Joe Torre returns for first New York Yankees Old Timers' Day, receives loudest and longest ovation
Monday, June 27th 2011, 4:00 AM
Ron Antonelli/News
Joe Torre greets fellow Yankees Old Timers with the old but familiar No. 6 on his back. The former Bombers skipper finally returns to don the pinstripes once again."Just putting it on, it felt good," Torre said before the festivities Sunday. "Taking it off was quite emotional back in '07, knowing at the time that I was doing it that I wasn't going to do this anymore. I just don't like to dwell on stuff. I certainly did feel differently when I put it on. It's something I haven't done for a long time. It's obviously the uniform that has meant the most to my career."
PHOTOS: 65th Old Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium
It was a pleasant return home for Torre following the acrimonious split he and the Yankees endured after the 2007 season, when Torre and the club could not come to terms on a contract. After a tenure that saw the Yankees win four World Series, all that was left were icy feelings on both sides as Torre moved on to a three-year hitch in Dodger blue.
But those hard feelings, which Torre helped fuel after leaving with his book, "The Yankee Years," are history now and Sunday Torre, who was sporting a sling on his right arm following rotator cuff surgery - "I can only bring in lefthanders," he quipped - was welcomed back with the longest and loudest ovation from the 47,984 in attendance.
"I've been looking forward to this," Torre said. "I knew this day was going to happen at some point. The fact that I retired from managing, all of a sudden I'm available. I've been invited to Old Timers' games before but I'd been working. The last couple of years I was invited but I couldn't come obviously because I was managing the Dodgers. So I knew this day would come. I'd been looking forward because nobody ever does these things like the Yankees. The Yankees have done it for years. Other clubs did it for a time but the Yankees continue to do it and it's always a very special day ... It's special because the Yankees have such a deep, rich history."
And Torre, who was sporting his 1996 World Series ring - "It's the first one and there will never be another first one," he said - is part of that rich history. But returning to the scene of his greatest triumphs, Torre made it a point to credit his players - Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, in particular - without whom he might not have been feted here Sunday and the Bombers still might be playing across the street.
"Without those two guys ... this ballpark certainly wouldn't have been built, with the contributions those two guys have made over the years," Torre said. "I wouldn't be sitting here wearing a World Series ring and I certainly wouldn't have been in pinstripes for 12 years if it wasn't for them."
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