He pulled a John Elway and went out on top.
It was a hell of a managerial career for Tony LaRussa, who retired today at the age of 67. LaRussa will go down as one of the 5 best managers of all time and is a three time World Series champion. He has won the WS with two teams (Oakland Athletics & St. Louis Cardinals), one from each league. He retires in third place on the managerial wins list with 2,728 victories and is only trailing legendary Hall of Famers Connie Mack & John McGraw in that category. The 4-time Manager of the Year won 6 pennants in his 33 years as a manager with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's, & St. Louis Cardinals. As one can see, Tony LaRussa was an extremely accomplished baseball manager.
It was not a career without controversy or failure, however. LaRussa was an innovator with his unconventional use of the bullpen. Prior to LaRussa, managers did not incessantly tinker with their bullpens and relief pitchers like they do today. Tony pioneered the tactic of using multiple relievers to get through one inning, even if the team was not in trouble. He basically created the role of the LOOGY (lefty one out guy) in modern baseball. This approach had its fair share of problems though, as demonstrated in Game 5 of this year's World Series. LaRussa had trouble communicating with his bullpen coach, and the wrong reliever warmed up and got into the game. He gave up the game-winning runs and LaRussa was largely blamed for the loss. Fortunately for him, the Cards rebounded and won the series with 2 straight victories at home. When compared to his contemporaries Joe Torre & Bobby Cox, LaRussa falls short in some respects. Cox and Torre both have higher career winning percentages than LaRussa and Torre has won more World Series titles. Another thing that may hurt LaRussa's legacy is that he is not associated directly with one team, as Torre (Yankees) and Cox (Braves) are. Tony's critics point out that he underachieved with the immense talent of the late 80s Oakland Athletics, leading them only to 1 championship in 3 tries.
Personally, I think LaRussa was the best manager of his generation and maybe of all the modern baseball era. His success with multiple teams showed an ability to truly manage talent and achieve results. He will definitely be a Hall of Famer, as will Torre & Cox, and I think he'll go in as a Cardinal. It was a great career and I'm glad Tony went out on top.
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