MLB Announces Tony La Russa Will Manage In All-Star Game

Tony La Russa retired after the St. Louis Cardinals won the 2011 World Series. On Tuesday, the commissioner’s office announced he’ll manage one more game:

News: Tony La Russa will manage the NL team in the @AllStarGame, Commissioner Selig announced today.

This is not without precedent. Danny Murtaugh retired as manager of the Pirates following their 1971 World Series win over the Orioles and returned to manage the 1972 NL All-Stars… and later returned from retirement to manage the Pirates for more than three more years, until his death in December 1976.

There have been two All-Star managers who switched teams after their clubs played in the World Series; Dick Williams, A’s manager in 1973, managed the AL All-Stars in 1974 in an Angels uniform, and Dusty Baker, Giants manager in 2002, managed the NL All-Stars in 2003 wearing a Cubs uniform.

Conversely, Casey Stengel was not retained as Yankees manager after his team lost the 1960 World Series to the Pirates, and he did not manage the 1961 AL All-Stars; there were two All-Star games that season, both managed by Paul Richards, who had managed the Orioles to a second-place finish in 1960.

It’s not yet been announced whether La Russa will wear a Cardinals uniform in his managerial role for the 2012 NL All-Stars, though that would seem likely. He could, though, go in the style of Connie Mack, who wore a suit and tie while managing, or perhaps pay homage to the first All-Star Game, where the teams wore uniforms that read “NATIONAL LEAGUE” and “AMERICAN LEAGUE”.

Ryne Sandberg Being Considered For Managerial Opening ... In St. Louis

When the Mike Quade dismissal was announced, the Chicago Cubs director of baseball operations Theo Epstein included this tidbit in the press release:

The next manager ... must have managerial or coaching experience at the major league level.

This seemingly eliminated Cubs Hall-of-Famer Ryne Sandberg from consideration. Sandberg was a popular name in discussion of the Cubs' managerial opening, both because of his organizational ties and his current job as the manager of the triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Sandberg is going to get consideration for a major-league managerial opening, but it won't be just from the Cubs. From Ken Rosenthal:

Sources: #Cardinals have asked permission to interview Ryne Sandberg for managerial opening.

Well. That's like the Red Sox considering Derek Jeter for an opening, or the Dodgers looking at Barry Bonds to be their hitting coach. It's one of those things that just can't happen in the universe that we know now.

But if the Cubs are going to pass Sandberg over, other teams will be interested. One of them happens to be the Cubs' blood rival. Maybe it's just a way to tease Chicago fans, or maybe it's something that's really going to happen, making Cubs fans ill for the next several years. Should be interesting.

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Discussions of Tony La Russa often begin with his tactical innovations. But his real genius was far more interesting and difficult to measure than simply counting relief pitchers.

Tony La Russa Retires, Jerry Reinsdorf Comments

Jerry Reinsdorf, White Sox chairman, wasn’t the first baseball owner to hire Tony La Russa — Bill Veeck was — but La Russa had his first successes under the Reinsdorf ownership of the White Sox, winning the AL West in 1983 with 99 wins.

Less than three years after that, La Russa was fired by Hawk Harrelson, who had been made White Sox GM in an ill-advised move by Reinsdorf. Today, Reinsdorf commented on La Russa’s retirement announcement in relation to that, saying, “Tony is one of the few people I know who would do something for a friend even if it was bad for him personally. It’s a measure of the man that we fired him and remained friends.”

It’s interesting that Reinsdorf says “we” fired La Russa, since it seemed pretty clear at the time that decision was Harrelson’s alone.

La Russa went on to 25 more seasons of success in the major leagues, and apparently, had told Reinsdorf he was going to retire at the end of the season, because Reinsdorf also said, “I knew Friday night was his last game, and I wanted to be there for it. Like a father who gets more enjoyment out of seeing his children succeed, I was as happy for him Friday night as I was when we won in 2005.”

Tony La Russa Retires From All-Star Game Too

Monday morning, Tony La Russa made the kind-of-but-I-guess-not-really surprising announcement that he was retiring as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, going out on top the way no other Major League manager ever has. But La Russa's announcement didn't leave one team in need of a new manager. It left two teams in need of a new manager! Good grief, the consequences!

You'll remember that the managers in the All-Star Game are the managers who managed in the World Series the previous year. With La Russa removing himself, the 2012 National League All-Star team is now a rudderless collection of stars and overachievers all pulling in different directions. It's on Bud Selig to find the right guy who can get them all pulling on the same rope, because if the team can't pull itself together, it'll fall apart like pulled pork. Pull. Pull. It's not even a word, "pull." Pull.

