Download Chasing the Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series AudioBook Free
"Maybe the nice Lord was just looking forward to me to put up the pinstripes."
When Joe Torre was fired as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1995, he thought his career in baseball was over. After more than three decades and
4,200 games as a new player and manager, one thing had always eluded him--winning a global Series.
He had basically abandoned his dream when the brand new York Yankees made him an offer to manage their 1996 club. Encouraged by his wife and more, he accepted, and so began one of the biggest seasons in the fabled history of the brand new York Yankee franchise and one of the most inspiring, heartwarming stories in all of
baseball.
Here is the ultimate insider's record of this unforgettable season by the person whose personal struggles captured the hearts and imaginations of fans
everywhere. Tough, gritty, but always fair and honest, Torre vividly reveals how he turned a potentially volatile mixture of talented youngsters such as Andy
Pettitte and Derek Jeter, seasoned veterans like Wade Boggs and Paul O'Neill, and so-called "problem" players like Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden into a cohesive unit that cared more about winning than personal egos. He explains how he played his hunches and earned his team's confidence and respect as he
focused his players from spring training on toward one goal: the entire world Series. And he achieved it all in a pressure-filled sports city that expects nothing less
than a champion.
But how he achieved it is merely part of this exceptional story. For at the same time that Torre was overcoming the odds on the field, his family was facing much
greater hardships off the field. He speaks candidly and emotionally of the tragedy of his oldest brother Rocco's sudden death, and the agonizing ordeal of
his other older brother, Frank, who waited for the heart transplant that could save his life. It had been his wife, Ali, who gave him the faith to believe
anything was possible. Regarding his sisters Rae and Sister Marguerite, a nun from Queens, they dared to dream the impossible. Within a fairy-tale ending
not even the best Hollywood scriptwriter could imagine, Frank Torre got his new heart the day prior to the Yankees won their first World Series championship
since 1978--and Joe Torre won his first ever.
Here is Joe Torre's own story--told for the very first time in his own words--from his early childhood in Brooklyn, to his celebrated baseball career playing with famous brands Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson, to his stint as the first native New Yorker ever to manage the Yankees. Offering a rare behind-the-scenes take a look at a season to remember and a man who experienced so much to reach the pinnacle of his profession, Chasing the Dream is more than just another sports
story. It really is a poignant reminder of why we love the game--and how, sometimes, nice guys do finish first.
From the Hardcover edition.
