Former MLB manager Joe Torre has officially accepted an offer to manage Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
“I have been fortunate to have many different experiences throughout my career, but being a part of Team USA will be a first, and I am very excited about it,” Torre said in a statement released by USA Baseball on Thursday. ”I look forward to the challenge of representing the United States when this tournament celebrates the global growth of our national pastime next year.”
Torre, who turns 72 in July, is best remembered for his amazing run as manager of the New York Yankees from 1996 to 2007.
During his time as the club’s skipper, the Yanks reached the post season each year and won ten American League East Division titles, six American League pennants and four World Series championship titles.
Over the course of his 29 seasons as a manager in the big leagues, Toree has accumulated an incredible 2,326 wins, ranking him 5th on the list of Major League Baseball all-time managerial wins.
He is now Major League Baseball’s Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations.
According to FoxSports , the World Baseball Classic begins with qualifiers in September and November of 2012, with the U.S. team starting up in March 2013.
Prior to Torre taking over as skipper, Buck Martinez managed a U.S. team full of All-Stars to a sixth-place finish in the first WBC in 2006 and Davey Johnson led the U.S. squad into the semifinals in 2009.
ESPN’s Steve Berthiaume and Barry Larkin discuss Joe Torre’s new role as Team USA manager in the video below:
