quentinJoe Torre Returns Back To New York
June 27th 2011 14:27
Joe Torre, the MLB's vice president of baseball operations, along with others, attended the 65th Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium. In Yankee Stadium, Joe Torre put on the pinstripes uniform for the first time since October 8, 2007, where the Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 3-1, in the AL Division League. He was quite emotional about taking off his uniform in '07 since Torre knew going to be in New York anymore. Yesterday morning, Joe Torre said, “I just don't like to dwell on stuff, but I certainly did feel different when I put it on, because it was something I hadn't done it in a long time, and it's obviously the uniform.” Torre has been asked to come back to Yankee Stadium ever since he left New York in '07. But since he was coaching the Los Angeles Dodgers, Torre wasn't able to attend. Now that Torre is done coaching, he said he would not going to miss the opportunity to attend the Old Timers Day. Once he made his arrival to Yankee Stadium, Joe Torre received a very warming ovation along with Bernie Williams, who ran out to center field onto second base, Brian Boehringer, Clay Bellinger, Ramiro Mendoza, Charlie Hayes, Cecil Fielder, and Lou Piniella. Torre said he felt comfortable coming back to Yankees Stadium because when he returned to New York in September 20, 2010 following George Steinbrenner's death, he felt “awkwardness and animosity” between the organization after Steinbrenner told Joe Torre if he did not advance the Yankees past the Division Series in '07, they would have to part ways. Steinbrenner retracted his statement and gave Joe Torre a one year, $5 million dollar contract with the opportunity to earn millions in incentives, but Torre turned that down and viewed that as an insult. Two years ago in 2009, Torre wrote a book called “The Yankee Years” along with Tom Verducci, in which he criticized the general manager, Brian Cashman, by saying Cashman betrayed Torre during Torre's final contract negotiations with the Yankees.
Anyways, back to Old Timers Day, Torre reflected his Yankees days. He recalled how nervous he was when he first spoke with the Yankees during spring training in 1996. Joe Torre said, “Every single coach on my staff had participated in a World Series except me, and I remember having this opportunity and I was very nervous talking to my club for the first time in the spring of '96. And I said at the time, 'I don't want to win just one World Series, I want to win three in a row.'” The reason behind that was because Torre said he heard teams win championsips but are forgotten. He said it is very important to repeat so his team wouldn't be forgotten like the teams in the past. Torre was asked if he thought of coming back to manager a club like Jack McKeon (Florida Marlin skipper), he said, “No, I'm not doing that.” He was also asked, “where he believes his legacy lies?” Torre said, “That's for someone else to decide.”
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