On this day in 1931 Frank Torre was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was 19 years old when the Boston Braves signed him as an amateur free agent in 1951, but his professional career was detoured a bit when he spent the 1952 and '53 seasons in the military. The Braves had moved to Milwaukee by the time he made his major league debut on April 20, 1956.
Torre spent most of the next five years at first base for the Braves, hitting .270/.342/.370 over 514 games. He hit a pair of home runs as the Braves won the 1957 World Series and set career highs with 115 hits, 22 doubles, 55 RBI and an .829 OPS in 1958.
The Braves sent Torre back to the minors after a rough start in 1960 and later traded him to the Phillies in December of 1961. He played two more seasons there before calling it a career.
Frank, is, of course, the second-most famous Torre. His brother Joe also had a long major league career before managing 4329 big league games.
Thanks to the B-Ref Play Index for reminding me that Frank Torre turns 81 today. With help from Brewerfan.net and B-Ref, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:
- Recent free agent signee Jim Hoey, who turns 30.
- 2007 Brewer Grant Balfour, who turns 35. We covered his birthday in this space last year.
- 2000 Brewer Santiago Perez, who turns 37.
- 1974-76 Brewer Tom Murphy, who turns 67.