 All week we've been celebrating the 1998 World Series champion New York Yankees are going to be honored tomorrow on field in a ceremony at Yankee Stadium. Some call it the greatest team ever. It's obviously an arguable point, but the fact that they're in the conversation is pretty neat. The Michael K. Schoen 9870 S-Pan brought you by Geico, the real value in car insurance. Isn't how much you save. It's also the kind of service you get. Good thing Geico's been perfecting both for over 75 years and we couldn't talk to all the members of the team without talking to the manager of the team. The guy who put it all together and that is Joe Torrey. Joe thanks for joining us in the show. How you doing? I'm doing well Michael. I'm looking forward to this tomorrow. I remember when you and I were in the booth two years ago I said I'll see you in a couple of years you know and God willing we're both here and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Now you've seen a lot of great baseball in your life. You played it, you managed it. Is this the greatest team that you've ever seen? Well it certainly is in my existence just the way they went about things and you know I think we all sort of look back and wonder you know how this came about after losing in in 97 and but that ball club came came to spring training so determined that they left stuff on the table in 97 and I really never realized how determined there was until they just you know refused to you know not make winning so important on a day-to-day basis. You know you witnessed that I witnessed it and you know I felt like I you know sort of pulled them into spring training and all of a sudden jumped on their backs and just enjoyed the ride. Now to me you lived it when there were two bumps amazingly one was at one in four we've had a couple of guys on and Jorge spoke about the meeting that you called did you think the team was in trouble at one and four because you're not a big meeting guy from what I remember. No but I was really disturbed you know you come out of spring training and you know you have high expectations I know we start on the road but that's no big deal although I guess it's more of a big deal when you're closer if I'm not mistaken Mariana was on the DL yeah starting the season but then we got beat up I mean we beat up we didn't play well and and I remember in Seattle just you know really upset and I wasn't upset with any in particular person it was just the fact that we weren't playing up to our capabilities even though it was early and you know I remember I went out for dinner after the game all by myself and Don Zimmer says you know you want company I said no and I just wanted to be by myself and then you know next day came back and we had a meeting David Cohn played a prominent role in that meeting and you know I'm not even sure we won that night but you know we seemed to start winning catch fire and I remember we came home for the welcome home dinner and you know we were sort of you know sort of back on in on on level ground and and from never look back from there you know I'm wondering though because you know people forget and you know 98 followed 97 when you guys got knocked out against the Indians and you had won the championship in 96 and there have been rumors at that time Joe with a 1 in 4 start was Joe Tory going to get fired would you ever thought did you ever think at that time that your job was in jeopardy well you know I mean we work for George and you know you're always on the tightrope you know that George is he reacts and and he's impulsive and and all this stuff you know I was hoping that wasn't the case but you know you're on the road and things get magnified because you're you're only hearing you know negative stuff but you know I over the years I maybe it's because I was fired three times in my managing career that that didn't bother me as much as you know getting the team on track and I remember what when I showed up my wife Ali and I showed up at the welcome home dinner George come over and said you're my guy you're my guy I said well you know thank you George and whatever I think we came home three and four or something on that trip so but you know it wouldn't surprise me only because of George's history I was hoping it wouldn't be the case and as it turned out it worked all right all right for me yeah I was reading something by Ken David off in the post that I didn't remember this that in that meeting you know that I guess the day before Joe that Jamie Moyer had hit Paul O'Neill and then Andy Pettit didn't retaliate and some of his teammates were upset do you recall that part of it well you know for some reason uh Paul O'Neill got hit every time we played Seattle yeah he and Lou got along so well it's strange yeah he and Lou and and I know part of that meeting was that uh you know we we can't let this happen we we've got to retaliate I'm not a retaliate guy but but a retaliation guy but when you know the same guy keeps getting hit by the by the same team you know this obviously is intentional and and you know you've got to recognize it and do something about it and I I did make a statement and it was a little touchy making a statement about you know you know maybe hitting somebody on in their lineup when you know your clubhouse contains a couple of the main guys who came over in the trade you know Nelson and and Tino that's right now the other the other bump was in September I mean we all celebrate the fact that you won 114 regular season games but at some point Joe I think like like August 10th you were on pace to win 122 and you could have easily done that and you ran into a rut now the way Posada remembers it that everybody wasn't playing every day because you were trying to keep everybody healthy did that rut upset you in September you know what Michael I it was inside I guess it was early September we were in Tampa and there was one game that really concerned me I wasn't concerned about records obviously you're concerned about you know you're you're in postseason but you want to make sure that you know the the second season is something memorable but there was one game in Tampa we played awfully yeah it's