Joe Torre

Joe Torre, one of the most successful managers in the long history of the New York Yankees, walked away from the job yesterday, spurning an unconventional offer from the team's owners that was likely designed to prompt him to do just that. "We respect Joe's decision," said team president Randy Levine, who gave the Yankees' side of talks with Torre in a conference call with reporters. Torre will hold a news conference today in Rye Brook, N.Y. Torre, 67, managed the Yankees for 12 seasons, the longest stint in the job since Hall of Famer Casey Stengel in 1949- 1960.

Campaigning has begun in earnest for the July 13 All-Star Game at Fenway Park and few precincts are working it harder than the Orioles. With third baseman Cal Ripken enjoying a solid lead over Cleveland's Travis Fryman in the popular vote, Ray Miller intends to use the weekend to discuss the merits of several players with New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, who is taking input from fellow managers on reserve position players and his pitching staff."

The top 10 stories of the season1. Where's the beef?The 1998 season featured one dramatic twist after another. Mark McGwire dueled with Sammy Sosa until both players surpassed Roger Maris' single-season home run record. The New York Yankees set an American League record with 114 regular-season victories on the way to the world title. Rookie pitcher Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters in a game. Cal Ripken ended his record consecutive-games streak. The Cubs made the playoffs. Against this backdrop, the 1999 season has a chance to be a major letdown.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the first quarter of the 1999 season, it is that in baseball, lightning seldom strikes twice in the same place.The New York Yankees were the toast of the town last year, when they streaked away from the rest of the American League East and went on to set an American League record with 114 victories. They still are a dominant team, but the real thunder in 1999 is coming from Cleveland.St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire was the most dominating individual presence in the sport in '98, inflating the single-season home run record to the point where it may never be threatened again, but he is not -- so far -- one of the dominant home-run hitters of 1999.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The easy thing would have been to stand pat. To bring back 24 of the 25 players from last season. To keep possibly the greatest team ever intact.But think about it: How many successful entities, in any walk of life, remain static? And how could the New York Yankees have duplicated their 1998 magic with the same cast?The Yankees' stunning acquisition of Roger Clemens for David Wells, Graeme Lloyd and Homer Bush yesterday will be interpreted by many as unnecessary and perhaps even dangerous tinkering.

NEW YORK -- It could only happen here.The New York Post ran an "exclusive" interview with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in yesterday's editions. The subject -- on the occasion of the team's first home game of 1998 -- was manager Joe Torre's job security.The locals already are restless. The rival Orioles got off to a terrific start and the Yankees struggled through a West Coast trip that finally turned in their favor just before they returned to New York for yesterday's strange, 17-13 home-opening victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Quote: "The way Wells acted didn't bother me. The seven runs bothered me. He ran out of gas in the third inning. Maybe he's out of shape." -- Joe Torre, Yankees manager, on left-hander David Wells, who ignored Torre when flipping him the ball after being pulled in the third inning Wednesday night after losing a seven-run lead against the Rangers.It's a fact: Dave Stieb, attempting a comeback with his former team, will make two more starts for the Blue Jays' Triple-A Syracuse farm club before his status is evaluated by the organization.

Statistics through ThursdayUps and downsScott Erickson -- UP -- Has a chance for 12 first-half wins. He and Mike Mussina have enjoyed mirror first halves except for Mussina's near no-no's.Joe Torre -- UP -- Even if he aced out Erickson, Yankees manager pulled a class move by naming Jimmy Key to the AL roster despite Key's pending nuptials.The Bird -- DOWN -- If only Phillies coach John Vukovich had grabbed him by the tail feathers. We'll say it again: Mascots to the outfield!Bird watching -- UP -- The Orioles set attendance records for a four-game and three-game home series in a seven-day span.

Despite dozens of transactions, nothing has really altered the power structure in the major leagues this winter. The affluent teams, generally speaking, have the best players and the biggest dreams, and the poor teams have limited payrolls and ambitions for 1997.An off-season ranking of the 28 teams, from best to worst:1. Atlanta Braves: First baseman Fred McGriff is coming back from knee surgery and David Justice is being dangled for trade, leaving the everyday lineup uncertain. But there are four basic truths in Atlanta: Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Mark Wohlers.

NEW YORK -- While New York Yankees fans reveled in their club's amazing World Series comeback yesterday, manager Joe Torre had something far more important to celebrate.His older brother Frank, who has been following the Yankees from a hospital room since mid-August, finally received a new heart during a four-hour transplant operation yesterday morning at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center."Joe Torre said this afternoon that this was the best news he could have possibly gotten," said Dr. Eric Rose, who performed the surgery after a donor heart became available at about 4: 30 a.m.Frank Torre, 64, had suffered three heart attacks in the past year and had been waiting for a new heart for 4 1/2 months.

