Biography
Nine-time All-Star Joe Torre, born Joe Paul Torre, Jr. on July 18, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, is the 1971 National League Most Valuable Player and a two-time American League Manager of the Year. He is the son of Joe Torre, Sr., a New York City police detective. In 1960, nine years after his older brother Frank was signed by the Boston Braves, Joe Jr. was signed as an amateur free agent by the Braves, who had since relocated to Milwaukee. Their father, Joe Torre Sr., worked as a baseball scout for the Milwaukee Braves from 1955 to 1961 and for the Baltimore Orioles from 1962 until his passing in 1971. At 19, Joe Jr. made a brief major league appearance with the Braves in 1960.
Frank Torre ended his career with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1963, the same year Joe, a catcher, emerged as a standout player for the Braves, batting .293 with 14 home runs and 71 RBIs. Joe was selected for the All-Star team but did not play in the game. The next year, he was the starting catcher for the National League All-Star team, finishing the season with a .321 average, 20 home runs, 109 RBIs, 193 hits, and ranked fifth in MVP voting. This marked the first of five seasons with over 100 RBIs. In 1965, he earned a Gold Glove for defensive excellence at catcher.
During spring training in 1969, Torre was traded by the now-Atlanta Braves to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for 1967 MVP Orlando Cepeda. In 1971, Torre earned the MVP award after an outstanding offensive season, batting .363 with 24 home runs, 137 RBIs, 230 hits, and leading the National League in batting average and RBIs. After the 1974 season, the Cardinals traded Torre, then primarily a third baseman, to the New York Mets for Ray Sadecki and Tommy Moore. He became player-manager in 1977 but retired as a player midway through the season to focus on managing.
Joe Torre is best known for his managerial career, for which he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He led his former team, the Braves, to the 1982 National League West title. However, his greatest success came managing the New York Yankees under owner George M. Steinbrenner III. From 1996 to 2006, Torre's teams won the division title in all but two seasons and made the playoffs every year he managed the Yankees (1996-2007). He has amassed over 2,000 managerial wins, surpassing Walter Alston for eighth place on the all-time wins list, and nearly 1,200 wins with the Yankees in almost 4,000 games managed. Under Torre's leadership, the Yankees captured four of the six World Series titles they reached.
