Steve Serby

Steve Serby

Sports

Serby’s Hall of Fame Q&A with Joe Torre

The Post’s Steve Serby spoke with the former Yankees manager and Mets player/manager about his induction today into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown:

Q: It’s safe to say this will be an emotional summer for you?
A: Oh God, it’s already been an emotional summer for me. People congratulating me. … We’re gonna have a ton of people up at the Hall of Fame. My wife is one of 16 kids so, just about all of her brothers and sisters are coming, and families, and it’s gonna be a wild ride. Any time I start thinking about family — and when I talk about family, it’s baseball people, too — it chokes me up thinking about it. It’s been an emotional run, and the two super-emotional days are ahead of me, with both the Hall and of course in August when they retire my number at the Stadium.

Q: How did you get No. 6?
A: I just sorta wanted a single digit, and they asked me which number. I’m not sure if Derek wore No. 2 the year before or not, but I thought they had asked me “2 or 6?” and I said, “6,” because I figured I had worn 9, and just reverse it, you know? I just wanted a single digit, and there it was. And now when I think about it being retired, and the numbers on both sides of me, Mickey [Mantle] and Joe [DiMaggio], it’s pretty amazing. And I know Mantle had worn 6 earlier in his career. In fact, a friend of mine bought me a photo, that I had hanging in my office in New York, of Mickey in uniform No.6.

Q: Do you think back to when you were a 240-pound teenager…
A: (Chuckle).

Q: …and how proud you are of yourself for becoming a Hall of Famer?
A: It’s something I never thought about. I remember doing a radio interview in my first week in the big leagues in 1960 in September, and Bob Scheffing, who was one of the coaches from Milwaukee at that time, was sitting there listening to me, which I didn’t know at the time. They asked me, “What are your goals?” [I said] “I want to play in the big leagues.” And after the interview was over, Scheffing came over to me, he said, “No, you want to star in the big leagues.” And that always stuck with me. I don’t know if it was just my upbringing where all the violence, my dad being a bully and being abusive to my mom, that I grew up with not as much confidence as I appeared to have while on the baseball field. To be recognized … to go into the Hall of Fame like this, is something that still … just sorta blows me away. I just never gave it any thought. Once your playing career is over with, and then all of a sudden you get a managing job that you didn’t expect because you already used up your three chips, I guess you could say, because I managed the three teams I played for and they all decided to fire me. I wind up with the Yankees. It was a magical time, and we had some special players during that time.

Q: Do you think you could have been a Hall of Famer as a player alone?
A: That’s what my brother [Frank] keeps telling me, but I never really thought about it. I always felt that you really concentrate on things that you control, and I had no control over that, other than what I did on the field. I guess my numbers match up with people, but I just respected the process, and everybody that’s in the Hall. I’ve been a lifelong baseball fan, and when you’re a baseball fan, you know the history of the game. … These guys were always bigger than life for me, even though I played alongside of a few of them.

Q: What was it like managing the Mets?
A: That was cool. Here I was, 36 years old, and in ’76 I remember Mets [general manager Joe McDonald] coming up to me and saying, “How would you like to go to the Yankees?” Never having been in a World Series, I said, “Yeah.” But I also hesitated saying that, “But, if there’s a chance that I could manage this ballclub at this point, I’d like to be considered. So if it’s up to me, my choice is I’d rather have an opportunity to manage,” because I was thinking more long-term. And I remember sitting with [Mets owner] M. Donald Grant, and telling him that very same thing, and I never got traded. Now, I don’t know if what I said had anything to do with not being traded, or the fact that they couldn’t come together on a deal. I remember when we were in Tidewater [Va.] playing an exhibition game, and he [McDonald] came in and says, “How would you like to manage this ballclub?” And the next day I had to go to New York on an off day to meet M. Donald Grant. It was a great opportunity for me, my hometown. Even though I knew I was gonna get my initiation early ’cause two weeks after I got the job, we were trading Tom Seaver. You experience a lot of emotions, but it was a great opportunity for me, and I learned a lot there.

Q: You were greeted with “Clueless Joe” when you were hired to manage the Yankees.
A: It really didn’t bother me. I was living in Cincinnati at the time. This was the bonus opportunity for me. [George Steinbrenner aide] Arthur Richman was the one who called, and first of all, I think he recommended me just as the general manager, and I interviewed with [Gene] “Stick” Michael and they offered me the job. And I think Stick really was probably the one that gave a strong recommendation for me to George. Any headlines really didn’t bother me, because I knew I was gonna get an opportunity to find out if I could manage. You knew George was gonna spend money and he was gonna get you players and it was up to me to do the rest, and I certainly came at the right time. They had gotten to the postseason the year before, came very close to winning. … It’s interesting too ’cause a lot of times, “Boy, we shoulda won in ’95.” I said, “Yeah, except I wouldn’t have been here in ’96 if that was the case.” The Clueless Joe stuff never bothered me.

Q: Describe the moment when Charlie Hayes caught the foul pop for the final out in Game 6 of the ’96 World Series?
A: I remember Jeter’s arms going up in the air right next to him or slightly behind him, it was like the field goal was good, the game is over, and we won. I was just numb at that point in time because if you remember, there was a foul ball that could have been interference on the Braves when Charlie tried to catch one near the dugout, and then [John] Wetteland got [Mark] Lemke to pop over there again.

