Joe Torre is the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’m ok with this. Really, I am. Therapy and pills have gotten me past his initial departure. But I must admit I am surprised that Joe would leave the life he has built in New York. The man is beloved in this city. It was his hometown growing up and he has rebuilt his life here since joining the Yanks. His life and the lives of his wife and school-age daughter are rooted in New York. So why move?
I think Joe’s decision to move to LA stems from more than manifest destiny. He says he really just wants to stay in the game but at 67 why leave your hometown and uproot your family to do it? He could have gone out on top after leaving the Yankees but he apparently feels he has more to prove. I suspect that his need to keep managing derives from his desire to prove to the Yankees – to the Steinbrenners, really – that he can still do the job and that they were wrong to force him out. He’ll be managing in a different league, in the NL’s toughest division, and will likely face constant comparisons to Tommy Lasorda. Competing with Tommy in LA is like competing with, well, Joe Torre in NY. This isn’t an enviable position. In the end, Joe will always be a Yankee. He bleeds a darker blue than Tommy Lasorda. But for now I’ll watch him manage the Dodgers and I won’t be able to keep myself from hoping they turn things around out there.
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