Rye Brook, N.Y. ? Joe Torre heard enough. He felt insulted. He felt unappreciated.

He won’t even set foot in Yankee Stadium anytime soon, not even to clean out his office.

“I walked out of there, I’m not going back,” he said. “I just leave the memories.”

A day after he turned down a one-year contract, convinced the team no longer was committed to him after 12 seasons and four World Series titles, he went out his way – grateful, yet defiant; respectful but hurt.

He didn’t say goodbye in Yankee Stadium. Instead, he spoke for 67 minutes – one minute for each year of his life – in a hotel ballroom near his home in suburban New York, close to the Connecticut border.

There was no Yankees logo, just a simple desk – appropriately draped in black – and a velvet background in the team’s navy blue.

Now, he’ll think about going to horse races next summer, perhaps taking a trip to Wimbledon. If teams come to him with managing offers, he’ll listen.

He was coming off a $19.2 million, three-year contract that earned him $7.5 million this season, double what any other manager made. When he heard the offer – $5 million for next year and the chance to earn $3 million more in bonuses – he knew the team’s management wanted him to walk.

“An insult,” he said, his voice choking up at times.

Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL Manager of the Year with Florida in 2006, is another top candidate. Tony La Russa and Bobby Valentine also could be considered.