Q: Describe Bob Gibson and Bob Uecker.
A: Bob Gibson was the last pitcher in the ‘65 All-Star game, and I remember going out to talk to him on the mound, and he wouldn’t even talk to me. And then (chuckle) we were the last two in the shower and I congratulated him for striking out [Joe] Pepitone to end the game, and he still wouldn’t talk to me, and now we’re best friends. But don’t think I don’t rub it in to him. And of course, Uecker, what can I say? We were roommates at the big league level, we were teammates at the minor league level. He roomed actually with both my brother Frank and myself. We’ve been a big Uecker fan for a long, long time.

Q: How’s your Hall of Fame speech coming?
A: I write notes down, and I don’t know where I’m going. I did a commencement address at the University of Hartford, I guess, six weeks ago, and that thing kept me up about three nights, because I wanted to make sure the youngsters got a message from me. And when I went up there, I said something that I didn’t even write down. I said, “I don’t know how I’m gonna say it, but I know what I want you to hear.” I think it’s gonna come from the way I feel at the time. The one thing I want to make sure that does happen is that I acknowledge all the people that meant a lot to my career and my life. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I want to make sure that whether they’re still with us or not, ’cause there are a lot of people responsible for getting me there.

Q: You will be the only Hall of Famer to ground into four double plays in one game.
A: That was my legacy for a time, I know. I just plotched myself in the middle of the clubhouse, and not one writer — I think they were looking for me in front of my locker — that nobody came over and talked to me. I think they thought I was hiding. But I was just sitting there just waiting to take my medicine, and (chuckle) nobody really came up and talked to me. And the next day, Yogi [Berra, manager] didn’t play me, and I still kid him about that: “You son of a gun, you didn’t put me back in the lineup the next day.” He just said, “Nah, you know, you hit into four double plays, just take the day off.” You know what my line was there: Felix Millan, that fourth time, he hit a ball high off the wall and decided to stay at first ’cause he knew I had a shot at the record.

Q: Who are Hall of Famers in your life?
A: My brother Frank. He was an influence on me growing up. He played in the big leagues before me. There were times I didn’t like him very much because he was very hard on me, because I was a fat kid, and he would always just knock me down, it was like tough love. But certainly, he was there, and the first one that said how proud he was of me. All my siblings — sisters and brothers, even though the fact that I lost my mom and my brother Rocco, neither one had a chance to share the joy with winning a World Series. But I had a lot of love in my house — even though there was violence, the rest of the family picked up the slack for me. I think the friendship with Don Zimmer — I hired coaches, and they became dear friends, both Zim and [Mel] Stottlemyre. I just rely on them so much during those good years. And then my playing career, I think [manager/coach/scout] George Kissell. He was a Hall of Famer for me. He took special interest in me when I has to try to be a third baseman. We’d spend a lot of time together. The one I always latch onto every time I get a chance, it was Yogi Berra. In fact, I asked Yogi after we won in ’96 if he would come and present me with my ring. And he reluctantly said no because he was on the outs with George at the time. There are a lot of people that make me smile, let’s put it that way.

Q: Describe your wife Ali, daughter Amanda Rae, and the Safe At Home Foundation.
A: Finally had a woman my mom would have loved. When she was pregnant with our daughter, we had moved to Cincinnati after I got fired in St. Louis. Now I figure if I’m gonna look for a job, I’m gonna have to make sure she’s comfortable, and that she has support. So we went there, and during her eighth month of pregnancy, she says, “You want up come to this Life Success seminar with me?” I said, “Sure” — I said yes to anything she said at that point. And we went in there, and that’s when I discovered that I wasn’t born with a lot of insecurities, they were created when I was a kid growing up in that home. … That’s when I really felt brave enough to talk about what went on in my house. We never talked a lot about it. So we created Safe At Home in 2002, even though we had planned on doing it longer than that. It’s a very emotional situation for me. We put these “safe rooms” in schools, and we’ve had over 40,000 kids come to our program, so we know it works. It’s something I hope is a big part of what I leave behind.

Q: You think The Boss should be in the Hall of Fame?
A: I do, no question. George Steinbrenner was an impactful person. On the biggest stage in the world, he was the most visible and devoted to the city of New York, and really was in the game to win. You can’t help but admire what he did. How he did it was always an issue, but even talking to Don Mattingly, he said he enjoyed playing for him ’cause he always kept you on edge. He kept you from being satisfied, that’s for sure. I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. I think [fomer MLB Players Association exec] Marvin Miller should be in the Hall of Fame.

Q: You once said, “I always felt I arrived as a big leaguer when people recognize me on the streets of New York.”
A: ( Chuckle). Yeah. Especially New York. They had asked me to light the Christmas tree over there in Rockefeller Center, and it really struck me after I did that, and I walked through the lines of people that … this city that I was born and raised in — this huge city — it just felt like a small town to me at that point in time. And I still get that adulation from a lot of people that … I shake my head at. I still — and I’m not trying to be overly humble here — but I still don’t understand all of it. A lot of people come up to me everywhere: “Thank you, Thank you.” Some people come up and say, “You know, I’m not even a baseball fan but I really appreciate how you do your stuff.” I just say, “Thank you.” I don’t necessarily understand it all. But I appreciate it.