NEW YORK (AP) - Joe Torre is expected at new Yankee Stadium for the first time for Monday night’s unveiling of a monument honoring late owner George Steinbrenner.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was to be on hand to escort Steinbrenner’s widow, Joan, to Monument Park for the ceremony Monday night before a game against Tampa Bay, a baseball official familiar with the planning told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday night because details had not been announced.
Torre and former Yankees captain Don Mattingly, who is to succeed Torre as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said Sunday they will attend the ceremony.
Torre left the Yankees acrimoniously following the 2007 season and became manager of the Dodgers. Mattingly, who was Torre’s bench coach in New York, headed to California with his mentor after New York hired Joe Girardi to manage instead of Mattingly.
On Friday, Torre said he is retiring at the end of the season, and the Dodgers said Mattingly will succeed him.
Torre managed the Yankees to four World Series titles in 12 seasons in charge. He was not mentioned during the closing ceremony for old Yankee Stadium in September 2008.
Former Yankees and Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella also was invited to attend, the official said, as were many other former Yankees, a group that included Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, David Cone and David Wells.
Steinbrenner headed a group that bought the Yankees in January 1973, and under his reign New York won seven World Series, 11 American League pennants and 16 AL East titles.
Steinbrenner, who died at age 80 on July 13, will be just the sixth individual honored by the Yankees with a monument. Manager Miller Huggins was the first in 1932, joined by four players: Lou Gehrig (1941), Babe Ruth (1949), Mickey Mantle (1996) and Joe DiMaggio (1999).
A monument to the victims and rescue workers of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was dedicated on the first anniversary.
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