On November 2, 1995, Joe Torre became the 31st manager in New York Yankees history as he replaced Buck Showalter and embarked on one of the most successful managerial tenures in baseball history.
A former MVP and nine-time All-Star as a player with the Braves, Cardinals and Mets, the Brooklyn-born Torre would soon help the Yankees capture a remarkable six American League pennants and four World Series championships during his 12-year run at the helm in the Bronx.
After being dispatched by three different organizations early on in his managerial career, Torre had to reflect on his approach as a leader of a team before taking over with the Yankees.
“A lot of things go through your mind,” Torre said of his early days with the organization. “If I try to be somebody other than myself, it’s not going to work.”
Not everyone covering the Yankees was immediately impressed with the team’s decision to hire Torre, with some local newspaper back pages featuring headlines like “Clueless Joe” and “Say it Ain’t Joe” to name a few.
The Yankees were coming off of a difficult postseason upset at the hands of the Seattle Mariners in 1995, and some were not convinced Torre was the right man for the job to steer things in the right direction.
Luckily for the Bombers, Torre’s cool, calm, collected approach turned out to be just what the Yankees needed to navigate through the rigorous demands of the Big Apple.
What came next was four championships in a five-year span with victories over the Braves (1996, 1999), Padres (1998) and Mets (2000).
During his 12 years as Yankees manager, Torre’s teams won the American League East 10 times and finished second twice, averaging just shy of 98 wins per season over that span.
When all was said and done, Torre would end his career as the second-winningest Yankees manager of all time with a 1173-767 record, trailing only Joe McCarthy (1,460) for the most victories in franchise history.
Elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014, Torre’s No. 6 was retired by the Yankees less than a month later on August 23, cementing him among the great icons in Yankees history after a legendary 12-year run, but none of it could’ve happened before he first got the job 25 years ago today.
