NEW YORK -- The scene was so familiar: Joe Torre rubbing Don Zimmer's head. Derek Jeter leaning in to hear what Jorge Posada had to say. Even though they were partying like it was 1999, it was last Friday night, when the world champion Yankees gathered for Torre's Safe at Home Foundation dinner to honor Mariano Rivera.
Don Mattingly, he of the beloved status, was asked if he could have hit Rivera's lethal cutter.
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| Five-time World Series champion Mariano Rivera was the guest of honor at Torre's bash. (Getty Images) |
Zimmer had a marketing idea for the ageless wonder.
"I think Mariano should do a deal with Louisville Slugger -- for broken bats!" Zimmer said, laughing at his own wit.
The whole night had the feel of dugout chatter. Posada said Rivera could have played the field.
"He could have been one of the best center fielders in the game," Posada said. "We used to tell Joe to put him in, then bring him back to close."
For Torre, it was a night of deep satisfaction. He was surrounded by all who had made him who he is, personally and professionally. There were friends from Brooklyn like Matt Borzello, who played with Torre at the Parade Ground 50 years ago. There were players like Bernie Williams and David Cone and Robinson Cano. The iconic manager who'd spent 12 years in pinstripes, winning four World Series, was surrounded by his wife, Ali, singer Paul Simon, Yogi Berra, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, Bob Gibson and a dozen of his former players.
Even Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero was there.
"I told him to bet Zenyatta," Cordero said of the undefeated filly who beat the boys last week in the Breeders' Cup Classic, "but Joe didn't listen. He's what you call an emotional bettor."
Torre tried to defend himself.
"I was all set to bet her, I'd been planning to for a week," he said. "Then it came up to the race and people were talking and I was listening. What can I say?"
He did, on occasion, listen to his players. He knew, in Game 6, what Jeter was saying to second year manager Joe Girardi.
"When [Hideki] Matsui was up, I knew Derek was saying under his breath, 'Oh, don't bring in a left-hander to face Matsui," Torre smiled. "Then, when Matsui hit a homer, I could hear Derek declaring, 'I told you so!'"
Torre, of course, was hoping for a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, even letting his mind drift as to how he might pitch to Jeter -- "the first time I'd ever not be pulling for him." But when Girardi, his former player and coach, directed the Yankees over the Phillies, Torre burst with the pride of the Yankees.
"He's like a son to me," Torre said. "It wasn't easy to follow me and all the success we had in New York. Even though I'm now supposed to be a National League guy, I was pulling for them."
Zimmer, who just signed his "62nd contract" in baseball (again as an adviser for the Tampa Bay Rays), was the manager of the Cubs in 1989 when Girardi broke in. The two were together in Colorado, when Zimmer coached on Don Baylor's staff, and again in New York with Torre.
"Joe was always disciplined, smart," said Zimmer, even citing Girardi's engineering degree from Northwestern. "He's a very good man and a very good friend."
It was an unusual night for Matsui. The Yankees have not disclosed what they're going to do with the World Series MVP, beyond saying that he would, again, only be used as a designated hitter. Before the dinner, Matsui sat with his interpreter, Roger Kahlon, and went through endorsement offers, many of them written in Japanese.
"I would like to stay a Yankee," Matsui said through Kahlon, "but I can't control it. It could be a new change, a new challenge for me. But no, I will not be going back to Japan."
Torre is considering a contract extension himself. With one year left on his original three-year deal, he said he spoke to Dodger GM Ned Colletti about "possibly extending it another year, through 2011." The soft-spoken legend said he and his family had become much more at home in Los Angeles.
"It's to my great relief that my 13-year-old daughter, Andrea, is now wearing Andre Ethier's jersey to Dodger Stadium instead of Derek Jeter's," Torre said.
