Joe Torre
Joe Torre
Joseph Paul "Joe" Torreis an American professional baseball executive, serving in the capacity of Major League Baseball'schief baseball officer since 2011. A former player, manager and television color commentator, Torre ranks fifth all-time in MLB history with 2,326 wins as a manager. With 2,342 hits during his playing career, Torre is the only major leaguer to achieve both 2,000 hits and 2,000 wins as a manager. From 1996 to 2007, he was the manager of the New York Yankees, whom...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth18 July 1940
CountryUnited States of America
Very satisfying. Coming back in a place where we haven't been comfortable playing in this year and at this time of year, it shows you what kind of players we have.
The one thing I can take credit for is for not trying to be someone else. I've always tried to be a manager who allowed his players to play. The game is theirs. What I've done for 10 years is try to stay out of their way.
With the players we have there are always going to be high expectations. Maybe we can chalk up the slow start into them thinking everything would be OK.
Reggie was one of those guys who knew how good he was and let people know how good he was. Some players resented that during those times.
I know I alluded to it with my players at one time or another, ... I said, with everything we went through, if it was May or June, you'd have given your right arm to be in the position we are right now. Yeah, we're not in first place, but where we were then, and where we were going, if you knew the last 20 games of the season you're fighting not only for a wild card but for a pennant, you'd be tickled to death.
I know the players were all happy for him because for a long time, he really wasn't getting it done, and they knew how hard he was working. So I'm just very pleased for him.
It's pressure, sure. But it's a good pressure, because George Steinbrenner certainly puts his money where his mouth is. He certainly spends money to put players in the clubhouse.
And it's been work for him. I think I discovered over the years how hard it is to do what he does because he doesn't have the instincts a lot of these players have.
I thought today was very significant for him. This the most pressure you could be asked to pitch under when everybody expects you to win, you get one run and pitch up to those standards.
I think we have to change. We have to improve our bullpen somewhat and find someone to play center field.
It gets to the point where they just stopped thinking, went out there and reacted. It was sort of a playful determination that they had out there.
I think there's going to be a lot of people interested. Even going back to Houston, going back in May, I don't think is going to be any big deal for him. It'll probably benefit him, the fact that he won't have to pitch the whole time.
I said that I have no problem, ... I know him. He's a good guy. Obviously, he's very good at what he does.
I said I thought the umpire was quick on the trigger but I thought you snapped. I also told him I certainly don't want to take that emotion from him. I don't want him out there worried about what he's going to say or do. Hopefully, I'll get to him before it happens again. I never want to take his passion away from him because I think he needs it to pitch.