A ceremony to dedicate a memorial in Monument Park for George Steinbrenner will bring Joe Torre and Don Mattingly back to the Bronx for the first time since each leftthe team, the Daily News reported yesterday.
Torre, who managed the team to four World Series victories in five appearances, left the team in 2007. That year, as the Yankees prepared for an AL division series game against the Cleveland Indians, Steinbrenner told reporters: “I don’t think we’d take him back if we don’t win this series.”
The Yankees lost, and when the team later offered what Torre considered an insulting contract offer, he left. Mattingly, a fan favorite who was Torre’s bench coach in 2007, went with him to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the Yankees passed him over for the managing spot in favor of Joe Girardi.
Neither Torre nor Mattingly has been back to Yankee Stadium since.
Steinbrenner died on July 13. He bought the team in 1973 for $8.8 million and turned it into one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world, worth an estimated $1.6 billion.
