Be A Buffer

New York beat writers were incensed that Joe Torre was hired to manage the Yankees.

Across fourteen previous seasons as a manager, with three different teams, Torre had amassed a rather meek record: 109 games below .500 with zero playoff wins.

It’s hardly the resume of a standout candidate for an organization that defines itself by a single metric: World Series wins. At the time of Torre’s hiring, the Yankees had made the playoffs just once in fourteen years. Many wondered how Torre was positioned to return them to the promised land.

It led the Daily News to run the headline ‘Clueless Joe’ the day after Torre was hired.

Despite the imperfect resume and media displeasure, what ensued in Torre’s twelve seasons at the Yankees is one of the greatest periods of dominant success, in any sport, anywhere, ever.

Under Torre, the Yankees won the World Series four times, lost in the World Series twice, and two of their best regular season teams (statistically) lost early in the playoffs. He finished with a mighty record: 406 games above .500, ten division pennants, and 76 playoff wins.

The Yankees were a juggernaut.

In his book Ground Rules for Winners, Torre outlines many of the principles that helped him return New York to its place atop professional baseball.

Many of the usual coaching principles are there — trust, straight communication, dealing with adversity.

But there’s one passage in particular that stands out because you rarely hear head coaches talk about it.

Being a buffer

“As manager of the Yankees, I could never relieve all the pressure on my team,” Torre writes. “The pressure is particularly intense in a big-market club where you can’t escape the media attention. But I’ve done my best to relieve excess tension on my players from the press and the front office.”

The italics on ‘excess tension’ are Torre’s. His word choice is particular.

He’s acknowledging that his job isn’t to eradicate all pressure or stress from the environment. After all, if you can’t play under those conditions, the Yankees aren’t the place for you.

However, there is a tipping point where tension becomes tightness, and productive pressure spews over into detrimental downforce.

Torre says he helped his players aim for the middle; intense but not tense.

“Over the years, being a buffer has been one of my main jobs, and it’s helped my team to become a cohesive unit,” Torre offers. He says that his approach was to stand in the way of the scrutiny and steel himself against over-reacting.

By maintain his own serenity — sometimes in the face of swirling pressures from within his own organization — Torre was able to be even-tempered and not be a contributor to the pressure.

Natural tension is necessary, excess tension is unnecessary.

Joe Torre may or may not be a good baseball manager. But there’s no denying he was exceptionally skilled at being a shield for his team so that they had the breathing room to achieve peak performance.

…which makes him a good baseball manager.