Tony La Russa Retirement: Jim Leyland Now Active Leader In Managerial Wins

Tony La Russa retired from the St. Louis Cardinals after winning the World Series, and in 33 seasons with three teams, he won six pennants and three championships. Just as impressive, his career 2738-2365 record. That's 5097 games, or 15,291 different situational relievers. Quite the career.

La Russa retired with the third-most wins as a manager, behind Connie Mack (3731 wins) and John McGraw (2763). That leaves Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers as the new active leader in managerial wins. Well, he's not really active, per se -- he kind likes to sit there and smoke when he gets the chance -- but he is employed, and his 1588 wins ranks 18th all-time among all managers.

After Leyland, it's Dusty Baker (1484 wins), Bruce Bochy (1360), and Davey Johnson (1188) at the top of the list for active managers. To give some perspective on how long La Russa has been around, Johnson would have to manage a 100-win team for the next 15-plus seasons to catch La Russa; Leyland would have to do it for 11-plus seasons.

If it seems like La Russa has been around forever, it's because he has.

Tony La Russa Retires: Leaving On Top Is A Rare Feat In Sports

Tony La Russa Retires: What's Next For The Cardinals?

Tony La Russa Retires: 'Just Feels Like It's Time To End It'

When the St. Louis Cardinals called a news conference for 9 a.m. CDT on Monday, many in the Twitterverse thought it would be so they could announce that Yadier Molina’s contract option had been picked up.

To everyone’s surprise, it was for an entirely different reason — to announce Tony La Russa’s retirement as manager. Imagine that — a news conference that produces actual news.

MLB.com quoted La Russa as saying he felt it was the right time to retire:

“There isn’t one [factor] that dominates [my decision],” La Russa said. "They all just come together telling you your time is over.

“We went through the season and I felt that this just feels like it’s time to end it and I think it’s going to be great for the Cardinals to refresh what’s going on here.”

La Russa would have had to manage just 36 wins in 2012 to pass John McGraw on the all-time manager wins list, but said that wasn’t really that important to him:

“I’m aware of the history of the game,” he said. “But I would not be happy with myself if the reason I came back was to move up one spot. That’s not why you manage … it’s not something that motivates me. Wherever you finish, you finish.”

Cardinals chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt, Jr., and GM John Mozeliak were effusive in their praise for La Russa:

“We’re grateful for what he’s done for the Cardinals all these years,” Cardinals chairman and chief executive officer Bill DeWitt Jr. said.

“My mind’s not as strong as Tony’s because I was thinking about this all the time,” Mozeliak said. “I know the impact he had on this organization and specifically on the 2011 team. It’s hard for me to swallow but at the same time I have to admire that he never wavered. Today is about Tony; tomorrow is about the next chapter for the St. Louis Cardinals.”

And now, Mozeliak will begin the search for La Russa’s successor; whoever is hired will have a tough job to follow a future Hall of Famer in the Cardinals’ manager’s office.

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Tony La Russa Retires: A Look Back At His Great Career

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa announced his retirement Monday morning at a news conference, to the surprise of many baseball fans.

La Russa has managed 33 years in the major leagues, with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Cardinals. The 33 seasons is tied for second-most all-time, behind Hall of Famer John McGraw, who managed the New York Giants in the early years of the 20th Century.

La Russa’s managing career began at age 34 in 1979, when he replaced Don Kessinger as White Sox manager with 54 games remaining in that season. He managed the White Sox to a 27-27 mark and four years later, brought them to their first postseason appearance in 24 years when they won the AL West with 99 victories.

That was the first of 14 playoff appearances; La Russa was fired in 1986 by Ken “Hawk” Harrelson in Harrelson’s brief tenure as White Sox GM. It took La Russa just a few weeks to find another job; he was hired by the Athletics on July 5, 1986 and two years later led them to the first of three AL pennants. La Russa’s A’s won just one of the three World Series, in 1989 over the Giants. But after three losing seasons, he was fired by Oakland near the end of the 1995 season.

He was hired to replace Joe Torre in St. Louis for the 1996 season, and both managers went on to postseason success. Torre’s run with the Yankees and Dodgers is well known, and La Russa managed the Cardinals to nine postseason appearances, three NL pennants and two World Series championships.

He retires just 35 victories short of McGraw for second on the all-time managers list; his next date should be with the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, five years from now.

Tony La Russa Retires: Cardinals Manager Goes Out On Top

Tony La Russa surprised almost everyone by announcing his retirement Monday after 33 years as a major league manager; in 16 years with the Cardinals he won three World Series.

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