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Rich Hofmann: NLCS: Manuel vs. Torre

LOS ANGELES - It was a Monday game at Shea Stadium, a day game, May 26, 1975. The Mets beat the Dodgers, 6-3, on a walkoff, three-run, pinch-hit home run by Wayne Garrett (although it was not called a "walk-off" in the newspaper accounts the next day). Garrett hit it off of Dodgers starter Andy Messersmith, who had been 7-0 to that point. Walter Alston was the Dodgers' manager, Yogi Berra the Mets' manager. A young Bruce Froemming was the home plate umpire. Game time was 2 hours, 7 minutes.

LOS ANGELES - It was a Monday game at Shea Stadium, a day game, May 26, 1975. The Mets beat the Dodgers, 6-3, on a walkoff, three-run, pinch-hit home run by Wayne Garrett (although it was not called a "walk-off" in the newspaper accounts the next day). Garrett hit it off of Dodgers starter Andy Messersmith, who had been 7-0 to that point. Walter Alston was the Dodgers' manager, Yogi Berra the Mets' manager. A young Bruce Froemming was the home plate umpire. Game time was 2 hours, 7 minutes.

It was the only time Charlie Manuel and Joe Torre played in a game against each other.

"Let me think," Manuel said. He was in the Phillies' dugout, leaning forward with both arms on the railing, chin on the railing, watching the Dodgers take batting practice. You know how you can tell when people are happy just by the aura around them? That was Manuel yesterday, yelling something at Manny Ramirez after he was finished hitting, talking baseball with a few of his lieutenants, now intrigued by a memory from a time long ago.

The Phillies and Dodgers, managed by Manuel and Torre, are in their second go-round in the National League Championship Series. These men could not have traveled more different paths to the top. Torre was a great player, Manuel a career bench player. Torre never managed a game in the minor leagues, starting as the Mets' player-manager. Manuel managed in the minors for nine seasons, from A to AAA. Torre was a sub-.500 manager with the Mets and the Braves and the Cardinals and still was given another chance by the Yankees, where he became a genius and won four World Series. Manuel had a shot in Cleveland and almost never got another.

But here they are today, both world champions. And after a second of thinking back to a long-ago afternoon, Manuel said, "Seaver, right?"

Baseball people are savants that way sometimes, no matter the time or the distance involved. Yes, the Mets' pitcher that day was Tom Seaver. Manuel was brought in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, with two outs and runners on first and third and two runs already in. And, because he is Manuel, there is more to the story.

"In the dugout, Walter Alston calls me over and says, 'This guy's perfect for you,' " Manuel remembered, mostly because Seaver was a hard-thrower and Manuel was a fastball hitter.

"So what happens? He throws me two changeups - one of 'em is about this far outside, but the umpire is telling me to get in there and hit, so what the hell? Then he throws me a big, slow curve. Hit it to second base - right?"

The confirmation comes from the indispensable retrosheet.org:

DODGERS 7TH: Buckner flied out to center; Wynn walked; Garvey flied out to center; Crawford singled to right [WYNN TO THIRD]; Cey doubled to right [Wynn scored, Crawford scored]; Yeager reached on an error by Seaver [Cey to third, Yeager to first]; MANUEL BATTED FOR AUERBACH; Manuel forced Yeager (second to shortstop); 2 R, 2 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Dodgers 3, Mets 3.Manuel and Torre would not meet until 2 decades after that day. No one could possibly have predicted the rest. They are similar in their core values, it seems - about the way the game should be played, and the way players should conduct themselves, and the manager's job to project calm during a long, turbulent season. Yet they are so different personally, and so different in terms of their experiences in the game.

"You're right," Torre said, nodding in agreement before the question was even half-asked. "You never know when it's going to happen. I remember Charlie was the hitting coach over there in Cleveland when I was in the first time with the Yankees. Easy man to talk to. One of the kindest men that you'd ever want to be around. I was privileged to have him pick me as one of his coaches in the All-Star Game this year, and it was great to be around him.

"But you're right. You get fired a couple of times and, all of a sudden, you wonder if that thing is

ever going to happen. To go over there to Philly, about the same time that [Jim] Thome did, and . . . Philly is tough. We all know Philly is tough, very impatient fans and media and whatnot, and he was able to ride the tide and do what he did last year . . .

"He certainly is capable and he has a nice, calm way about him. And probably more important than anything else, he knows what the hell he's doing - which I think we all get questioned at one time or another. But he certainly has been consistent with that group.

"Just watch the way they play," Torre said. "It gives you an indication how they feel about him."

After the first round of the playoffs last year, Manuel sat in the manager's office in Milwaukee while his team celebrated. He talked about wanting to be known as a winner. He is a man who played 1,060 minor league games and managed 1,269 more. He is a man who had seen the game in a way that Torre never had.

And he said that day, the

champagne spraying outside his closed office door, "If you get a World Series ring, you're automatically a winner. That's the symbol of what you achieved, that you're a winner. I think of someone like Joe Torre, and how he's won so many times, and that's how people look at him - he's a winner."

Now, they both are. It really is a great game. *

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hofmanr@phillynews.com,

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http://go.philly.com/hofmann.