Quotes from Joe Torre

I played for 18 years, but the only thing that meant anything to me was the World Series.

That's the sign of a good relationship, when you can pick up a phone and it doesn't matter when the last time you spoke was.

There's nothing that can replace the feeling of winning.

Home-plate collisions are something you cannot ignore.

That's what I'd like to think that my reputation is - being honest.

It's something you hope doesn't happen. When you sign on to do a job, you hope you'll be able to get it done. But that's not always in your control.

I know in the heat of battle, it's hard not to get angry, especially in the 19th inning.

I hated the Yankees and Dodgers and wound up managing both.

As a player, to me the Dodgers were the Yankees of the National League because... you either loved them or you hated them.

When I became the manager of the New York Yankees, it was an opportunity to realize my lifelong dream of winning the World Series. We were fortunate enough to succeed in our first season in 1996, and in the years that followed, we wrote some great new chapters in Yankee history.

The Dodgers to me are the Yankees of the National League.

You're always in the storm's eye, so to speak, when you're with the Yankees.

After you manage the Yankees for 12 years, it's really tough to envision going somewhere else. But then the Dodgers called.

Baseball has changed dramatically since I began my tenure with the Yankees.

To wind up in Cooperstown is surreal for me. To go into the Hall of Fame is one thing. When you think of all the other Yankees that are in here, it's pretty special. This is just a shrine. To visit it, much less be inducted, it's still sort of unbelievable to me.

I met Tiger Woods, and I looked in his eyes - and I saw Derek Jeter. They don't have to tell people they're good. They just prove it by the way they love the competition.

If I intimidate people, that's not my intention.

Kids are much more intuitive these days. Not that I'm crazy about what's on TV, but they know so much these days.

Jerry Coleman was the kind of player who made me proud to wear the pinstripes.

When you're in a slump, you do something different, just to try it. I remember one time I was in a slump, and I borrowed one of Henry Aaron's bats and hit two homers. I used my own bats the next night. I just needed a change.

I think that winning creates chemistry, as opposed to other way around. I've been on a lot of friendly teams that couldn't win, trust me.

As a member of a competitive team, you want to make sure you have yourself ready to play. You don't control anything but what you do.

By rule, the decision to reverse a call by use of instant replay is at the sole discretion of the crew chief.

Every place where I played or managed is special to me because of the memories and the friendships that each afforded me.