mets (1977-’81) and never posted a winning season.
On to the Braves (1982-’84); the Cardinals (1990-’95–351–354); and then to the Yankees (1996-’07) where he achieved legendary and HOF managerial status to the tune of 12 seasons; 6 AL pennants; and four World Series rings.
Icon Derek Jeter remembered spring training in 1996 when he was struggling to break camp with the big club.
He wasn’t doing well.
During one of the Yankees’ final spring training contests, Jeter failed to cover second base when he should have been there.
Torre was not happy.
The Yankees escaped the inning without incident, as can be.
When Jeter approached the on-deck circle in the next half-inning, somehow Torre was standing right there.
Said Jeter: “Mr. T, in only the way he knows how to do it…he didn’t look at me and he…”
Torre picked it up from there:
“I told him, ‘We’re leaving here in a couple of days. Get your fucking head out of your fucking ass,’”
Jeter knew what he had to do.
“You know, Mr. T is like a second father to me. And he said that, and I was like ‘Oh God. I didn’t know how to take it…’”
Jeter did fine.
Torre did–and continues to do–just fine working as a high-level executive for major league baseball.
He is 82.
An accomplished man.
And a high-quality man.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in January 2023.]