awful baseball and I had a meeting after the game and and really the crux of my meeting was you know guys you spent the whole summer making guy making teams afraid to play you and and then you go out and play this kind of baseball you know you it's just it's not acceptable and I started laughing and I had a turnaround because and I know you'll you'll understand this I look in the corner and there's my favorite Bernie shaking his head up and down as I'm talking and I said I can't look at him because I'll laugh and I and I turned around and finished the meeting it was a short meeting but I just wanted to let them know even though you know we're in you know we were going away we win the division I think we've already clinched by this time and but it you know it doesn't it doesn't carry over you know you're going to have to play in postseason and you're certainly going to have to go in there not on your heels but on the balls of your feet so as I say it was a short meeting but I need anytime I felt I needed to say something even if it was to one individual Michael I felt that everybody may get something out of what I'm saying because I I felt you know very close to all our teams and you know as well as I do that it was it was a close-knit group and and guys who walked in from other teams and played for our club you know they caught on in a hurry it was just something like you know we're a family type I know it's a little corny but we're a family type club that if we had issues we dealt with it inside and and it was our business and nobody else's talking the Hall of Famer Joe Tory the manager of that 1990-18 we're going to give away tickets a little bit later on in the show to tomorrow's game thanks to Pepsi and 9870 SPN I think the only misstep or the only sweat maybe I'll put it that way in the playoffs down two to one uh to Cleveland and then El Duque set to pitch and I read a story today at George Steinburner came in the clubhouse and was like trying to pump up El Duque and El Duque just looked and he said mañana no problemo did you have any doubt that he was going to step up in that game well the day of the game it was interesting I did I believe it was a Sunday because we were you know we were uh my wife and I was sitting having a late breakfast early lunch whatever it was and and the restaurant was a little overwhelmed in the hotel and Duque was up there helping wait on tables and I said well this guy's not nervous you know he was in there just you know helping the waiters and waitresses you know move because they were obviously uh understaffed and they're a little overwhelmed and and I remember that particular day George uh had called me or had sent sent a message to me he wanted to see me up in his uh up in his suite so I told him I'd be up after after breakfast and I went up there and he says what do you think you know and uh kiddingly and you know I I laughed because it was just George and I and he was watching the Michigan I think it was the Michigan Ohio State game and Michigan was winning and and he says what do you think I said well I think Ohio State will come back and win this game that's not what he was talking about and I said I said the only thing I could tell you George I said Duque's down there helping wait on table so you know even though he hasn't pitched and you know I mean he kept going to the back of the line we won the division and then he you know had to take his turn in the rotation so he hadn't pitched for a while and that was my only concern but as far as his approach he uh he was loose as a goose and you know obviously went out there and dominated the game now we saw it in 2001 Joe when the Mariners won 116 they didn't win the world series it's like it never happened and I'm sure the Red Sox are going to feel the same pressure this year were they're on pace to 115 wins did you feel you had to win the world series to validate the season yes and I and I think you know obviously a big part of that you were the Yankees and but 114 games would have totally been ignored if we didn't do what we were expected to do and and that's huge huge pressure for anybody and we felt that every step of the way even during the Texas series I remember having one meeting down in the runway during the game I said guys were up two games to none I said they're not up two games to none but these guys were were tight but they were unique in the fact that they played well they you know they even though they were they were tight they they still played well didn't give anything away fought for every at bat and you know we had to squeeze out a run here or there but the expectation was in all our minds and and the pressure that was dealt with but you know it wasn't it was a little bit of a bumpy ride because of the pressure we had on us ourselves now pull on you know I'm going to have on a little bit later on it's told me a hundred times yo that that team was shocked when it lost they came into every game expecting to win as the manager did you feel the same way yeah it really was they they never really cared about the standings they just wanted to go out there they they got to go to the ballpark every day you know like some some people have to go to the office they got to go to the office every day and it was really cool but we had that one meeting also Michael and after that terrible game two against Cleveland where you know the ball was laying there and we threw it away and we just beat ourselves in game two I remember having a meeting and said to the guys that you're not having any fun and Paul O'Neill respectfully waited and you can ask him about this here respectfully waited for the meeting to be over and then he we have to walk into each other either in the lunch room or in my office whatever and he says skip it's not fun unless we win skip and then you can hear Paul O'Neill your partner say that because he's he was priceless I mean we all loved him for for the right reasons and but there were a lot of things that come to mind when we think about that 98 season strangely when we had on Jorge earlier in the week he said I said does it feel like 20 years and he said not really it feels like 10 I don't know