College basketball Maryland women predicted for 5th in ACC preseason poll The University of Maryland women's basketball team received three first-place votes and was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in voting announced Monday at the ACC Media Day in Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. The defending champion Terps have nine underclassmen on this season's roster. North Carolina was predicted to win the conference, receiving 30 of the 45 first-place votes, followed by Duke, Florida State and Virginia.

tuesday The Yankee Years : by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci (Doubleday, $26.95) Joe Torre tells how he overcame the skeptics and became one of the most successful baseball managers in history, leading the Yankees to 12 straight playoff appearances, six American League pennants and four World Series titles. The Second Opinion : by Michael Palmer (St. Martin's, $25.95) Michael Palmer creates a cat-and-mouse game where one woman must confront a conspiracy of doctors to learn who would want her father dead.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Joe Girardi puts his hands behind his head, crosses his fingers and leans back in his chair inside the Legends Field manager's office. He is the picture of contentment, relaxation. And why shouldn't he be? He is, after all, managing again in the big leagues after a year's hiatus. "I love it. It's one of my true passions," said Girardi, the New York Yankees' first new manager since 1996. "I love the game, I love the strategy, I love the competition, I love the relationships."

Vero Beach, Fla.-- --The New York Daily News dubbed him "Clueless Joe" the day after George Steinbrenner hired him to manage the New York Yankees in 1995, something Joe Torre could laugh about a year later while he was holding the first of his four world championship trophies. He knew, however, he would one day be clueless again, because that's how it works when you're managing with expectations so large that 12 straight playoff appearances is good enough only to get you insulted. Maybe insulted is too strong a word.

Joe Torre, one of the most successful managers in the long history of the New York Yankees, walked away from the job yesterday, spurning an unconventional offer from the team's owners that was likely designed to prompt him to do just that. "We respect Joe's decision," said team president Randy Levine, who gave the Yankees' side of talks with Torre in a conference call with reporters. Torre will hold a news conference today in Rye Brook, N.Y. Torre, 67, managed the Yankees for 12 seasons, the longest stint in the job since Hall of Famer Casey Stengel in 1949- 1960.

There really is only one way for the association between the New York Yankees and Joe Torre to end, if not well, then at least to everyone's satisfaction. And that is if Joe Torre takes it upon himself to walk away. Yesterday, the Yankees tabled for at least one more day a determination of Torre's fate. That means at least one more day of uncertainty, one more day of tabloid vigils on his front lawn, one more day spent as a dead manager walking. Instead, he can be a live manager walking away.

When Joe Torre was named Yankee manager in 1995, the news was not greeted with universal applause. Indeed, this very paper ran a headline calling him "Clueless Joe." Long ago, we learned how very wrong we were. And now, in this autumn, as Major League Baseball 2007 moves on without the Yankees, we can only look back upon the season, and each of the dozen in which Joe Torre has led the Bronx Bombers, and say: Thank you. You did good, Mr. Torre, real good. After the Yanks' heart-wrenching loss to the Indians, George Steinbrenner walked in silence to his waiting car. But, as we all know, silence speaks volumes.

If you've watched baseball long enough, you knew this would happen. You knew a two-month funk wouldn't stretch until September. You knew the national funeral procession for the New York Yankees was a wee bit premature. OK, so they're not as good as they have been in the past decade. They have an old and banged-up roster and some big-money guys who don't play anymore. They probably aren't a playoff team. Not with the Boston Red Sox dominating the American League East and the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers looking like a division winner/wild-card combo.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Maybe it's because they've had the highest payroll in major league baseball during most of the streak. Or maybe it's because the Atlanta Braves won five more titles. Or maybe because it's New York, and only World Series rings count, not divisional pennants. But, if you haven't noticed, the New York Yankees have won nine consecutive divisional crowns, an American League record and second only behind the Braves' remarkable 14-season run. And they've done it in the AL East, widely considered baseball's best division.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Not many players can match Oakland A's right-hander Esteban Loaiza for dealing with ups and downs the past year or so. He's the guy that the Washington Nationals picked off the scrap heap in 2005, signed to a one-year deal and watched win 12 games for an upstart, first-year franchise. The Nationals wanted him back, and picked up their end of a mutual option. But Loaiza chose free agency and got a three-year $21 million deal (with a $375,000 buyout on a fourth year) from the usual penny-pinching A's. A lot was expected of Loaiza, 34, and he failed miserably in the first half.