Memory lane was a walk from the dugout to the pitching mound, and Joe Torre took a trip down it on Monday.
The Hall of Fame manager made his distinctive trudge to the mound during the New York Yankees' spring training game to make a pitching change, recreating images of the good old days when he guided the team to four World Series championships.
The 83-year-old Torre, who was manager of the Yankees from 1996 to 2007, was back with the team in spring training as a guest instructor. During the top of the fifth inning of Monday's game at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida, Yankees manager Aaron Boone sent his former skipper out to make a nostalgic pitching change.
Torre emerged from the dugout in full uniform, the No. 6 that's retired in his honor on his back.
He walked to the mound, signaled to the bullpen and shook hands with starting pitcher Carlos Rodon, who had thrown 5 2/3 hitless innings.
Torre, who received an ovation from the crowd, took the ball from Rodon and shared a few words with the pitcher as the Yankee infielders gathered around the mound. Ian Hamilton replaced Rodon, who also received an ovation from the crowd, in the Yankees' 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
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The last time Torre made the trip from the dugout to the mound for a Yankees pitching change was in 2007, when he replaced Jose Veras with Mariano Rivera in Game 4 of the American League Division Series.
That was Torre's final game as Yankees manager, ending a 12-year reign that included World Series titles in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. Torre went 1,173-767 with the Yankees in the regular season, becoming the second-winningest manager in franchise history behind Joe McCarthy (1,460-867).
Torre then spent three seasons as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, finishing his 29-year managerial career with 2,326 regular-season wins, which is fifth-most all time.
Torre, who played in the major leagues from 1960 to 1977 and was an MVP winner and nine-time All-Star, went on to spend a decade as MLB's chief baseball officer before becoming a special assistant to commissioner Rob Manfred in 2020.
But he will always be best remembered for his time in pinstripes, which he wore once again on Monday while taking a trip down memory lane.
