LITTLE ROCK — Before Joe Torre's time with the New York Yankees certified him as a future Hall of Fame manager, he'd been fired by the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals.
During his 1990-1995 St. Louis hitch, Torre occasionally joked that he "did everything backward" the three years he managed the Braves.
Atlanta finished first in its division in 1982, second in 1983, third in 1984. "If we'd gone from third to first in three years," he said, "I might still be there."
On a more spectacular scale, a similar pattern finished him with the Yankees. After winning four World Series championships for George Steinbrenner (who expects nothing less), he started losing division playoffs.
Under Torre from 1996-2007, the Yankees went 1,173-767, including six American League pennants. With 10 AL East Division titles and two wildcard berths, they never missed theplayoffs in 12 years.
But they haven't won a World Series in seven years or appeared in one since 2003. Never mind that many fans and some alleged experts consider 2007 the best managing job of Torre's career. He rallied a team going nowhere at 20-29 in May and won 94 games with a pitching staff that ranked eighth in AL stats for the full schedule.
When the Yankees were down 0-2 to the Cleveland Indians in the AL division series, a New Jersey sportswriter heard Steinbrenner say, "I don't think we'd take [Torre] back if we don't win this series."
(Dick Howser managed the Yankees to 103-59 and an East Division championship in 1980. However, his Yankees were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the AL Championship Series, so Gene Michael started the 1981 season as the Yankees manager. Bob Lemon replaced Michael with 25 games left, and that was a season the Yankees wound up in the World Series - their last trip there, in fact, until Torre arrived.).
Aware of Steinbrenner's trigger-happy penchant for sacking managers, people figured Torre was finished. But such a groundswell of Torre support by media critics and baseball fans finally forced the New York front office to find a way to dump the manager without firing him.
Last week, the Yankees offered him a one-year contract for $5 million plus incentive clauses and a contract extension to 2009 if the Yankeesreach the World Series next year. Over the past three years, Torre's salary reportedly had increased to $7.5 million.
At $5 million, he would have still been baseball's highest paid manager, but obviously considering the contract's conditions an insult, he declined - as the Yankees had hoped and expected.
From 1973, when Steinbrenner took over the Yankees, until 1996, when Torre was hired, the Yankees had employed 13 managers, but the revolving door was so busy it seemed like twice that many. The Yankees made managerial changes during a season nine times between 1975-1989. The owner went in for considerable recycling. For example, he hired Billy Martin five times.
Torre lasted 12 years in Steinbrenner's Bronx zoo, and that's a remarkable enough qualification for the Hall of Fame. Never mind all the pennants.
Sports, Pages 18 on 10/23/2007