Happy Birthday, Joe Torre

If you're birthday is July 18th, you're in good company. You share it with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Dion and Martha Reeves and a guy who should one day be in the Baseball Hall of Fame -- Joe Torre.

A fine catcher who enjoyed a career renaissance after moving to 3rd base with the Cardinals, his first three managerial jobs were for the teams where he once played -- the Mets, Cards and Braves (whom he led to the 1982 NL West title). But who could have predicted that for the New York native, the best was yet to come? Hired by the Yankees after George Steinbrenner fired Buck Showalter (whose 1995 club lost to Seattle in the playoffs), the local tabloids were skeptical -- especially since Torre hadn't led a team to the playoffs in a dozen years.
Well, Joe was more than clued in. His 1996 Yankees brought a Worlds Championship to the Bronx for the first time in 18 years. And the teams kept winning, racking up titles in 1998, 1999 and 2000. In fact, the Yankees made the post-season in every one of Torre's 12 seasons. Only Joe McCarthy lasted longer as Yankee skipper.
Moving to the Dodgers in 2008, he extended his personal post-season streak to 14 years. That looks like a Cooperstown resume, don't you think?

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