Destiny Was Clearly on Torre’s Side

The foul pop-up drifted tantalizingly toward the Atlanta Braves’ dugout. Two on, two out in the ninth inning Saturday night, John Wetteland trying to protect a 3-2 lead and give Joe Torre and the New York Yankees this World Series title.

Third baseman Charlie Hayes followed the drift, moving toward the top step, leaning, falling into the arms of Atlanta’s Luis Polonia, unable to make the catch.

Mark Lemke and the Braves were still alive. Torre’s lips tightened on the Yankee bench, but coach Don Zimmer leaned closer and said, “It’s OK, Joe. This one’s it. This one’s for Frank.”

Much later, soaked in champagne, too spent to cry, feeling blessed and overwhelmed by the events of the last 48 hours, the Yankee manager smiled and said: “That’s why Zim’s my bench coach. He’s smarter than I am.”

Zimmer had it right.

Wetteland delivered another fastball and Lemke lifted it into foul territory again, but in a spot where Hayes could make the catch, giving the Yankees their first World Series title and capping an improbable year, month, week and day for Torre, who shook his head and said:

“All of this has almost been like an out-of-body experience. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Everything that has happened in the last 24 to 48 hours has been like a dream. So many people have been praying for me and my brother that maybe it was unfair to the Braves. I really feel blessed.”

Maybe this was destiny, how it had to play out, how it had to end.

“Once we got here it almost looked like this was supposed to happen,” Torre said, “but you never want to leave it to fate because then you stop working.”

In a year in which his brother, Rocco, died of a heart attack, Torre realized a dream by reaching the World Series for the first time in his 37 years as player and manager, then realized another by winning it just a day after his brother, Frank, received a heart transplant after an 11-week wait.

Joe Torre talked to his brother Friday night, saw him Saturday morning. He was strong enough to ask for six tickets for members of the staff at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

In the manager’s office late Saturday night, amid a joyous gathering of family and friends that resembled an Italian wedding, Sister Marguerite Torre, the manager’s sister and principal of the Nativity grammar school in Ozone Park, laughed and said she would be giving her students Monday off to attend the ticker-tape parade on Fifth Avenue.

“I’m so exhausted and so overjoyed that I’m bursting with excitement,” she said. “I got the call at about 3:45 yesterday morning in Atlanta that they had a heart for Frank and I prayed for God to bless the surgeon’s hands. We saw Frank this morning and he looked wonderful. Joy and sadness are often intertwined, but I’ve always believed that God is watching over this family.

“I mean, Joe had suffered defeat for so many years, been fired so many times, but now this time is his. We’re all so thrilled, so happy for him. He’s such a humble and gifted man.”

The Yankees became the first team to lose the first two World Series games at home, then win four in a row. They were the better team. The Braves may have those renowned starters in Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, but the Yankees have a better bullpen and better bench.

“Not too many teams can say they won with all 25 players contributing,” Torre said. “Everybody wanted to play but everybody understood they couldn’t play. When you talk about players today, it always comes down to money, but the only number these guys were interested in was the win column. It was a refreshing change.”

The Yankees won Saturday night, Torre said, “by doing what we do best.” A starter, Jimmy Key, getting his team to the sixth inning, and the bullpen shutting it down. Getting to the Series, Torre said, wasn’t enough.

“Once you get here,” he said, “you want to show people what you’re about, especially after those first two games [losses at Yankee Stadium to Smoltz and Maddux]. That wasn’t us. I don’t take anything away from those two pitchers, but I really think we were out of whack after having seven days off. Winning Game 3 turned us around, got us going ahead.”

It was a team victory, and Gov. George Pataki called to congratulate the manager, and so did President Clinton.

But, Torre said, “I was too late getting to the phone and he went off to get a sandwich or something.” How strange. Last June, fired by the St. Louis Cardinals, Torre thought no one would be calling again, that he’d used up his connections managing the three teams for whom he had played.

“I figured St. Louis was my last stop,” he said. “I never thought I’d be here or get here. People talk about George Steinbrenner, but the wonderful thing about it is that you know he’s going to spend money. There may be some distractions along the way, but he’s going to put players on the field and that does wonders for a manager’s psyche. If something is broken, he’s going to fix it.”

A brother dead, another waiting for a heart transplant. Perspective came in many forms for Torre, and he was calm, steady amid the occasional Bronx storm. He also displayed a remarkable hand juggling his lineup and changing pitchers during a postseason run that included an 8-0 record on the road.

He had cried in Baltimore when the World Series became a reality, but Saturday night, holding his ninth-month old daughter, he said, “The anxiety was getting here. This is a time for celebration.”

Frank Torre could relate to that.