La Russa will adjust to new White Sox gig
Last November, I interviewed Dusty Baker about the lack of African Americans in baseball. Players, managers, frontoffice executives.
That was two months before Baker was hired in Houston to replace A. J. Hinch, who was suspended and fired for his part in the Astros’ signstealing scandal.
In our conversation, Baker was candid on what he called a “very dangerous trend” but also offered another trend for managers he saw going in the wrong direction.
“Age discrimination,” he said.
Baker’s point was that many managers were being hired without working their way up, without managing in the minor leagues, without having enough experience to aptly handle the gig, and that older candidates were being shunned.
Baker quickly showed how experience matters, taking over a mess in Houston and providing a needed blend of integrity, knowledge and leadership, and his guidance and decisionmaking in the postseason got the Astros one win from the World Series.
Now we have Tony La Russa, who at 76 is five years older than Baker and was hired Thursday to manage the White Sox, the team that gave him his start back in 1979. It’s nine years since La Russa last managed,
six years since he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The White Sox are anything but a mess. This is not about fixing a broken team. This is about elevating an extremely talented team to a championship after the White Sox were bounced by the A’s in the first round of the playoffs.
The response to the hiring has been consistent. La Russa is getting crushed. The White Sox are getting crushed. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf, the man who brought in La Russa in 1979 and brought him back in 2020, is getting crushed.
On social media. On talk shows. In columns. Cases are being made that La Russa is the wrong guy for a whole lot of reasons. The age factor. The modernday analytics. The Colin Kaepernick criticism. The list goes on.
La Russa addressed the issues in his introductory interview, including his Kaepernick comments in 2016 when he said it was disrespectful to the country, the flag and soldiers to take a knee during the national anthem, and he questioned Kaepernick’s sincerity.
Perhaps La Russa got educated by the Black Lives Matter movement. Here’s his take from Thursday:
“I know in 2016 when the first issue occurred, my initial instincts were all about respecting the flag and the anthem and what America stands for. There’s been a lot that’s gone on in a very healthy way since 2016, and not only do I respect but I applaud the awareness that’s come into not just society, but especially in sports.
“If you talk about specifically baseball, I applaud and would support the fact that they are now addressing, identifying the injustices, especially on the racial side. And as long as it’s peacefully protested and sincere, like with the Players Alliance, when your protests actually have actionoriented results, the way you impact and make things better, I’m all for it.”
La Russa also addressed the changing game and heavy use of analytics, saying he embraces it. The more information, the better, though he has been critical over the years with how the game was being taken out of the manager’s hands.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it taught us that adjustments are absolutely necessary.
This is what I think. La Russa will adjust. He’ll loosen up. He’ll manage like it’s 2021, not 1999. He’ll use the analytics his team provides. He’ll rely on his staff for input.
All the things Baker did this year. Baker didn’t manage like he did as a rookie manager with the Giants, when he expertly pressed all the right buttons in a 103win 1993 season and often explained his decisionmaking by saying, “I had a hunch.”
Baker managed like it was 2021 with his lineups and pitching decisions, especially in October, and he was cool with his players showing emotion and flipping their bats and admiring their home runs because that’s how the game now is played.
La Russa should be similar. Remember, he managed one of the flashiest teams of all time. His A’s practically invented showboating. Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco and Dave Parker and Dave Henderson and Dennis Eckersley, those guys never hid their emotions, and La Russa never tried to silence them.
As for the innovative way managers run games these days, remember, La Russa and his pitching coach, Dave Duncan, created a new way of handling a bullpen with situational setup men and the oneinning closer. He also experimented with a threeman rotation and batted his starting pitcher eighth.
La Russa will rely on analytics but maybe not to the extent of Kevin Cash — he wouldn’t pull Blake Snell when he’s dealing in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series with a 10 lead, just because the opponents’ first three hitters are coming up a third time.
La Russa, who has 2,728 wins, six World Series appearances and three titles, has remained in the game since he last managed and held various roles with the Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Angels. He knows the game is different, and he’ll be different, too. He’ll adjust. He must.
It’s a fabulous opportunity taking over one of the most promising teams, and La Russa is a fit because he knows how to win a championship, even at an advanced age.
Last November, Baker spoke about how baseball needed to value managers with experience, how older folks could benefit and educate the game’s younger generation. He drew a parallel to music.
“Musicians hook up all the time,” Baker said. “Let’s learn from this cat because Ray Charles might have something to show you. The young dudes hold the old dudes in high esteem because they might learn something to improve their music when presented in a modern way.”