Atlanta Braves Franchise best catchers: Joe Torre
By Fred Owens
Our next Atlanta Braves Franchise catcher got the job because he could hit. Had the team’s roster included a better young defensive catcher, Joe Torre might have played first base; the comes in fourth on the list.
Joseph Paul ‘Joe’ Torre’s plaque would not exist had his brother not told him to learn to catch. The rest is Atlanta Braves history.
Frank Torre was 8½ years older than Joe and had signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1950. Joe visited his brother in 1951 when Frank was playing first base for the Denver Bears, and his SABR bio uses a quote from his book Cashing the Dream to imply he liked the food there more than he should.
"I went to Denver as something of an average-sized 10-year-old and came home a little more than a month later as an 11-year-old blimp."
Torre played first and pitched as a teen while batting .647 in the All-American Baseball classic in 1958, earning a spot on the New York All-Star team to play the U.S. All-Stars at the Polo Grounds.
Scouts from all 16 teams attended that game, but considered him, “too fat, too slow, and too uncoordinated to play either first or third base.”
Frank told his little brother he should learn to catch and helped him with the move. He caught for his Kiwanis League team in 1959 and in August the Braves signed him. He dropped about 20 pounds and hit .364 in the fall instructional league and began the 1960 season in C-ball.
After batting .344/.450/.553/1.003 with 16 homers, 23 doubles, 70 walks, and only 45 strikeouts, the Braves called the 19-year old catcher up. His bio tells us that call-up paid off.
"In the bottom of the eighth, he pinch-hit for Warren Spahn, and ignited a rally with a single (then) was promptly removed for a pinch runner."
The Braves won the game in ten innings.