Read the opposing arguments from Bleacher Fan and Sports Geek.
Great teams can often be attributed to great coaching. But how does one determine the value of a coach? Is it the ability to manage rosters? Is it the number of championships won? Is it the intangibles brought to the team? I say yes, yes, and yes!
Great coaches, like Phil Jackson and Bill Belichik, earn huge paydays for the success of their teams, and I am okay with that. Winning should be rewarded. In the Book of Babe Ruthless, bigger is almost always better. Today’s debate determines among the best coaches in the sports world who is actually worth the money. For me, that coach must be a talented leader, a proven success at the highest levels, and have an extraordinary ability to succeed in areas where others have failed. Those qualifications define legendary MLB manager Joe Torre like almost no other.
In 2007 Joe Torre was paid a whopping $7.5M (the largest single year’s salary in his managerial career) to coach the New York Yankees. That is a massive contract for any sport, but especially for baseball. What makes Joe Torre worth every dollar, though, is his unparalleled ability. In a previous debate, I have already established why he’s the greatest manager in the game today, but today’s debate implores me to remind everyone of Torre’s unprecedented success, not just for baseball but for sports in general.
Joe Torre managed the Yankees to four World Series championships in five years between 1996 to 2000, including an unprecedented three-peat from 1998-2000. He managed his team to 13 consecutive postseason appearances including ten division titles and six American League pennants. This type of dominant success is rare and justifies his compensation.
During his tenure in pinstripes he was able to manage personalities that ranged from the boisterous and larger than life personas of David Wells and Alex Rodriguez to the humble clubhouse leaders like Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams. He was able to relate to his players in a special way and earned their respect and loyalty. Throughout his time in the Bronx the Yankee captain Derek Jeter always called him Mr. Torre. It speaks volumes about both men and the type of relationships that Torre was able to build. It was his unwavering support for players who worked hard and earned his respect that endeared him to so many. When Torre fell under fire for accusations of racism by Garry Sheffield, it was the oft embattled slugger Daryl Strawberry, among others, who came to Torre’s defense to repay some of the support that Torre had shown him when few others would. That type of loyalty and inspiring leadership is truly priceless, and no qualification can be used to measure it. Unlike other coaches he was not a high priced baby sitter of superstars, but a true coach who helped his team reach its full potential season after season.
Perhaps the most amazing aspect of all this is the fact that he did it in New York all while working for George Steinbrenner. Succeeding in a notoriously difficult to please city, while working for one of the most difficult bosses in all of sports, requires someone truly unique and special. So when even the Yankees run of post season dominance tapered off in the 2000s, Joe Torre was still worth every penny of his contract.
MLB managers historically lag behind their NFL and NBA counterparts in terms of their compensation, earning nearly $2M dollars less on average. This is crazy considering the fact that baseball managers coach the longest regular season in sports. Simply in terms of games, baseball managers demonstrate nearly twice the value of NBA coaches across their 82 game season and more than ten times that of the NFL’s rather short 16 games season. MLB managers demonstrate their immense value over a grueling 162 game season, and seeing as how Joe Torre is arguably the greatest MLB manager in baseball today, that makes him the best value around.
While the Yankees may have let Torre go he was not on the market for long. The Dodgers swiped him up and gave him a three year $13M deal because they recognize the value of Joe Torre. He has special qualities that transcend baseball and make him one of, if not the most, valuable coaching commodity in sports. That certainly makes him worth the money he once received in the past and still makes today.
