Support » The fiery Cox — he was ejected a major league record 161 times

COOPERSTOWN, N. Evan Turner Jersey .Y. - Joe Torre still needs a pinch or two, just to make sure. "Its still sort of unbelievable," he said. "Cooperstown was always something way out there. OK, I know where it is. Doesnt mean Im going there to visit, much less be inducted. I never had a goal of getting to the Hall of Fame." Thats exactly where hes headed Sunday. Torre will be inducted with fellow former managers Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa in what is a banner year for the baseball shrine. Pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and slugger Frank Thomas also will enter. Torre, La Russa, and Cox were unanimously elected in December by the Halls Expansion Era committee. It was a tense time for Torre. "I sort of was torn emotionally with the fact that Bobby and Tony were on the ballot," he said. "I remember having dinner with Tony the night before the announcement. Whoever gets in, if the other one doesnt get in, its sort of going to feel unfair. Our three careers just really mirrored each other." "When the three of us got in, I think it just made it that much sweeter. It was probably the first time we stopped lying to each other," he said. Theres always been a mutual admiration among La Russa, Cox and Torre, contemporaries who rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in all-time managerial wins. "I always felt like Joe was the best at teaching a team the right way to win and lose," said La Russa, who compiled 2,728 wins in 33 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and St. Louis, behind only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763). "A loss, they never made excuses. Just got beat." "But they won. They won a lot, and they never showed up the other side," La Russa said. "They never embarrassed you because they beat you, and I cant say the same for other teams and other managers." While Torre excelled as a player — in 1971 he won National League MVP honours with a signature season that included 230 hits and a .363 average, 97 runs, and 137 RBIs for the Cardinals — he became something special in the New York Yankees dugout. Despite mediocre stints managing the New York Mets, Atlanta and the Cardinals (five winning seasons in 15 years), Torre was hired by the Yankees prior to the 1996 season. "That was a good sign for me, trust me," said Torre, the only man to amass more than 2,000 hits (2,342) as a player and win more than 2,000 games (2,326) as a manager, according to STATS. "After youve been fired three times and then you get hired by the Yankees, that was a good sign. I figured it was all said and done by that point in time," he said. Ever the diplomat, Torre somehow managed to assuage the most demanding of owners in George Steinbrenner, maintaining his coolness amid all the Bronx craziness while keeping all those egos in check. The result: 10 division titles, six AL pennants and four World Series triumphs in 12 years as he helped restore the lustre to baseballs most successful franchise. Heady territory for a guy who never played in the Fall Classic. "It was magical. I never took it for granted," said Torre, who today serves as Major League Baseballs executive vice-president for baseball operations. "I just think its so important to respect this game, just the fact that you can leave your mark and possibly wind up in a place like this, even though thats not why you play the game. Its just been an amazing ride for me." La Russas teams finished first 12 times and won six pennants, and he was picked as Manager of the Year four times, finishing second in the voting five other times. He went to the World Series three straight years from 1988-90 and also lost in the 2004 World Series when his Cardinals were swept by the Boston Red Sox. That La Russa found success in the dugout and not as a player is not a surprise. He made his big league debut as a teenage infielder with the 1963 Kansas City Athletics and appeared in just 132 games over six seasons, hitting .199 with no home runs and seven RBIs. "How lousy I was, I was hoping the guy wouldnt call me in to play. Thats the truth," La Russa said. "Then I got to thinking, I cant make a living, so I went to law school." La Russa tried to finance his way through law school as a player-coach in the White Sox organization, and quickly learned there was a lot more to managing than simply making out a lineup card. That allowed La Russa the opportunity to question and second-guess and it all "got my fires going." After graduation, La Russa decided to see if he could manage in the minors to get the bug out, with the ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer. The White Sox gave him Double-A and Triple-A assignments, and he was hooked, becoming a devoted student of the game. In 1983, he managed the White Sox to their first post-season berth in 24 years, and 13 years later he rewarded new Cardinals owners with a division title in his first season in St. Louis (1996). That ended the franchises nine-year post-season slump, and they made it to the playoffs nine times in 16 seasons overall. La Russa also had 70 postseason victories, trailing only Torres 84, and he and his role model, Sparky Anderson, are the only managers to win the World Series in both leagues. La Russa credits early conversations with Anderson, Paul Richards, Earl Weaver, Chuck Tanner, Gene Michael, and Billy Martin for much of his success. "We watched all these masters," La Russa said. "We would study the managers, and there was this one guy in Toronto that after the second series we played against him we agreed, Hey, this guy is as good as any of them. His name was Bobby Cox." The fiery Cox — he was ejected a major league record 161 times — guided the Braves to an unprecedented 14 straight division titles and 15 playoff appearances. Many of those