Former Italian / American Brooklyn Born Player: Frank Torre (1956-1963)

-
Frank Joseph Torre was born December 30th 1931 in Brooklyn, New York.

The six foot four left handed hitting/throwing first baseman attended James Madison high school in Brooklyn. Frank is the eight year old older brother of Joe Torre. He was signed by the Boston Braves as an amateur free agent in 1950.

 Frank spent six years in the Braves minor leagues making their big league club in 1956 by which time they were in Milwaukee.


He would be the clubs main first baseman splitting time with Joe Adcock, having his best years, in 1957 & 1958 as the team won two straight NL Pennants breaking the NL reign of New York clubs, in which the NY Giants & Brooklyn Dodgers had dominated since 1951. Both of those seasons he led all NL first baseman in fielding %. In 1957 Torre hit .272 with 5 HRs 19 doubles & 40 RBIs.

 World Series': In the 1957 World Series Championship win over the AL new York club, Torre followed Hank Aaron's three run HR in the 4th inning of Game #4 at Milwaukee hitting a solo HR, helping the Braves to a 7-5 win tying up the series at two. He hit another HR in the Game #6 loss as well.

In the final Game #7, Torre scored Hank Aaron as he grounded out in the Braves four run 3rd inning. In that Game Lew Burdett won his third series game with a shut out. Overall Torre hit .300 in that World Series with 2 HRs & 3 RBIs. In the 1958 World Series he went just 3-17 as the Braves lost in seven games.
In 1958 he batted .309 with career highs in doubles (22) & RBIs (55). In 1959 his average fell to .228, Adcock was having a better year but manager Fred Haney insisted on playing Torre. This led to Bill James  citing that that was the one of the worst ever performances by a manager, as the Braves lost a three game playoff to the eventual World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.



Trivia: In 1960 the Braves brought a young Joe Torre up & the two brothers played on the same team for two games.

After playing the 1961 season at AAA Montreal, his contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies where he ended his career after two seasons.
In 1962 he batted a career best .310 in 108 games. In  a seven year career Torre batted .273 with 404 hits 13 HRs 78 doubles 15 triples & 179 RBIs in 714 games.

 Post Playing Days: Torre became an executive at the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company & later a Vice President for Baseball Assistance Team providing help to former MLB & Negro League Players.

 In 1996 he received a heart transplant & in 2004 a kidney transplant from his daughter. He passed away in 2004 at age 81.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Willie Mays "The Sey Hey Kid #24": The Mets Years (1972 - 1973)

-
Image
By 1972 the Giants franchise was losing money, and owner Horace Stoneham was in debt. He would not be able to pay Mays' his big salary. So, after negotiations with the Mets Willie was traded back to New York for pitcher Charlie Williams & $50,000. At first, he did not know all the details & was upset at the trade. He felt betrayed by the Giants organization after all his years of dedicated service.  He felt a bit better after Stoneman tried to explain that it was done for Mays’ best interests as well as the team’s financial situation. New York Mets owner, Mrs.  Joan Payson was a huge fan of Willie and had tried to purchase his contract years earlier, offering one million dollars, but Stoneham refused the offer.  In 1972 the Mets gave Mays a ten-year contract at $ 175,000 a year, and after retirement $50,000 a year for the rest of his life. They offered him a position as a coach upon his retirement & Mrs. Payson promised to retire his number. Willie’s return to New
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Fictional Mets Infielder Chico Escuela ( of SNL) Visits Mets Spring Training (1979)

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Morris was filmed being interviewed by his SNL cast mate, Bill Murray as the fictional Mets player: Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was famous for his spoof of the Latin players of the time, who did not speak much English. His famous quote "baseball been berry- berry good to me" began the previous year on SNL's weekend update. Bill Murray & Ed Kranepool It was said during the mock 1979 Spring Training interview, that Chico who was a nine time All Star second baseman, had given up his job at the Weekend Update Sports desk to make a comeback with the Mets at age 41.  Chico had fictionally written a tell all baseball book; "Bad Stuff About the Mets" which tick
Read more