Sports Radio Interviews

Joe Torre Thinks Manny is a Hall of Famer

Steroids or not, Manny Ramirez has been putting up numbers for so long that he deserves his seat in Cooperstown. At least that’s Joe Torre’s opinion on the subject.

Torre has managed some big ego’s in his days as manager of The New York Yankees and now Los Angeles Dodgers. He’s also managed two of the biggest names to come out in the steroid era. Both Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez have hurt their credibility tremendously by testing positive for stimulants in the past 5 years. A-Rod wasn’t winning any popularity contests even before the positive tests, but Manny is in a different class. The saying “Manny being Manny” has more to do with Ramirez’s on field antics, as opposed to a personality in A-Rod that even Tony Robbins could hate.

Joe Torre still feels that Manny is deserving of all of his accolades and he joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss the steroid era as well as managing this young Dodgers team as opposed to his time with the Yankees.

On if he’s under the same mentality as a closer in keeping as even keel as possible when it comes to managing:

“I think you have to be. To me, I didn’t realize probably until my years with the Yankees that my demeanor sort of affects other people. I remember Jeter being interviewed and he said ‘I looked at the bench and I saw Mr. Torre being very calm’. I never thought of myself as being calm for the players’ sake. I just didn’t want to overreact to something a player did or didn’t do because I knew it was going to be on a screen somewhere and I didn’t want this player to think because he struck out with the bases loaded that I was upset with him. Once you realize that your personality sort of affects the personality of the team to some degree, you just have to keep the big picture in mind.”

Torre was asked if he manages the young Dodgers team the same way he managed the star studded lineup of the Yankees:

“I think you manage them according to their fit in the baseball game. I’ve heard many people say ‘boy, you handled this guy and you handled that guy’. I don’t know if that’s the case. So many people made so much money when I was managing the Yankees. I think it’s more or less making sure that the money isn’t front and center but it’s the fit into a ball club and you cant play someone because he makes a lot of money. You may play someone because he makes a lot of money but the reason he makes a lot of money is because he has a lot of ability so you may be a little more patient in getting that out. My feeling is everyone has to get a fair shake, even though it might not seem that way with people sitting on the bench.”

On if he thinks Manny Ramirez’s positive performance enhancing drug test should preclude him from the hall of fame considerations:

“No I don’t. He’s put up numbers for way too long. It’s just tough for me to measure a guys whole career. This is a mistake that he’s made, and if it’s a one time thing or a, who knows. It’s a tough call on all this stuff with these guys.”

Torre was asked if he takes Manny’s positive test personally:

“I take everything pretty personal. I think that’s sort of what helps you understand it a little bit more. We’ve been competitive our whole lives, whether we’re managers, coaches or players. I look back at this steroid era and I remember seeing Bob Gibson on I think the Bob Costas show and it was ‘would you do this or would you do that?’ and I think I heard ‘Gibbie’ say something about if I felt it would give me an edge in a game, that you would have to listen to it or think about it. To me, its about competition. It became this snowball going down the hill. You start rolling it down the hill and its not very big and then all of the sudden you find yourself on the other side of it trying to keep it from running you over. It becomes level playing field, and if these players felt that someone had an edge over them by doing something, I think the thought process is ‘I need to keep up’ and that’s sad. I think we all let it get out of hand and I think we all have to take responsibility.”

Listen to Joe Torre on The Dan Patrick Show

Tags: baseball interviews, Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, Manny Ramirez suspended, NL West, steroids in baseball