July 18, 1940
Birthday of St. Louis Cardinals player and manager, Joe Torre. Torre won the 1971 National League Most Valuable Player award while playing for the Cardinals. A solid, clutch-hitting third baseman who also played first base and catcher, Torre had 2,342 hits during his playing career. Yet his greatest postseason success came as a manager, including a stint as the Cardinals skipper. But he led the New York Yankees to six pennants and four World Series titles from 1996 to 2007. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 is the only major leaguer to achieve both 2,000 hits as a player and 2,000 wins as a manager, with 2,326 victories—fifth all-time.
This post was contributed by Ross Malone. A historian and a retired school teacher, Ross has authored many books about Missouri’s history, weird facts, and folk tales. He has also written children’s historical fiction. Visit his website, and buy his books in the Missouri Life store.
Image by Keith Allison from Flickr licensed under CC by 2.
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