Post by Sha-Le Unique on Feb 28, 2018 2:21:40 GMT -5
When Pirates' general manager Shale Briskin saw the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively in 1958, he held hope to one day see a new National League team in New York. "As a native New Yorker, I couldn't picture seeing the Yankees as the only baseball team in New York. Dodgers and Giants fans would never cross over to the evil empire," he remarked. Indeed, there was a big void in New York.
But thanks to HOFFBL allowing four new franchises to enter the league in 1961 and 1962, and the efforts of New York lawyer William Shea to bring National League baseball back to New York, the city finally had new representation in the Senior Circuit. The team name became the Mets, short for Metropolitans. Briskin would end up leaving the Pirates in 1961 to become the Mets' first ever general manager. At the urging of senior advisor Casey Stengel, the Mets selected Joe Torre with their first ever draft pick in 1960. The Ol Perfessor told the media, "You have to have a catcher because if you don't, you're likely to have a lot of passed balls." This would turn out to be one of the best decisions in franchise history.
Torre would spend three years developing in the minors, but once he got called up after spring training in 1963, Torre became the leader the Mets needed to establish an identity. He became the team captain in 1974 and was always the leader of the clubhouse. Pitchers relied on him to calm them down and call good games, while his offensive teammates always went to him when struggling in slumps. Torre batted 3rd for the vast majority of his career, something most starting catchers could not say.
Torre batted over .300 in 11 of his 17 major league seasons and was named to 10 All-Star teams, a record for HOFFBL catchers. His career average finished at .297, just three notches below .300. Torre though was never one to want to rest. Even at age 39, he wanted to play every day. He hit 252 career home runs and even hit a career high 26 round trippers at age 38, which impressed Torre himself. "Once players get into their mid 30s, they tend to lose some of the power they had at a younger age, but I guess all the strength and conditioning workouts our trainers had us do helped me play well for as long as I did." His 2,801 career hits currently rank 17th all-time and is a record for a catcher. He also won the 1973 NL batting title, at a .324 clip.
Torre wasn't just a great hitter though. Throughout his career, he had one of the best arms behind the plate and consistently threw out over 30% of the base-stealing attempts under his watch. He ended up winning 6 NL Gold Glove Awards and credits his defense as a factor toward his All-Star Game nominations. "Being a great hitter sounded nice and all, but especially as a catcher, being a complete player was essential. You can be a lowly offensive catcher, but if you can call a good game and throw out a reasonable number of runners, you'll have a job in baseball. I wanted to bring the best out of each pitcher I worked with and took a lot of pride in helping at least some of them blossom into superstars," the future Hall of Famer remarked.
Those aforementioned superstars were former Met Gene Brabender and current ace Tom Seaver. They developed into one of the most lethal 1-2 punches among all HOFFBL rotations and both gave a lot of credit to Torre for helping them realize what it took to reach the next level. "I was a 2nd round pick, so I was really just trying to see if I could be a decent role player down the road. But once I got to New York in 65, I worked with Joe quite a bit during spring training. He was very informative on the different types of approaches to expect from certain hitters. I swear he studies each and every at-bat he sees and can notice just about everything. It really helped me feel more confident in my arm and I don't know if I would have become an All-Star caliber pitcher without Joe's mentoring," said Brabender, who is currently a free agent after spending the past two plus seasons with the White Sox. He is 20 wins away from reaching 300 in his career.
Seaver, a former #1 overall pick had his own story of Torre being a great mentor. "When I was pitching at USC, it was in a relaxing environment. You know, it's LA. There were some scouts, but a lot of my teammates at times looked more ready to relax at the beach than play baseball. It was a lot to handle at a young age. But when I first met Joe in spring training in 66, he told me I'd be in the majors before I knew it. I told him that as a laid back guy from the west coast, I wasn't ready for all this media attention in New York. He said to me, ' Tommy, the media is just there to do its job. To give fans a taste of what our lives are like. They're gonna make headlines and talk about you and probably talk about me too, but you can't pay attention to any of that. It will be tough, but if you act nice to them and answer their questions that are within reason, you'll be fine. Just make sure you're nice to the fans though. The Mets fans are the best in the world and I'm sure a lot of them are excited to soon see you on the mound.' Hearing that from someone like Joe really helped calm my nerves and when I first came up and I had a couple of rough patches. Joe was always there for me. Not having him behind the plate will take a lot of time to get used to, but I wish him and the family nothing but the best!" Seaver has racked up 244 wins in his 13-year career with the Mets and having a great backstop like Torre as a battery mate helped Seaver elevate his game into becoming a 2-time NL Cy Young Award winner. "Tom should've actually won 4 in a row from 74 to 77. He led the league in ERA all 4 seasons for crying out loud! I know some of the writers with votes value wins quite a bit, but that's more dependent on the team than just one pitcher. ERA is a much better way to determine who the best pitcher was, and hopefully, more voters will start to realize this," Torre said in his defense of Seaver.
Mets ace Tom Seaver will be pitching to a new starting catcher for the first time in his career in 1980.
The Mets struggled for their first 6 seasons, while steadily moving closer towards winning. The first season above .500 came in 1968 and in 1970, the Mets joined the Angels as the first expansion teams to play in the postseason. The Mets started a 7-year run atop the NL East, but only achieved 1 pennant during the stretch. "Failing to win a ring during my career would probably be my biggest regret, if I had any. We had some great teams for a while and whether it was in the NLDS or NLCS, we kept falling short. Playing in the 1972 World Series was definitely the best memory of my career. I wish the result had been different, but just being a part of a World Series is something I will cherish forever," Torre stated in his retirement press conference. The Mets ended up playing the Angels in what has been dubbed the "Expansion Series", being that it was the first time any expansion team had gotten to the Fall Classic, but lost the series 4-1.
Torre will spend a lot more time now with his family, but he has no desire to leave baseball altogether for good. "I enjoyed playing baseball. It was much more than just earning money to hit baseballs. The whole culture was something I was drawn to as a kid growing up in New York. Going to Yankee Stadium, Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds. And then spending my whole career in the Polo Grounds. I couldn't have predicted this as a kid! That being said, I'm going to spend some time with family and rest my body a bit, but I would love to get involved in coaching and maybe even manage one day if the opportunity ever comes around." Some of his teammates already see a future manager in Torre. "Joe is a natural leader who always knows what to say and how to say it. Few if any have ever questioned him in the clubhouse. He could probably be a big league manager tomorrow if he wanted to. He understands the game so well and understands the pitchers pretty well too. I hope whatever he wants to do with his future, that it ends up happening because he deserves it," stated longtime teammate Joe Foy, who played 13 seasons with Torre. The two Joe's were close and now it will be Foy who will take on an offensive leadership role in the Mets' young clubhouse.
The Mets luckily have a young stud offensive catcher ready to get called up this season. Ozzie Virgil Jr. may turn out to be even better than Torre, according to scouting reports. But to even compare a young catcher to someone like Torre is high praise. The Mets will have some huge shoes to fill in the clubhouse, but on the field, the hope is that Virgil establishes a great career of his own.
The Mets have already announced that the number 15 will be retired on April 3, which was the first day of Torre's career back in 1963. Appropriately, the Mets' first retired number in team history goes to their first ever player. Hopefully, Cooperstown will soon open its doors to include Torre among its greatest ever. If anyone deserves to represent the Mets in Cooperstown, it's the captain.