wins came with Maddux and Glavine on the mound for him. When Cox, who also spent four years in Toronto, retired after the 2010 season he was the fourth-winningest manager with 2,504 victories in 29 seasons. To be sure, induction day will be one to remember. "The entire thing can never happen again in a million years, I dont think," Cox said. "A manager being able to go in with two of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball, and then going in with two fellow managers at the same time. I dont think thats ever, ever going to happen again." Portland Trail Blazers Jerseys . - Kobe Bryant and LeBron James traded hugs, big shots and verbal jabs all night with warmth and humour. Brandon Roy Jersey . They wanna make t-shirts about it and sell them at our next hockey game..DB: Wow, they want to make t-shirts? That sounds pretty amazing.MS: Yeah, I was also on the Top 10, I was number 1 today, so that was pretty cool. http://www.blazersteamofficial.com/Bill-Walton-Blazers-Jersey/ . -- The defending Canadian womens curling champions squandered an opportunity to take sole possession of first place in the standings Tuesday at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.NEW YORK -- Jason Collins started walking from the bench to the scorers table, fans rising out of their seats all around Barclays Center. He committed a foul five seconds after entering. His only shot barely hit the rim. Collins performance may not have been pretty, but everything else was great. Collins played the final minutes of a winning home debut with the Brooklyn Nets, who cooled off the Chicago Bulls with a 96-80 victory Monday night. "It was cool. It was a lot of fun to go into the game," Collins said. "The most important thing was that we got the win. Chicagos been playing really well as of late and for us to come out and really be -- I think we played more physical than they did tonight." Finally playing at home more than a week after returning to the NBA as the leagues first openly gay player, Collins checked in to a standing ovation from a sellout crowd of 17,732 that included former NBA Commissioner David Stern with 2:41 remaining. He grabbed a rebound and had one of the Nets NBA season high-tying 19 steals in their third straight victory. Deron Williams scored 20 points and Joe Johnson had 19 for the Nets (29-29), who got back to .500 for the first time since they were 2-2 after beating Utah on Nov. 5. D.J. Augustin scored 16 points off the bench for the sloppy Bulls, who turned it over 28 times, leading to 30 Nets points, and had their four-game winning streak snapped. The Bulls had a franchise-low three turnovers in their 109-90 victory over the New York Knicks on Sunday and had won nine of 10. But the Nets were too good in this one, building a series of comfortable leads and making the only intrigue down the stretch whether Collins would get in during his first home appearance for the Nets since Jan. 29, 2008, against Milwaukee in East Rutherford, N.J. A chant of "Jason Collins! Jason Collins!" broke out while Williams was shooting a free throw with the Nets leading 90-73 with 3:27 remaining. Fans finally got their wish less than a minute later -- though not because coach Jason Kidd was listening to them. "No, the game was out of hand, so I wanted to get those guys some rest," he said. "D-Will was shooting free throws. Couldnt put Twin in at that time, so I told him after the free throws that he would come in." Collins original 10-day contracct will expire Tuesday and the Nets plan to sign him to a second deal on Wednesday. Jusuf Nurkic Jersey. A Nets player from 2001-08, he has appeared in all five games since he signed on Feb. 23. Paul Pierce and Shaun Livingston each scored 14 points for the Nets, who were without starting centre Kevin Garnett for a second straight game because of back spasms. "Mentally, the Bulls have really had our numbers," Pierce said. "To be honest, if I was them Id feel like when they come play the Nets, they feel like they could beat us every time. I think the guys really had pride tonight to say, You know were tired of getting pushed around by the Bulls." Joakim Noah managed just 10 points, six rebounds and one assist for the Bulls, a day after finishing with 13 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in his fifth career triple-double. The All-Star centre rolled his right ankle early in the second half of that game and said it hurt after the game, but he was determined to play Monday in his hometown. The Bulls had dominated the first two meetings and beaten the Nets four straight times, but Brooklyn controlled this one most of the way in improving to 12-2 at home since Chicagos rout here on Christmas Day. "We smashed them in the mouth twice, its never going to be easy to come in to tough-minded team and do it again," Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. The Nets scored the first eight points, the last one on Williams free throw after Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau screamed his way to a technical foul after calling time. Their lead grew to 15, but the Bulls trimmed it to 27-18 by the end of the first quarter. Brooklyn led 50-42 at halftime, and Chicago started the second half just as bad as the first. The Nets scored the first seven to take a 57-42 lead when Williams set up Mason Plumlee for a dunk. "I think we had all intentions to play hard, but like I say, it didnt show," Augustin said. "Being down early, you cant come start the game down, you cant start the second half down, so that was our big mistakes, and then the turnovers killed us." NOTES: The Nets 19 steals were their most since finishing with 20 against Indiana on March 21, 1989. ... Brooklyn hadnt scored more than 23 points in a period against Chicago this season and surpassed that in both the first (27) and third (26). Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '