First there was Jesuit High’s Al Lopez. Then Plant High’s Wade Boggs. Now Jefferson High’s Tony La Russa. They are the Tampa trio. Three local guys, alums of local high schools, who are now enshrined in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
La Russa, 69, who was inducted last Sunday, followed an ironic road to Cooperstown, N.Y. The Ybor City native was gifted enough to make his major league debut as a teenager, but not talented enough to successfully sustain it. He totaled 35 career hits.
He was a player-coach and minor league manager before he was 30. He had found his managerial niche uncommonly early. He was the big league manager of the Chicago White Sox at age 34.
The rest is history.
When he retired in 2011, he had won 2,728 games (third all-time) and three World Series. He is one of only two MLB managers to have won a World Series in both leagues. He’s credited with inventing the modern, specialist-dominated bullpen. His bust is now where it belongs–in the hallowed company of Connie Mack and John McGraw.
But there’s more.
La Russa went out a winner. Too many high achievers in the sports arena hang on too long. Think Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Joe Lewis and Muhammad Ali. Or timing can be unexpectedly cruel. Think Lou Piniella’s final year in Chicago. The Cubs finished last, and Piniella’s tenure ended before the season did.
La Russa’s 2011 St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series, and La Russa promptly retired. Couldn’t script it any classier.
But there’s also the outside-the-lines Tony La Russa. He was nobody’s stereotypical jock.
He speaks fluent Spanish. He’s a vegetarian. He’s an author–One Last Strike. And his humor can be Joe Maddonesque wry.
His impact on the game transcends all those wins. In his book, Men At Work, George Will credits La Russa’s statistical analysis for presaging the acclaimed Moneyball mentality popularized by Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane.
And in a sport where off-seasons are for working out and leveraging your name, La Russa chose to further his education. He always had a back-up plan, just in case.
He has an industrial management degree from USF and a law degree from FSU. He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1980–just a year after taking over as the White Sox manager.
Off-seasons have also been opportunities for La Russa to indulge in passions far beyond the game he’s loved since he wore his baseball uniform to V.M. Ybor Elementary School for first-grade photos.
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 all those MLB wins and those three World Series rings. And that’s saying a lot.