Torre won big in N.Y.; don't expect him to do it in L.A.

Posted: Wednesday October 31, 2007 1:08PM; Updated: Wednesday October 31, 2007 1:11PM

Joe Torre may find his reception by fans and media isn't quite so warm once he takes off his suit for a Dodgers uniform.

Never has a man been so fortunate to lose his job. Joe Torre is everybody's hero now, laughing it up with David Letterman,
getting pats on the back from the public and press for turning down the
New York Yankees' so-called insulting one-year offer of $5 million plus
incentives and now, apparently, on his way to the Los Angeles Dodgers,
who dumped a good man and a perfectly good manager, Grady Little,
in order give him the job. (Little may have officially resigned, but
there's no doubt he could read the handwriting on the wall.) George Steinbrenner's son Hank
says Torre ought to thank The Boss for hiring him 12 years ago. He
ought to be even more grateful that the Steinbrenners essentially fired
him now.

This isn't to say that Torre is a bad guy or bad
manager -- far from it -- but he has no particular magic, either. The
"genius" coach or manager is one of the great myths of modern sports.
There is no such thing, not today, when every team in every sport puts
so much time and effort into scouting and preparation and high-tech
study of opponents' strengths and weaknesses. It is virtually
impossible for any head man to consistently outsmart or outwork his
competitors. Torre is an experienced, intelligent manager who certainly
brought a steady hand to a volatile franchise, but it didn't take an
Einstein