Joe Torre to Step Down at Season's End

By Justin Worsley

With the 2010 season winding down, Joe Torre has decided to call it a career.

The Los Angeles Dodgers skipper, who turned 70 last July, announced on Friday that he will retire at the end of the season, ending a 29-year managerial career that includes 14 postseason appearances, a streak that will most likely end this season. The Dodgers are currently 72-76, 11 games behind the San Francisco Giants for the division lead with only 14 games left in the regular season.

Immediately after announcing Torre would step down, the Dodgers promoted hitting coach Don Mattingly to manager. Mattingly has work with Torre since 2004.

The prime of Torre's career came when he was the manager of the New York Yankees, leading them to the playoffs in all 12 seasons in which he was the manager. The Yankees also won six AL Pennants and four Wold Series titles during Torre's tenure.

The Yankees, however, parted ways with Torre after the 2007 season after Torre turned down a contract offer which was, though still the richest contract for any manager in the league, deemed as an insult by the New York media.

Torre has also been a manager of the New York Mets, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves. In 2007, Torre became the first person to win 2,000 games as a manager and have 2,000 hits as a player. Torre is fifth all time in career wins as a manager with 2,318 wins and 1,989 losses in his career. Torre also won Manager of the Year in 1996 and 1998.