Joe Torre's Managing Career
From Mets, Braves and Cardinals Failure to New York Yankees Success
Oct 13, 2007
Joe Torre never aspired to be a manager. The position was forced on him. Well. sort of. On May 31, 1977, the New York Mets fired skipper Joe Frazier, and asked Torre, who was their third baseman at the time, to fill in as player-manager. Because it was Joe's 18th season as a player, and because his skills had diminished greatly from his glory years as a player from 1963 through 1973, he accepted the gig on an interim basis. Maybe this would be his next move, he thought at the time. Torre immediately took to the new position, and just 18 days later, he retired from playing to concentrate all of his energies as a Major league baseball manager.
Failure with The Mets
Torre did not find immediate success. Rather, in four and a half years as the Mets' skipper, Torre managed the team to two fifth place, and three more last place, finishes in the National League East. His overall record was 286-420, the worst of any manager over that time period. Then again, Torre didn't exactly have Murderers Row to work with when he filled out the daily lineup card.
Fleeting Success with the Atlanta Braves
Despite his failure with the Mets, another former employer, the Atlanta Braves, hired Torre before the start of the 1982 season. With the likes of Dale Murphy and Bob Horner leading the offense, Torre led the Braves to an 89 -73 record and the team's first National league West title in history. The National League Championship Series against the Cardinals wasn't just the Braves first playoff berth since 1958, it was the first time that Joe Torre was ever part of post-season baseball. That's right, in his brilliant playing career that spanned from 1960 through 1977, Torre never made it to the playoffs.
The series proved to be anticlimactic, as the St. Louis Cardinals swept the Braves three games to none. Torre managed the Braves to second and third-place finishes in 1983 and 1984, respectively, and was fired on the last day of the '84 season.
Torre Returns to the St. Louis Cardinals
After spending five years in the broadcast booth for the California Angels, the Cardinals hired Torre to skipper the club. Torre held the job from mid-1990 through mid-1995, never finished higher than third place and posted a combined record of 271 wins and 354 losses.
With just one playoff appearance and a record of 894 wins and 1,003 losses in 12 managerial seasons, Torre seemed destined to be remembered as a very fine player who became a very mediocre manager.
But less than six months after being fired from the Cardinals, George M. Steinbrenner, III would make Joe from Brooklyn an offer he couldn't refuse.
Read on to Learn about Torre's Yankee Career, Joe Torre's Playing Career , and Who Will Replace Joe Torre?
