David Wells Reveals How Much He ‘Hated’ Joe Torre, Also Threatened To Fight George Steinbrenner

Former New York Yankees pitcher David Wells liked to do things his way, and that didn’t really jive too well with the old-school nature of Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner.

During an appearance on The New York Post’s “Pinstripe Pod“, Wells talked extensively about how much he ‘hated Joe Torre.

“I never liked Joe as a manager,”  David Wells said via Total Pro Sports. “He did stuff to me that he shouldn’t have done to anybody. But, you know, we all knew he treated certain guys different ways. But it was alright, we didn’t care if he talked to us or not. Joe and I are friends now, I respect him. Just the playing days. You don’t want nobody telling you what you can and can’t do. That’s just how we work.”

After a certain point, Wells decided that he was just going to stop listening to Joe Torre.

“I just said, ‘You know what, I’m doing it my way,’ ” Wells said. “I don’t care. I’m a grown man … You can’t tell me anything I don’t already know about there on the mound. I know how to do my job. Just don’t try to manage me. But they would try to manage me off the field, too. I’m like, ‘Do you want to win? Then leave me alone.’ That’s what I did. Joe Torre, he would always do that to me. He would always give me grief.

“I hated Torre. I really did.”

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David Wells’ hatred extended past Joe Torre, too.

When Wells lobbied to get George Steinbrenner to raise the famously short walls at Yankee Stadium, the conversation escalated into a very heated exchange.

“So George goes, ‘You ain’t the pitcher I signed,’ ” Wells said. “I said, ‘Excuse me?’ He said, ‘You ain’t the pitcher I signed.’ I said, ‘Well, if you don’t like the way I pitch, why don’t you trade me?’ He goes, ‘I tried to, nobody wants you.’

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"I tell you what, old man … I'm going to beat the s–t out of you."

Former Yankees pitcher David Wells once said this to George Steinbrenner. That and more, in a fun interview with Wells on this week's "Pinstripe Pod": https://t.co/IMSp8zjJjm pic.twitter.com/qfJUHJaSDv

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) June 15, 2021

“Well, that pissed me off. So I got in George’s face and I started calling him every name in the book and he’s in my face as well and he goes, ‘I’m not afraid of you.’ And I said, ‘I’ll tell you what old man. I’m gonna go put some ice on and if I come back here and you’re still here I’m gonna beat the s–t out of you. That’s how it’s gonna be.’ And he goes, ‘I’m not afraid of you.’ I said, ‘We’ll see.’

“… I came out there and there was George sitting there. He looked at me, and I started ripping off that eye, and his eyes got bigger than the moon. And he ran out of there. He tore off running, I chased him. ‘Go back up in your suite, goddamnit and watch the game.’ I was all over him.”

Even with David Wells telling his side of the story here, he stills comes off like kind of a whiner. I get it, Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner were probably not the easiest two guys to get along with. But does anyone really like to answer to their bosses? No, but they write the paychecks. At a certain point, you just gotta soldier along.

Did David Wells really expect George Steinbrenner to change Yankee Stadium for him? I mean, c’mon.

Anyways, David Wells was still a great pitcher for the Yankees. And he was able to enjoy a lot of success with Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner.

All’s well that ends well.

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