Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame adds former player-manager Joe Torre
Atlanta Braves will induct three notable former Braves on August 31. Today we look back at the Braves’ career of Joe Torre.
Today’s Atlanta Braves fans think of Joe Torre as the manager who led the Yankees to 12 postseasons and beat the Braves in two World Series. But before reaching those lofty heights, Torre wore the Braves’ uniform for nine years in the 1960s and managed them for three years in the 1980s.
Any discussion of Joe must begin with his brother Frank. The Boston Braves had signed 19-year-old first baseman Frank Joseph Torre on October 20, 1950. Frank played the 1951 season with Braves minor league teams in Denver and Hartford, then served two years in the Army, including a tour in Korea.
Frank was nine years older than Joseph Paul Torre but, according to his SABR biography, became Joe’s mentor and father figure after throwing his abusive police detective father out in 1951. Frank returned from Korea and played with the Braves until June 1960.
Signed, sealed, and delivered
Joe played first base and pitched like Frank, but his carry tool was his bat. He hit .648 in the 1958 All-American Amateur Baseball Association tournament in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but he was fat and slow, so scouts ignored him.
Frank pulled Joe aside and told him that scouts would pay attention if he switched to catching. It worked; Joe caught during the 1959 season and Braves’ scout Honey Russell convinced the club to sign him and give him a $22,500 bonus, roughly the equivalent of $229,106 today.
Considering what we saw in the recent draft, the size of his bonus suggests that Honey Russell thought a lot of 19-year-old Joe Torre.
Slimmer, faster, stronger
Torre lost 20 pounds after signing and batted .346 in the fall Florida Instructional League. Torre continued to mash after the Braves assigned him to Class-C Eau Claire in 1960. In 117 games, he batted .344/.450/.553/1.003, including 23 doubles, three triples, and 16 home runs, striking out 45 times, walking 70, and stealing seven bases.
The Braves called him up for two games at the end of September and promoted him to AAA to start 1961. In 27 games with Louisville, Torre batted .342/.378/.532/.910 with eight doubles, two triples, and three homers in 119 PA. The Braves said, okay, we’re convinced and called him up on May 19.
In his first season with the Braves, Torre finished 21st in NL MVP voting and second in Rookie of the Year voting behind future Hall of Famer Billy Williams.
I’m your anywhere man
Torre’s early career resembles that of Atlanta Braves rookies catcher William Contreras. The Atlanta Braves use Contreras as a DH and started him in left field once to keep his bat in the lineup. The DH wasn’t around when in the 60s, so the Milwaukee Braves used Torre as a pinch hitter and started him in left field once.
By 1963, Torre was splitting time between first base and catcher, but no matter where he played, Torre continued to hit. He was named to the first of five consecutive All-Star teams in 1963, Finished fifth in NL NVP voting in 1964, 11th, and won his only Gold Glove in 1965 and 16th in 1966.
Torre was opening day catcher for the Atlanta Braves for their first league game at Fulton county stadium. In the sixth inning, Torre gave the Atlanta Braves their first lead when he hit the Braves’ first homer in their new home off Bob Veale in the sixth inning.
The Pirates tied it in the eighth inning and went up 3-1 in the 12th. Torre hit his second homer in the bottom of the inning off Don Schwall, but the Braves lost 3-2.
The Trade
Joe Torre was the Braves player representative to the newly minted players union and outspoken in his support for Marvin Miller. According to his SABR biography, his support for the union resulted in his trade to St Louis.
In 1968, Joe fought hard for the collective bargaining agreement with the owners and this did not sit well with the Braves’ ownership.
The club tried to cut his pay by 20% and offered him to the Senators and Mets before sending him to St Louis for Orlando Cepeda on March 17, 1969.
Joe Torre remains one of the top four offensive catchers for the Braves in the live-ball era.
Data sorted on OPS+ Provided by Stathead.com: View Stathead Tool Used Generated 7/26/2022.
Baseball-Reference says he was worth 33.2 rWAR and 155 RAA, while Fangraphs gives him 34.9 fWAR, a .361 wOBA, and 131 wRC+.
Over his next nine seasons, Torre earned four more All-Star nods and was named NL MVP for his 1971 season with St Louis, when he led the NL with 230 hits, 137 RBI, 352 total bases, batted .363/.421/.555/.976, and won the NL batting title.
Hi Skip!
The 1977 Mets were 15-30 when Joe Torre took over as manager on May 31, He appeared in two games as a pinch hitter before retiring on June 16, and the Mets finished the season 49-68 with Torre at the helm. He failed to post a winning record with the Mets, and they let him go after the season.
The Atlanta Braves finished fifth in 1981 and wanted to move on from Bobby Cox. They hired Torre to skipper the club, and he responded by taking them to an NL West title and an NLCS clash with the Cardinals.
The Braves won more games under Torre in 1983 and led the division in hitting but finished three games behind the Dodgers in second place. In 1984 the Braves didn’t hit well and slipped under .500 but somehow finished second in the West behind the Padres.
Joe Torre left the Braves with a winning 257-229 record but didn’t return to the dugout until the Cardinals coaxed him back in 1990. They fired him 47 games into the 1995 season; the Yankees hired him in 1996 after Buck Showalter refused to fire four of his coaches and was himself fired.
Torre went on to lead teams that frustrated and tormented the Braves for a decade.
That’s a wrap
Synchronicity dictated that Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox enter the Hall of Fame on the same day as Joe Torre. Torre replaced Cox in 1982, and La Russa became the permanent replacement for Torre in 1996.
It’s appropriate and past time that the Atlanta Braves recognize a man who remains in the top four at his position 25 years after he retired.
Next. Joe Adcock. dark
Congratulations. Joe. Now about those Yankees . . .