More Tampa Ties For Baseball Hall Of Fame

And now there are three.

Three Tampa guys, alums of local high schools, whose careers have been accorded Major League Baseball’s ultimate honor, membership in its iconic Hall of Fame. Jesuit High’s Al Lopez, Plant High’s Wade Boggs and now Jefferson High’s Tony La Russa.

La Russa’s HOF ticket was punched for being the third winningest manager in MLB history. He began managing at age 34. His 2,728 wins rank him behind only the legendary likes of Connie Mack and John McGraw. That’s the sort of company his bust will keep in Cooperstown.

But while La Russa, the Ybor City and West Tampa product who learned his baseball at MacFarlane Park, won three World Series and a ton of baseball games, he will also be remembered by family and friends for who he is outside the lines. Although a gifted enough athlete to make his major league debut as a teenager, he was never a stereotypical jock.

He speaks fluent Spanish. He’s a vegetarian. He’s an author: last year’s “One Last Strike.” And his humor is wry. To wit: “When I first became a manager, I asked (veteran manager) Chuck Tanner for advice. He told me: ‘Always rent.'” Bada bing.

While known for his “old school” hunches and intuition, La Russa was also ahead of his time in playing percentages and scrutinizing statistics. In his book, “Men At Work,” George Will credited La Russa’s statistical analysis for presaging the acclaimed “Moneyball” mentality popularized by Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (and further refined by Tampa Bay Rays’ GM Andrew Friedman).

In a sport where off-seasons are for working out and leveraging your name, La Russa chose to further his education. He was no baseball diamond in the rough. He always had a back-up plan.

He has an industrial management degree from the University of South Florida. He also has a law degree from Florida State University. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1980, a year after beginning his managing career with the Chicago White Sox.

Off-seasons have also been a time for La Russa, 69, to indulge in a passion that transcends anything to do with his career. He and his wife Elaine are founders of Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek, Calif. It saves abandoned and injured animals. It also runs programs that bring dog and cat visits to abused children, hospital patients, seniors and shut-ins.

Frankly, that might say more about the man than those three World Series rings, one from leading Oakland and two from managing the St. Louis Cardinals.

And his career could not have ended in a more fitting fashion.

His 2011 Cardinals won the Series, and he announced his retirement shortly thereafter. How many consummately successful people, whatever their calling or pursuit, have the opportunity– or class–to bow out on top? Ask Willie Mays or Hank Aaron or Muhammad Ali.

As Sugar Ray Leonard once said: “It’s hard to leave center stage.”

So hard, that only a very few can ever orchestrate the ultimate exit. Tony La Russa has been an exception to a lot of rules.