Joe Torre had a lengthy Hall of Fame speech at Cooperstown on Sunday in which he recapped in detail his glory days managing the New York Yankees. He mentioned multiple players and staffers with whom he worked throughout his career, and he thanked his family for all their help. But one thing Torre failed to do during his 27-minute long speech — the longest of all inductees — was thank George Steinbrenner.
Torre acknowledged shortly after his speech that he failed to mention “The Boss” and made sure to address that with the media.
“I missed thanking the most obvious guy in the world when you’re talking about the Yankees,” Torre said per the New York Daily News. “I mentioned George, but my plan was to thank him and the fact that we had a great relationship.
“It was the proudest time in my whole career and I just feel terrible I omitted that.”
Indeed it was the proudest time of Torre’s career. Though he had a great career as a player and managed three teams prior to the Yankees, it was with the pinstripes that he won four World Series, leading to his induction. He even said early in his speech that he would “cut to the chase” and spend most of his time talking about the Yankees winners he managed because that’s where his most prominent work was done.
Some may speculate that Torre’s omission has to do with his rocky departure from the team after 2007. Torre was offered a new contract but would have had to take a pay cut, and he took offense to that. He ended up signing to manage the Dodgers instead.
Despite his issues over the insulting offer, Torre made it back to Yankee Stadium in 2010 when Steinbrenner was honored with a monument in Monument Park and insists there are no hard feelings.
Below is video of his speech:
