1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre

At age 86 Joe Torre is among our eldest Hall of Famers. He was the catcher for the 1962 Topps Rookie Cup Team, which also featured fellow HOF Billy Williams - who celebrated birthday 88 this summer.

 

1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre (image swiped from PSA)

Williams and Torre also ranked 1-2 in the NL ROY Voting:

While Torre led the two in WAR, Billy Williams clearly wins the traditional power numbers and that was good enough to earn him NL Rookie of the Year honors.  

Among position players Torre's 3.4 WAR led all 1961 rookies, although looking at those offensive numbers we must also note that a large chunk of that WAR is from defense. The ROY vote is interesting, in 1961 voters only got the opportunity to vote for a single player and close to a third of the ballots recognized the importance of the catching position. 

1961 Rookie Catchers

There were basically only two catchers in the running for the position on the 1961 All-Star Rookie Club, Torre & Red Sox backstop Joe Pagliaroni. 

Lots of catchers had over 100 plate appearances but Torre & Pagliaroni have 150 more than #3 Dick Bartell. Pagliano took two of the triple crown categories and had modern analytics been popular at the time it needs to be noted he also had a higher OBP than Torre. However Joe Torre had more extra base hits and although voters would not have known it at the time he also led in OPS+.  Based on those numbers I could see either player being chosen, my guess is that the 36 point batting average difference tipped the scales in favor of Torre.  

It is interesting that Torre finished 2nd in the NL RoY vote while Joe Pagliano did not get any votes on the AL side. This is likely due to Pagliano's battery mate Don Schwall winning the award and another teammate Chuck Schilling finishing 3rd in the voting.

Flip

1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre (image swiped from eBay) 

I am not of fan of the realistic style of the 1962T comic but do appreciated that this one is devoted to Torre's Rookie Cup win and love that fine rendition of the trophy. Nice mention of Frank Torre in the back text.  

Hall of Fame

Joe Torre was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans committee in 2014. This was largely an acknowledgement of his 4 World Championships as Manager of the New York Yankees. However, I don't want this distinction to overshadow his accomplishments as a Player:

In addition to earning a 1961 Rookie Cup, Torre was the 1971 NL MVP and a NINE time all-star (at 3 different positions C/1B/3B). Joe Torre played with some good teams but never made the postseason. 

HOF Index 

This column will do double duty as an index to our Joe Torre columns

1965 Topps #200 (Braves v Cardinals SNB)

Source & Links

1962 Rookie Cup Index

Hall of Fame Index

Baseball-reference

PSA

ebay

Sunday Night Baseball: 1965 Topps #200 Joe Torre - A Hero Number Card!

A couple of division leaders going at it on ESPN this evening. A good night to feature a player that was an All-Star with both the Cardinal and Braves squads, Joe Torre.

1965 Topps #200 Joe Torre



Torre came up to the Majors with the Milwaukee Braves in 1960, in 1961 he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting to future Hall of Famer Billy Williams. He spent 9 seasons with the Braves (who moved to Atlanta in 1966) before being traded to the Cardinals for Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda. In St Louis Joe Torre won the MVP award in 1971 with a standout season that saw the catcher move to third base and hit a league leading .363. That year he also led the league in Hits, RBIs and Total Bases.

His career which he finished out in 1977 with the Mets Torre had 2342 hits and 252 Home Runs. He was a 9 time all-star but never played in the postseason.

Those all at up to Sub-HoF numbers, but Torre would make up for his lack of postseason playing as a manager with the New York Yankees. He racked up 6 AL penneants and 4 World Series Titles with Jeter, Posada, Mariano, Andy Pettittie and crew.  As the skipper to the Bronks Bombers he took Manager of the year awards in 1996 and 1998.

At some point Torre will enter the hall as a manager, but lets not forget he was an MVP caliber player.

1965 Topps

We are just getting you prepped for 2014 Heritage. Shortly I am sure we will all get inundated with images of the beloved set. The set is a favorite for good reason and the #200 Torre card is a fine example. Colorful and Vibrant design with the waving pennant and a decent photograph of the Young Joe Torre. 

Source & Links

Joe Torre HOF Index

Baseball-ref.com   

baseball card database