On the blog today, we take a closer look at my 1970 “In-Game Action”
card for Joe Torre, somewhat of an underrated player since his
managerial exploits years later gets all the attention:
Torre was transitioning from an All-Star catcher to All-Star infielder
right about the time this card would have seen the light of day, just
completing his first year with the St. Louis Cardinals after playing his
first nine years with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves.
Go ahead, take a look at Torre’s playing career, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how good he was.
The Brooklyn-native really did put together a career that gives him a second look as a Hall of Fame player.
It’s easy to forget how he came up as a catcher and had some monster
years for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves between 1961 and 1968 before
being traded to St. Louis for Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda right before
the 1969 season opened.
Five times he would top 100 runs batted in, while topping 200 hits
twice, 20 home runs six times and a .300+ batting average five times on
his way to career numbers of 1185 RBIs, 2342 hits, 252 homers and a very
nice .297 MLB average.
He finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year race in 1961 behind
future Hall of Famer Billy Williams, and was named to nine all-star
teams over the course of his career.
Of course, once he moved on to managing, particularly when he took over
duties with the New York Yankees in 1996, his path to Cooperstown was
laid out in front of him, leading the Bronx Bombers to World Series wins
four times, including three in a row between 1998-2000, with the ‘98
team considered one of the best teams of all-time, winning 114 regular
season games along with 11 more, steam-rolling through the San Diego
Padres for a world championship.
Over 29 seasons as a manager, Torre finished with 2326 wins along with a
nifty .538 winning percentage. Looking at his Yankee tenure, he
finished an incredible 1173 and 767, good for a sparkling .605
percentage, averaging just under 100 wins a season!
So of course, in 2014 he made it into the Hall, being selected by the
Veteran’s Committee after a combined 47 years in Major League ball as a
player or manager.