Report saysWhite Sox will contact LaRussa on opening
Is Tony La Russa in the mix to manage the Chicago White Sox?
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the club is planning to reach out to the former A’s manager about their managerial vacancy after they parted ways with Rick Renteria on Monday.
La Russa, 76, retired in 2011 after he led the St. Louis Cardinals to their second World Series title in six years. He began a 33year managerial career in Major League Baseball in 1979 with the White Sox, and remains close friends with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf.
La Russa, who managed the A’s to three consecutive trips to theWorld Series, including a championship in 1989, declined to comment when he was contacted by USA Today.
JackMcKeon is the oldest manager to winaWorld Series. He was 72 when he led the Marlins to the championship in 2003.
McKeon had a second stint with the club in 2011, hired as the team’s interim manager when he was 80. McKeon became the secondoldest manager in big league history, behind ConnieMack,
whomanagedthe Philadelphia Athletics until hewas 87 in 1950.
When the White Sox announced Monday that they were partingwayswith Renteria, general manager Rick Hahn said the team’s next managerwill likely be someone from outside the organization.
Hahn said the ideal candidate would be someone that has recent October experience with a championship organization.
Names that have surfaced include A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora, whose MLB suspensions from the sign-stealing scandal end after the World Series. Hinch led the Astros to the 2017 World Series title. Cora, the Astros’ bench coach in 2017, was the Boston Red Sox’smanagerwhen theywon theWorld Series in 2018.
FANS ARE BACK » Major League Baseball said it was selling 11,500 tickets per game at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, for the series between the Dodgers and Braves and plans a similar allotment at the same ballpark when it hosts the World Series starting Oct. 20. The announced attendance was 10,700. Prices range from $40 to $250 for the NLCS, and $75- 450 for theWorld Series, which has sold out.