Torre Out!

[G-Fafif]

In 1981...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94UOKd03oZU

[metirish]

Fucker....

[G-Fafif]

Sorry, Irish. Too tempting a subject line to pass up.

Still, well worth the trip back in time for so many reasons. Ooh la la, indeed.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Listen to Nimoy pimping for Ma Bell. Way to go over to the Romulans, Spock.

Oh, not for nothing, but "NICE 'STACHE, MAZZILLI!"

[HahnSolo]

Watching that I felt really bad for Rube Walker.

[G-Fafif]

Though not as bad as I felt for Judy Licht.

What DO you do with a chubby dog?

[Valadius]

Damn you, Greg...

[G-Fafif]

Startlingly long piece by modern standards and amazingly long interview considering the circumstances. Torre's fired that day and he's standing there with Johnny Blow Dry and answering all his questions patiently. No backdrop with corporate sponsors, no PR damage control, still in his office. Far cry from what we'll see when he gets his head chopped next. I liked Joe Torre back in the day. "The man came out and told me straight on." Reminded me why.

Note the allusion to the '81 Mets coming close. Talk about your forgotten pennant races.

The Bowtie wore neckties back then. And yes, sad about Rube. He'd at least get another postseason with Torre in Atlanta.

Wonder what the girl who wanted wild man Billy Martin to "coach" the Mets is doing these days.

Mazz should have abandoned the mustache before starting it.

[Guest Iubitul]

Greg - this was a great find for all the reasons you just mentioned. It actually got me liking him again...

[Guest Edgy DC]

Among the axed, Walker and Deron Johnson are dead.

Joe Pignatano, Chuck Cottier, and Bob Gibson live on.

How does one fire Bob Fucking Gibson?

[G-Fafif]

Major props to Metstradamus for finding the link. Always great reading there:

http://metstradamus.blogspot.com/

The tease "The Magic is Gone" of course alludes to the much-mocked (yet enduringly adored) advertising slogan "The Magic is Back," created by ad wizard Jerry Della Femina in 1980. And the Channel 7 promo for Good Morning New York showed us co-host and longtime Channel 5 feature reporter Judy Licht (she who asks what is to be done with a chubby puppy).

In 1983, Della Femina and Licht married. One wonders if Eyewitness News' treatment of the Torre story brought them together. (One wonders it fleetingly, however.)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Tremendous clip! Maz probably knows he's finished with the Mets as well. He's like, I hope they don't trade me to Texas...

[Centerfield]

Damnit.

I hear now that he's out of work, he'll go into selling Juan Signs.

[metsmarathon]

ooh la la, sasson!

[metirish]

Great clip, couldn't watch it at work. Torre didn't seem too upset, I wonder how many years those Mets fans served in prison.

[Zvon]

I love how they titled it "the Sunday afternoon massacre".
Ha.

[Benjamin Grimm]

What was that Norman and Sophie story? The newscaster seemed like he didn't even want to do that story, and when he was done he didn't seem to know if he had reported a news story or told a joke that bombed.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yesterday's most popular lookup:
Joe Torre

[seawolf17]

"Dick Wolfsie"?!?! Seriously?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

metsmarathon wrote: ooh la la, sasson!

You can tell it's post-disco by the way they pronounce that word. Back in the height of Disco Fever, it was pronounced Sas-SOON like the shampoo. I think it was a lawsuit from them that made them call it Sas-SAWN.

[Guest Edgy DC]

There's definitely some Elliot Easton wannabe nu wav guitar in that Sasson theme. A hint of nu wav hairdos on the models also.

[Frayed Knot]

Sunday's Newsday ran a few quotes from back when Torre was getting canned by the Mets which run in direct contrast to the 'player's manager' image he has now with the Yanx. Not so many guys rushing to his defense back them.

- "He was a good man, not a good manager" -- Neil Allen

- "It was obvious there was no discipline around here and something had to be done" -- Alex Trevino

- "That big brother stuff between me and him was overdone. Hey, you know what the say: 'You get hired, you get fired' " -- Lee Mazzilli

[Benjamin Grimm]

A lot can change in 26 years.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

They were all about to catch Bamberger Fever.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Joe Torre, of course, was hired that offseason to manage Atlanta, and in 1982 the team jumped to an early lead in the NL West, and the Braves went on to lose the NLCS to St. Louis that October.

[Guest Edgy DC]

He re-hired most of his staff also --- Walker, Piggy, Dal Maxville (who he had with the Mets in 1978), and Gibson.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember how strange it was to see Rube and Piggy in Braves uniforms.

It seemed odd that after coaching for Hodges, Berra, and Frazier (not to mention McMillan) that their wagons ended up getting hitched to Torre. The difference was, I think, that this was the first managerial change under the new regime and I guess Frank Cashen wanted to do a complete purge.

Strange to think that Rube Walker was employed by Doubleday and Wilpon for two seasons. They seem to represent completely different eras in Mets history.

[metirish]

Newsday is reporting that Torre flew to Tampa with Cashman to discuss a one year extension .

Tampa

[G-Fafif]

You read it here first.

[MFS62]

Joe Torre reminds me of Forrest Gump.

Think about it.
Both nice guys, honest, soft spoken, and with an innate ability to talk with people.
Neither of them a MENSA candidate.
Both met a President of the United States.
Both extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
Both of them succeeded, career-wise and financially, beyond their wildest expectations.

I wish Joe well in whatever he does in the future. But for his managing, he managed the exact same way with the other teams when he had a below .500 record as he did with the Yanks. (And I watched him manage a lot of games with both teams. ) The only thing different was the players.

Later