Mike Torrez’s name is familiar to most baseball fans. After all, he spent 18 years in the big leagues, 1967-84, with seven clubs, including both New York teams and the Boston Red Sox. He won 14 games with the Yankees in 1977, including two World Series wins against Los Angeles, and then he gave up the home run to the Yankees’ Bucky “bleeping” Dent (as they say in Boston) at the end of the 1978 season as a member of the Red Sox. What many fans don’t realize is that Torrez is a Kansas native, having grown up in Topeka and graduating from Topeka High before signing with St. Louis out of high school in 1964. Today, Torrez lives in the Chicago area, but owns a promotional company in New York. He spoke this week by phone with Matt Fulks.

Matt Fulks: (Wednesday) night, long-time Major League player and manager Ralph Houk passed away at the age of 90. You played for Ralph during your last two years in Boston. What was he like as a manager?

Mike Torrez: Ralph was a great guy to play for. He was a player’s manager. He let us go out and play. He had a curfew, but he told us that he didn’t check up on us because we were grown men, but we needed to be careful. He was mellow as a manger, easy to play for. He didn’t do a lot of hollering. The Major was calm, cool and collected. I really enjoyed my two years playing for him.

MF: For those who count Ralph Houk as a Yankee, the Yankees have received it in threes, with the passing of Houk, plus Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner a couple weeks ago. Of course, the Yankees’ owner in 1977 was Steinbrenner. Talk about playing under George Steinbrenner.

MT: Well, George is what I’d call a professional perfectionist. He didn’t like losing. In ’77 he had a football mentality as a former football coach. In baseball, as you know, you usually go through stretches where you lose four or five in a row. You go through your bumps and bruises. George didn’t understand that you were supposed to lose three or four in a row. So, he’d call meetings. He held one in Kansas City, and he made everyone get up at 8 in the morning. He was going off on us, while we were trying to stay awake. He was telling us how we were going to keep falling back in the race and he was going to start making trades, on and on. All kinds of stuff.

There was another time, though, when I had gotten knocked out of a game, and I was going to take the elevator to leave the stadium. Lo and behold, the elevator opens and there’s Mr. Steinbrenner. He put his arm around me asked me where I was going. I told him I was mad at the way I’d been pitching, so I was going to get away from the stadium. He said, “Yeah, I brought you in here to win some games for us. What the heck is going on?” I told him how we had seven or eight starters there, so I was pitching about every nine days. I was used to pitching every four days. He told me he was going to talk to (manager) Billy Martin about it. Then he reached into his pocket and gave me three $100 bills and told me to take my wife out to dinner and relax. Sure enough, the next day when Billy saw me, he was mad because he thought I went to George. When I told him the situation, he said, “Well, you better back up what you’re saying, because you’re starting in three days.” That was great to me! I ended up winning seven-straight complete games, so I think I backed it up.

MF: Playing for the Yankees in ‘77, under Martin, we’ve heard so many stories throughout the years about the clubhouse. Did you guys have fun together or was there tension in the clubhouse?

MT: We had fun together. We didn’t really have any pranksters, but guys could give each other a hard time. But, we all knew our roles. Billy didn’t mess with the lineup much. He let the guys who were out there play. That’s the way he always was, especially with the veteran club we had. … We’d cut up with each other, but once we crossed the white lines, it was all business.

MF: That ’77 playoff series with New York is still tough for Royals’ fans to swallow. But, looking at the rivalry then, and, in particular, the playoffs, what was it like for you as a pitcher to face that lineup that included guys like George Brett, Hal McRae, John Mayberry and Amos Otis?

MT: I came in relief in the fifth and deciding game (in Kansas City). Before the game, Billy called me into his office to see how I felt and to tell me that he wanted to have me in the bullpen just in case. Well, the Royals got three early runs off Ron Guidry, so I came in in the third inning. I didn’t have much bullpen experience that year. When I came in, the bases were loaded with nobody out. I got out of that jam and then pitched until the eighth. The Royals didn’t score any more runs, and we went on to win the game (5-3). I had a lot of friends and family in town from Topeka — three busloads of about 80 people. As we were leaving on the team bus, I just remember looking at Royals Stadium and thinking, “Wow, we just won that game and we’re going to the World Series!” I can’t describe the feeling of being part of that and helping our team get there. That was one of the finest moments of my entire career.

MF: As a Topeka native, who played 18 years in the big leagues with seven clubs, did you ever come close to signing with the Royals, or did you have any desire to?

MT: I would’ve loved to have played close to home. The closest I got, of course, was with St. Louis, the team that signed me in 1964, right out of high school. I used to listen to Harry Caray call their games. Growing up in Topeka, I was a Cardinals fan more than anything else. I always wondered, though, why Kansas City never tried to sign me. You love to play close to home, but I know the demands for tickets and such would’ve been incredible.

MF: Well, Mike, thanks for your time today and we look forward to catching up again when you come back to Kansas City.

MT: Thank you. Anytime.


To contact Matt Fulks, visit MattFulks.com or Twitter.com/MattFulks. To catch “Behind the Stats” radio, go to SportsRadioKC.com.