Joe Torre recalls Jorge Posada as cool under pressure

Joe Torre didn't have a problem coming up with what he believes Jorge Posada's Yankees legacy will be. "He played under pressure about as well as anybody for me," Torre said Thursday night before his Safe at Home Foundation's annual dinner at Chelsea Piers. "He was always excitable, I think we saw that, but the one thing about it, when he got up there with the bases loaded or the winning run on base, he was like ice. He was really good."

Torre attended an event Wednesday that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Jorge Posada Foundation, and Posada returned the favor.

On Wednesday, Posada, 40, said he has been contacted by "five or six teams" but said he isn't sure if he can see himself putting on another uniform. "I think that's going to be hard for him," Torre said. "Only because it's sort of like selling your home after all these years. You have a comfortable spot. I'm not saying he won't do it because you just can't all of a sudden say you don't want to play baseball anymore when it's been your whole life for such a long time. But he looked very comfortable last night. I'm not sure what that means. But he seemed very happy."

Former Yankee David Cone called Posada "one of the most determined players I've ever been around" and said he has "a tough call ahead of him." He added, "At the end of the day, he'll be remembered as a Yankee regardless of what he does.Ten years from now, nobody will remember whether he went one year somewhere else or not."

Posada explained why he excused himself in tears at his locker after the Yankees' season-ending loss in ALDS Game 5. "I knew that was my last game , that's why I was so emotional," he said. "It was tough for me that day to really walk out of that clubhouse and that I might not ever see it again."

How would he like to be remembered? "I gave it all on the field," he said. "Sometimes we weren't better than the other team, but I played to win. I wanted to win every game. That's the way I was taught."