Move Over Joe McCarthy
It seems wrong somehow that on the 30-year anniversary of one of the Yankees' greatest moments - Reggie's 3-HR World Series explosion - that we now have to contemplate the sad end of an era for the team that will rank among its finest. Joe Torre has declined the Yanks' contract offer, and the team is moving forward. If Torre stays in uniform, he only will stave off what will be his certain Hall-of-Fame induction as a manager. One place where Torre's likeness is definitely headed is Monument Park in the Yankee Stadium outfield, a shrine to heroes past that as of right now contains four of the previous great Yankee managers:
Miller Huggins
Yankee Manager, 1918-1929
World Series Champion - 1923, 1927, 1928
AL Pennant - 1921-23, 1926-28
Joe McCarthy
Yankee Manager 1931-1946
World Series Champion - 1932, 1936-39, 1941, 1943
AL Pennant - 1932, 1936-39, 1941-43
Casey Stengel
Yankee Manager, 1949-1960
World Series Champion - 1949-53, 1956, 1958,
AL Pennant - 1949-53, 1955-58, 1960
(Of the twelve seasons that Stengel managed the Yanks, they failed to appear in the World Series only twice)
Billy Martin
Yankee Manager, 1975-79, 1983, 1985, 1988
World Series Champion - 1977-78
AL Pennant - 1976-78
(Managed the team for only the first 94 games of the 1978 championship season, and for only parts of the '79, '85 and '88 seasons)
Joe Torre
Yankee Manager, 1996-2007
World Series Champion - 1996, 1998-2000
AL Pennant - 1996, 1998-2001, 2003
(Took the Yankees to the playoffs in every one of his twelve seasons managing the team)
(p.s. - Two other former managers of the team have monuments in Monument Park - Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra - but neither of them are so enshrined because of their managerial stints. Two managers who won the World Series with the Yanks are not in Monument Park - Bucky Harris, who managed the team for only two seasons, one of them the championship campaign of 1947, and Ralph Houk, who was the skipper in the Bronx for three seasons, 1961-63. The Yanks went to the World Series in all three of those years and won it in '61 and '62.)
5 Comments:
i wonder
1. how this will affect the roster
2. where will he end up
I'd be surprised if he managed again somewhere else. I see him going to ESPN or something. After 12 years in the playoffs, that incentive-laden deal was a slap in the face. Good for Joe turning them down.
This sets up after 1 or 2 years of not making the playoffs (as no one will want to stay without Joe if they can help it) Joe making his triumphant return to the Yankee bench (I hope). If not, I'll take Girardi.
The Yanks blew it. They should have sat down and said, Joe we don't want you anymore as our manager would you take a front office job and be a consultant and you can go the booth if you want. We want you to leave a happy man and on your tems...what's it going to take for both of us to come out of this looking good, Joe?
I like Girardi...but he is no Joe ...then again, nobody is or ever will be.
giradi is a meatball.
Don Matingly i just dont know.
is it a risk, only for don.
if he blows it, will the fans hate him?
i can hear em now, "he never won a ring as a player, he wont as a coach. AND GODDAMIT! SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS MATTINGLY!"
Just a little FYI: I caught the first 40 minutes of Torre's press conference during my lunch break today and it's extremely interesting and moving. If it's broadcast anywhere I'd try to seek it out. (By the way, I hate the Yankees and felt nothing but pain when they won repeatedly, so consider that pretty high praise.)
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