Talk Baseball with one of the Greats! Treat yourself (or the baseball fan in your life) with this once in a lifetime experience to have a 30 minute Zoom call with Hall of Fame, Manager Tony La Russa!
Born Oct. 4, 1944, in Tampa, Fla., Tony La Russa grew up on the ballfield in Florida’s year-round warm weather. He was pursued as an infield prospect by most of the 20 big league teams and signed with the Kansas City Athletics in 1963. He played in 132 games over 6 years before ending his playing career in 1973. The cerebral La Russa—who earned a law degree shortly before assuming managerial duties in Chicago in 1979—proved to be a natural leader in the clubhouse. As the youngest manager in the league, La Russa led the White Sox to their first winning season in a decade, a playoff berth and won his first of four Manager of the Year awards. La Russa’s next stop was in Oakland, where he brought his winning ways to the A’s. In Oakland, La Russa again turned around a franchise – leading the club to an 81-81 record in 1987, the team’s first non-losing season in seven years. Then in 1988, La Russa piloted a young A’s team to 104 wins and the AL West title before losing the World Series against a determined Dodgers team. La Russa was again named the AL Manager of the Year following the 1988 season. In 1989, the A’s returned to the World Series – and this team swept the Giants to capture the title.
Oakland returned to the Fall Classic in 1990, winning 103 games before falling to the Reds. In 1996, La Russa took over the Cardinals, immediately leading them to the NLCS, and also piloting the Cardinals to postseason appearances from 2000-02 – with La Russa winning the NL Manager of the Year in '02. The winning continued with playoff appearances in 2004 & 2005 before winning his second World Series title in 2006. The Cardinals returned to the postseason in 2009 by winning the NL Central, then captured a Wild Card berth in 2011. That year, La Russa led his team to another World Championship – with St. Louis needing to win 18 of the 19 games available in the three series to win each round. Following the Cardinals’ improbable seven-game win over the Rangers in the World Series, La Russa retired. His final record: 2,728-2,365 – good for a .538 winning percentage and the third-most wins all time behind Connie Mack and John McGraw. La Russa’s teams finished first in their division 12 times, winning six pennants and three World Series. La Russa was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014.