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JOE TORRE
Manager of the New York Yankees
An All-Star catcher in the 1960s, Joe Torre moved to third base during the 1971 season and won the NL MVP award, leading the league with a .363 batting average and 137 RBI. He finished his playing career with a .297 average, 252 HR and 1,185 RBI.
Joe Torre began his managerial career in 1977 with the Mets, the last team for which he played. The Mets' best finish was fourth place in the second half of the strike-shortened 1981 season.
Moving to Atlanta the following season, Torre rode a 13-0 start to the division title, finishing 89-73. The Braves finished second the following two seasons, although a mediocre 80-82 record in 1984 led to his dismissal. He went on to become a popular Angels broadcaster.
In August 1990, Joe Torre returned to the bench as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Torre guided St. Louis to a respectable 84-78 finish in 1991, good for second place behind the Pirates in the NL East.
The team won 83 the following year and 87 in 1993, finishing third in the division both times. But in Joe Torre 1994, the Cards tied for third in the new NL Central after a 53-61 record and after a 20-27 start to the 1995 season Torre was fired in favor of Mike Jorgensen.
The Yankees, who had finished second in the AL East under Buck Showalter, hired Torre to lead the club in 1996. Torre was happy to get a chance to return home to the New York area, and proved to be up to the task of managing in the Bronx.
In just his first year with the club, Joe Torre led the Yankees to a 92-70 finish and after a tumultuous post-season (during which Torre's brother Frank lay in a NYC hospital awaiting heart surgery) his team vanquished the Atlanta Braves for the Yankees' first championship since 1978.
Joe Torre and the Yankees won 96 games in 1997, but lost a heart-wrenching five-game series to Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs. Fueled by this disappointment, the Yankees put together a historic 1998 season.
Torre's calm, laid-back manner was a perfect fit for the club's collection of self-motivated veterans, and New York ran away from their competition for an American League-record 114 wins.
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