Tony La Russa

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Lore & Background

As a player, La Russa made his major league debut in 1963 and spent parts of five major league seasons with the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Cubs. After a shoulder injury during the 1964–65 off-season, he returned to college and received a degree from the University of South Florida before playing much of the remainder of his career in the minor leagues until retiring in 1977. He then earned a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University. Named manager of the White Sox in the middle of the 1979 season, La Russa guided the team to an American League West division title four seasons later. In the middle of the 1986 season, he was fired by the White Sox and hired less than three weeks later by the Athletics. La Russa led the A's to three consecutive American League championships from 1988 to 1990 and the 1989 World Series title. He left Oakland after the 1995 season to manage the Cardinals, whom he led to three National League championships and the 2006 and 2011 World Series titles. La Russa retired after winning the 2011 title and 34 seasons as a major league manager. Three months later, he accepted a position helping fellow former manager Joe Torre, the executive vice president for MLB operations. In 2014, he became the chief baseball officer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. In November 2019, he joined the Los Angeles Angels as a senior advisor of baseball operations. In the 2021 offseason, he was named the manager of the White Sox; he retired in 2022 due to health concerns. In 2013, La Russa was unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame by the 16-member Veterans Committee. The induction ceremony was held at Cooperstown, New York, on July 27, 2014. On August 16, 2014, he was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame.

In Their Own Story

The turning point for La Russa came when he replaced Don Kessinger as manager of the White Sox in 1979. Kessinger had been fired with a 46–60 record, and La Russa stepped in at age 34 to lead a team that had struggled under previous management. He immediately turned things around, finishing the rest of the 1979 season with a 27–27 record. This momentum carried into the early 1980s, culminating in the division title in 1983. The atmosphere at Comiskey Park shifted as the team began to win consistently. Yet, the end came abruptly in 1986 when new general manager Ken Harrelson took over and dismissed La Russa after a dismal start. Harrelson also fired coach Dave Duncan during this shakeup, despite their shared history. The firing marked the end of an era that had seen the White Sox return to playoff contention for the first time in years.

Reader's Guide

Born in Tampa, Florida, on October 4, 1944, to Anthony and Olivia (Cuervo) La Russa, Anthony Jr.'s paternal grandparents had emigrated from Italy (Sicily) and his mother's family from Spain. He was raised in nearby Ybor City, Florida, where his parents had met while they were working in the local cigar factory. The La Russa family moved to West Tampa, Florida, where Tony played American Legion baseball and PONY League baseball alongside teammate Lou Piniella. After graduating from Jefferson High School in Tampa, La Russa was signed by the Kansas City Athletics in June 1962 as a middle infielder, with a clause that the Athletics pay for his college education at the University of South Florida. La Russa made his major league debut with the Kansas City A's on May 10, 1963, after having played 76 games with A's affiliates Binghamton Triplets and Daytona Beach Islanders in 1962. He spent the entire 1963 season in the majors, as was required by his signing as a 'bonus baby'. He had suffered an off-season shoulder injury while playing softball with friends, and this limited him to only 34 games in 1963, in which he hit .250. The injured shoulder bothered him through the remainder of his playing career. Over the next six seasons, La Russa spent most of his time in the minor leagues. He made it back up to the A's, which had since moved to Oakland, in 1968 and 1969. He spent the entire 1970 season with the A's, and then late in 1971 the A's traded him to the Atlanta Braves. His final big league playing stop was with the Chicago Cubs, where he appeared as a pinch runner in one game, on April 6, 1973, scoring the walk-off winning run. He also spent time in the organizations of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and St. Louis Cardinals. In total, he played 132 major-league games, 40 in the starting lineup. He went 35-for-176, for a batting average of .199. His 23 walks pushed his on-base percentage to .292. He had 7 RBI and scored 15 runs. He made 63 appearances at second base, 18 at shortstop, and two at third base, fielding .960 in 249 total chances and participating in 34 double plays. It was as a player with the A's that La Russa first met catcher Dave Duncan, who would join his coaching staff in Chicago in 1983. The two worked together on every La Russa-managed team thereafter, and he often credits Duncan as playing a key role in his success. Having started

Did You Know?

• La Russa's 2,884 MLB wins as a manager are second only to Connie Mack.
• La Russa earned a Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University and was admitted to the Florida Bar.
• La Russa first met catcher Dave Duncan as a player with the Athletics; Duncan later joined his coaching staff in Chicago in 1983.
• La Russa was named American League Manager of the Year in 1983 after leading the White Sox to the AL West title.
• La Russa retired after the 2011 World Series title, then returned to manage the White Sox in 2021 and retired again in 2022 due to health concerns.