Far from the days of being a regular Joe
Posted: Friday, June 08, 2007 3:06 PM
Joe Torre was a mediocre manager for 13 full seasons and part of another before being fired by the Cardinals in 1995 for the crime of not winning enough. His lifetime record with the Cards, Braves and Mets stood at 894-1,003. That’s a .471 winning percentage.
And if his career had ended there, he’d have gone down as a decent fellow who had a couple of good years but was never good enough - a Roger Craig kind of guy. Definitely not a Hall of Famer.
He seemed to be finished. Who, after all, would hire a phlegmatic mediocrity at the age of 55 when there was no end of younger and more openly passionate candidates who might provide a little more energy in the clubhouse? But then the Yankees surprised – and outraged – their fans by hiring Torre in 1996 to replace Buck Showalter.
New York fans remembered Torre from five forgettable seasons ending in 1981, when the Mets never finished higher than fourth, and that was in the second half of the ’81 season, which was split by a strike. If there’s one thing Yankee fans don’t want, it’s a failed Mets reject.
So Torre wins the World Series that year, the Yankees’ first since 1978, then wins three more from 1998-2000. Still on the bench today, with nine straight division titles and 11 straight playoff appearances behind him, the one-time mediocrity is now going straight to the Hall of Fame.
He won his 2,000th game as a manager on Thursday. In the next two or three weeks, he’ll add nine to that total and pass Leo Durocher for ninth place on the all-time victories list. Only Tony LaRussa (2323 wins; .535 winning percentage) and Bobby Cox (2204 wins; .563 winning percentage) have more among active managers. The seven retired managers in the top ten are all in the Hall of Fame.
He’s the same guy now he was when he was a failure. As a manager, he’s never been noted for his tactical genius. He’s reluctant to play kids and he’s too eager to overuse the few relievers he trusts. And he doesn’t need to be the freshest clam in the chowder to wave in Mariano Rivera with a lead in the ninth inning – or the eighth.
The reason he has 2,000 wins is because he made the brilliant career decision to accept the job with the most expensive team in baseball at the exact time that the owner, George Steinbrenner, was losing his lust for firing managers.
Still he won in 1996 when the Braves were the better team. After Showalter’s smothering style, the Yankees loved Torre, who didn’t hassle them and trusted them to be professionals. He didn’t need to inspire the players because the clubhouse had guys like Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius and Jim Leyritz who did that work for him.
When his clubhouse leaders left the team, he stopped winning World Series, although he kept ringing up division titles. But when your owner spends more on one player than Tampa Bay does on the whole team, you ought to be winning divisions.
By virtue of managing the Yankees and not ticking off Steinbrenner, Torre is in his twelfth year.
He’s averaged 98 wins a year for 11 years – there’s more than half of the 1,079 wins. (You can check his record yourself here.) The 27 he has this year made it 1,106. The other 894 wins took 13 full seasons and a quarter of another, for an average of 65 wins a year. The most games he won during those years with the Mets, Braves and Cardinals was 89 in 1982, followed by 88 the following year – both in Atlanta. He also won 87 in 1993 with the Cards, which matches the fewest games he’s ever won with the Yankees.
Torre’s record with the Yankees is 1,106-730 – a .602 winning percentage. His record in his other three jobs is 894-1,003 – a .471 winning percentage.
"When I took this job 12 years ago, I was closer to losing 2,000 than I was to winning 2,000,” he said after beating the White Sox for No. 2,000. “I thank the Steinbrenner family for allowing me to do this.”
“He deserves it, he is a Hall of Fame manager,” said Derek Jeter. “He is the best.”
“I am really happy for Joe, he is the reason we go,” said Jorge Posada. “He is the best I have seen as far as keeping everything on an even keel. He is a lot of fun to play for. He brings out the best in us.”
It’s hard to argue with a player’s assessment. On the other hand, Posada and Jeter have never known another manager.
Is Torre a genius or a guy who got lucky? Does it make a difference?
