Brooklyn Born ~ Joe Torre press Conference, Mattingly and Bowa also in.

By: Nate Gordon

(Los Angeles, CA) - I was disappointed Sunday night when I received news that Joe Torre's Dodger Stadium press conference was set for 10 am PST. There would be no way I could be at the stadium to cover the press conference and get to work on time, wasn't going to happen. Lucky for me ESPNews is covering the press conference so I can bring you a running journal of it. So I'll cut the crap and get to the cream:

10:10- Vin Scully opens the press conference with a few statements about Torre:
"...5 times and All Star, Gold Glove winner, MVP and as we all know as a manager 12 consecutive seasons in the playoffs and 4 World Series. So we firmly believe that his day will come when he goes to that pretty little town in Northern New York, called Cooperstown - that'll happen. He embodies all of the values that define the Dodgers at their best, and as someone that has known him for many many years I can't tell you how happy, delighted I am that he'll finally wear the Dodger uniform. It's only right since the roots of the franchise's roots are also his roots, the borough of churches, the borough of Brooklyn So right now to introduce to you a man who's organization has made this bold move and dedicated it really, to the millions and millions of Dodgers fans out there waiting to win again, the Owner and Chairman of the Dodgers, Mr. Frank McCourt."

10:15- McCourt comes to the podium and promises the fans Championships won the Dodger way for years to come and all the other stuff owners say. McCourt is a good owner, a competitive Boston Real Estate developer with deep pockets. My fondness towards McCourt just goes to show contrary to some misconceptions I don't dislike everything Boston, and never have. But I can't do anything about people who are busy being insulted. After gushing over Joe for a couple of minutes McCourt finally introduces him.

Joe - "Wow, this has been wild here, the last two weeks have been a whirlwind for my wife Ally and myself. You say goodbye to one prestigious organization and say hello to another prestigious organization. Growing up in Brooklyn as Vinny was talking about, I might as well get this out real quick okay. I grew up with, 4 brothers and sisters, we had the Giants the Dodgers and the Yankees, we were pretty spoiled in the East. I have managed the Yankees and now I get to manage the Dodgers and I was a Giants fan, and I want to apologize for that now, I want to get that out real quick."

Cute Joe. Get it out of the way like anyone really cares that you were a Giants fan as a kid. Your a Yankee and we would hold that against you first, but your also a winner so that is clearly more important. Torre continued:

10:20 - "...This is one of a handful of organizations that you automatically say yes to or are interested in going to, and I'm not just saying that obviously because we are sitting here today in center field where Willie Davies use to catch everything I hit. Although I did hit one out over there (pointing towards left-center) off of (Don) Sutton one time. So it was okay, yeah. But the fact that when I think of the Dodgers I think of pride, I think of efficiency I think of measuring stick. I've been fortunate as a manager over my years to have a number of ex-Dodgers I had Rube Walker... 8 years with Don Zimmer that I wouldn't wish on anybody. But Zimmer and every single one of them would talk about their Dodger days. Jackie (Robinson) and Pee Wee (Resse) and Duke (Synder) and Gil (Hodges) of course Sandy (Kofax) and Don (Drysdale). It was just ingrained what the Los Angeles Dodgers, previously the Brooklyn Dodgers meant to the game of baseball. You always measured yourself by what the Dodgers did because they did everything right. They dealt with a lot of class that you use to look up to."

Joe continues to talk about how special he thinks the organization is. Telling a story about Tommy Lasorda and another about Vin Scully, both which were amusing, we can thank Torre for making them both short. The press conference rolled along pretty standard from there. Torre talked about getting to know his new team and focusing on putting together a championship product.

Then Torre and 10:30 said something important.

10:30 - "We do have two coaches already in the fold. Larry Bowa and Don Mattingly who follow me from New York We're gonna work hard folks, we're gonna work hard... it's great being here thank you."

Torre then put on the Hat and #6 Dodger jersey that looks slightly awkward at the moment, but will be more then comfortable in short order. Colletti of course appears on the scene for the photo opp. It was a good press conference, a fairly short press conference and the Torre Era has officially begun in Los Angeles.

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