Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre entered the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, and he gave a special shout out to Metallica during his acceptance speech!

Torre stated, “I’ve always been a Sinatra fan, but after 12 years with Mariano Rivera, Metallica sounds pretty good to me." The reference, of course, is that Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' served as the walk-in music for Rivera during his tenure as the Yankees closer.

Metallica recently spoofed the association in an ESPN commercial in which it's portrayed as though they are having a hard time finding work now that Rivera has retired. They do their best to pitch athletes but find little success and end up with Kirk Hammett resorting to giving guitar lessons to get by. The spot can be seen here.

Metallica have had a long association with sports, and the last two years they've taken part in 'Metallica Night' for their hometown San Francisco Giants. The group have performed the National Anthem and been involved with throwing the first pitch.

Watch Torre's full acceptance speech above, and click to 19:08 to hear Torre's comments about Metallica.

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