Congratulations to three managers, two with Braves connections, who were unanimously elected to the Major League Baseball Hall Fame Monday by the expansion era committee.
Joe Torre, who played for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals and managed the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers along with former Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays manager and Atlanta Braves General manager Bobby Cox and former Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.
The induction ceremony will be July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Torre was the fifth manager to win five World Series championships. He managed the Yankees to titles in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. He led the Yankees to the post-season in each of his 12 seasons as manager. He managed the Dodgers to two National League two National League Western Division championships in three seasons.
When the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966, Torre hit the first Braves home run in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.
La Russa guided the Oakland athletics to a World Series championship in 1989 and the St. Louis Cardinals to World Series championships in 2006 and 2011.
Torre and Cox were both teammates of some future All-Stars during their playing careers. Cox was a teammate of Hall of Fame center fielder Mickey Mantle Gibson, Smith and Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra with the New York Yankees and Torre was a teammate of Braves center fielder Hank Aaron with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, Hall of Fame right handed, fire balling pitcher Bob Gibson and slick fielding and clutch hitting Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith with the St. Louis Cardinals
Cox also played For Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel during his outstanding managerial career with the Yankees.
As a long time baseball fan, I have had the honor and pleasure of watching Cox’s, Torre’s and La Russa’s teams play in person and they all had one thing in common. They all gave a 100 percent effort every time they stepped on the field. Anything less would have enn unacceptable.
I had the pleasure several years ago of visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame and museum in Cooperstown.
Reading the inscription on the plaques of Mantle, Berra Aaron, Gibson, Smith and other great Hall of Famers was truly special.
I congratulate Torre, Cox and La Russa on their Hall of Fame selection. It is richly deserved.