how he delineates that does it feel like 20 years ago no but you get to my age you know it's like standing on the platform of a subway station and watching those cars go by man it's it's quick it's quick and you know it's great to look back on and and realize you still have a closeness with the players that you know played on those teams but it certainly doesn't seem like 20 years because I you know when I when I get the Yankee job you know after the the season in 95 and and it was always brand new to me and you know all of a sudden it was 12 years you know there and gone and managed a couple you know a few years in LA and and here I am now you know 20 years later that's that's ridiculous and 96 22 years I mean it really is amazing to me and and it's just great to look back and and look forward to what we're going to do tomorrow now I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you because you mentioned earlier about you you're not a retaliation guy what happened in Miami you know Keith Hernandez said that's the way we did it and I have no problem with doing it what's your take Joe I mean does the person that's hot deserve to get hit just to stop them well you know why it used to take care of itself well you know as Keith said but you have to understand it's it's more than that anymore the thing that concerns me is that every time somebody gets hit there seems to be a retaliation now you know you have so many guys throwing 100 miles an hour and now when they try to to be precise with their placement of pitches if they're gonna pitch inside they're gonna hit somebody that appeared to me the other day like it was intentional and you know social media and you know I was listening to the announcers when I was watching a replay because I wasn't watching it live and they were talking about it before the pitch was thrown so you know it gets so much airtime and you know obviously players aren't oblivious to this because they hear everything and and and they contribute probably on their own but it it's it's concerning because how hard we throw anymore you know the only saving grace in that one the other day is the fact if you know it looked as I said looked intentional to me that if it was intentional at least it was to the middle of the body and not to the head area because you know that ends somebody's career as it turned out you know this ball hit him in the elbow which is frightening and I was happy he was in the lineup last night now your third base coach from 98 willy randolph was on yesterday said he understands he actually understands what Keith was saying he said but the way it should be done he said you move somebody off the plate and you don't throw it their head he said yes don't try to hit them would you be in agreement with that yeah I mean there there are times you know as we're going back to talking about paul o'neill you know he you know they didn't make him move his feet they hit him they hit him so you know if you're gonna if you're gonna you know make a point and retaliate you know it you know and I've seen you know again the the suspensions are a little bit more excessive when it's in the head area because I don't think players because of the style of hitting anymore are able to get out of the way as easily as well I went like my time because it's a different style of hitting but you know if they're gonna insist on retaliating with hitting somebody you know it's probably the rear end or somewhere in that area is the safest but not they don't have that kind of control anymore and that's frightening to me now final thing because of the 12 years I spent around you when you were the manager I feel like I know Bob Gibson because you would always tell Bob Gibson stories did Gibson hit people on purpose I had times he you know made a point let's put it that way uh you know everybody used to say I remember uh willy star drill may a soul rest in peace will he used to say well you keep pitching inside he's I don't pitch inside and he didn't pitch inside he stayed away away away if he pitched if he threw the ball into somebody it was for a reason and and that reason uh you know was the fact that they were going out there hitting pitches they shouldn't hit uh you know because they were too comfortable uh let me do you have a minute for sure for for a quick story sure bill white bill white was bob Gibson's roommate okay and and bill white uh he said the bob Gibson said to him hey bill if you ever get traded and you go out there and pull that pitch outside or the outside corner he said I'm going to hit you he just told him right there then he does get he does get traded to Philadelphia we go in the Philadelphia and you know bill white gets a hit off in the first time because he you know he threw a pitch down the middle he should hit it uh next time up bill white you know he pulled the ball that was a ball outside and he pulled it down the first baseline he was a left hand hitter next pitch he hit him in the ribs bill white looked at me she're crazy as he's going to first base he said told you don't and they were really close right they weren't there's yeah to this day they're still very close but uh you know it was just that you know a different time you know again i'm not saying you know which is better uh but you know that was more you pretty much took care of those things on your own you know it really wasn't orchestrated in those days you you had a sense for what needed to happen and and you know you pretty much took care of it my first week in the big leagues michael uh i got knocked down in every city and and and when i say knocked down they threw up my head in every single city just to see how the rookie would handle you know getting knocked down i mean that that was just the the style of play in those days and it's different now it has to be right because people have to come in it certainly is and i think we're taking the things a lot more uh personal than then you know this is a game we're playing you know it seems to be a lot more personal you know great stuff yeah sometimes it's volatile thank you so much i can't wait to see you tomorrow in the dugout before the ceremony the same here michael