A Hall note: The time Joe Torre orchestrated being ejected by umpire Doug Harvey

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Joe Torre was not dejected over umpire Doug Harvey being enshrined into baseball’s Hall of Fame on Sunday, but might have felt a tad ejected.

For old time’s sake.

Turns out, the first person Harvey ever ejected from a major league game was Torre. Works out, he was his last, too.

In 1962, Torre was a catcher with the Milwaukee Braves when Harvey made him the first player he threw out of a game. He remembered it, too.

So much so that 31 years later -- knowing it was his last as an umpire -- Harvey had a message for Torre, then the St. Louis Cardinals manager.

‘He said you were the first one, and I’d like you to be the last one,’ Torre said. ‘And I said, ‘OK, we’ll figure it out.’’

About a month later, the Cardinals were at Shea Stadium playing the Mets in late September.

‘We’re winning by four or five runs, so about the seventh inning, I yell out about a pitch,’ Torre said. ‘I figure I may not get a better shot at this. He came over to me and I had to explain what I was doing. It wasn’t foremost on his mind.

‘I started arguing with him, and I say, ‘This is it.’ And he says, ‘What do you mean this is it?’’
‘And I said, ‘Remember, you wanted me to be the last guy you threw out.’ And he started smiling and said, ‘Get out of here.’’

And tossed him. Orchestrated or not, some nice symmetry to a Hall of Fame career.

-- Steve Dilbeck