Growing up in Brooklyn as a New York Giants fan, Joe Torre learned to hate the New York Yankees and despise the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“As a kid growing up, you didn't like them," Torre said on WFAN back on Nov. 1.. "As a player, to me the Dodgers were the Yankees of the National League because ... you either loved them or you hated them."

So, 50 years after both the Dodgers and Giants left New York, Torre left his Yankees after leading the team to 12 straight postseason appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers, in hopes his Brooklyn style will help Flatbush’s erstwhile team.

The Dodgers certainly think so, giving Torre a three-year, $13 million contract. And after Grady Little resigned, Torre was really the only choice.

“Why not Joe Torre?" Dodger general manager Ned Colletti asked rhetorically. "Joe Torre comes with a great resume. What he's done the last 12 years is as powerful as any manager in recent memory. Not only the won-loss record, the championships, how his teams have played, his effect on a community the size of New York, the way he embraces the job, the way the players respond to him, the success they have. It's tough to find any cracks in the foundation with that."

Torre will be taking over a Dodger team that clearly needs some clubhouse mending. A rift between the veterans and younger players allowed the team to collapse in the last few weeks of the season and finish with an 82-80 mark. Torre ability to keep a clubhouse whole will be his greatest challenge as he hopes to bring Dodger Blue back to its postseason glory.

He will have some help because Torre is expected to bring former Yankees bench coach Don Mattingly with him, while third base coach Larry Bowa will also entertain a reunion. Although he is 67 and will be 70 when his deal is up, the Dodgers hope that will mean Torre will apprentice his successor, who very well could be Mattingly.

“I think there is value to [continuity], and that is the goal," Colletti said. "Joe is 67years old, and we don't expect Joe to manage a very, very long time. If we can groom somebody under Joe's direction, we look forward to doing that, much like Tommy [Lasorda] was groomed under the direction of Walter [Alston].

“In my conversations with [Dodgers owners] Frank and Jamie McCourt about where we are going, the ideas we want to put in place and the things we want to build on, that was certainly one of the key components.”

And another key component is winning, which the Dodgers hope Torre will bring to his once hated franchise.