Tony La Russa right man for White Sox managing job
Nightengale column: MLB has changed since he left the baseball dugout in 2011.
Tony La Russa might be a Hall of Famer, and one of the greatest managers in baseball history, but his introductory news conference in his return to the White Sox on Thursday was contentious, even combative at times, hardly your typical lovefest.
He repeatedly was questioned, in different ways, how he could handle the job as a 76-year-old man. Never mind that Joe Biden will be 78 if he’s elected president and would be running an entire country, not a baseball club.
He was asked his view about the new-age players and White Sox star Tim Anderson’s passion for bat flips, as if Reggie Jackson and Rickey Henderson didn’t strut for him managing the Athletics, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire didn’t bash, and Dennis Eckersley never pumped his fist.
They grilled him on his approach toward analytics, as if La Russa last managed before the typewriter, forgetting that this was the man who virtually invented the bullpen, resurrected Eckersley and has been one of the most creative thinkers in the game.
He was asked if he’s out of touch with the game since retiring as manager in 2011, and going into the Hall of Fame in 2014, ignoring the fact he was running the Diamondbacks’ baseball operations department for three years, was a vice president with the Red Sox for another three, including their World Series championship year, and the past year as a special adviser with the Angels.
And it took only two questions into the news conference to be asked about his view toward players kneeling during the national anthem, recalling his criticism of former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016.
Certainly, the most sensitive subject was race, with La Russa answering three questions about it during his 50minute Zoom call at their spring training headquarters in Arizona.
“When that first occurred,” La Russa said, “my first instinct was respecting the flag and what America stands for. There has been a lot going on since 2016. I not only respect, but the awareness that comes into society and into sports.
I applaud and would support that they are now addressing, identifying the injustices, especially on the racial side. And as long as it’s peacefully protested and sincere, like The Players Alliance, when your protests have action-oriented results, the way you impact and make things better, I’m all for it.”
La Russa then reeled off several of the Black players who played for him in Chicago, Oakland and St. Louis and dared anyone to say they were treated differently than anyone else.
“There is not a racist bone in my body,” La Russa said. “I do not like injustice. Anything that is peacefully done and sincerely thought of, and especially the action at the end of it, there will not be a problem.”
Please, La Russa says, don’t be naïve enough to believe he’s opposed to analytics, welcoming the information but not letting it control his managerial decisions. “The wealth of information that helps you prepare, I embrace it. We were always information seekers. You take the value of that information, and it gives you a better chance for success.
But once the game starts, it’s a very volatile experience, they are players, not machines. You watch the game and how to put people in there to win.”
Oh, and about those bat flips by Anderson and young players?
Bring ’em on.
“I do believe that sportsmanship is important and having respect for your opponents,” he said. “(But) I always reasoned that if it’s sincere, I don’t have a problem with it. For players who are more exuberant, people are showing, ‘Hey, they’re coming through.’ MLB is encouraging them to do so. I always reasoned that if it’s sincere, and directed towards the game, I don’t have a problem with it. The only thing I say is if your team celebrates, and their team celebrates, neither team can be upset, as long as everybody is doing it sincerely.”
Certainly, times have changed since La Russa last managed in 2011, leading the Cardinals to the World Series.
La Russa had no plans to return to managing when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, but being upstairs and watching games from the executive suites was torturous.
“My heart,” La Russa said, “was always in the dugout.”
He greatly missed the competition, and after the White Sox approached him, it took him three weeks to decide he wanted to do it, before making it official on Monday.
So, can he actually pull this off, taking one of the most talented young teams in baseball and bring home the White Sox’s first World Series title since 2005?
“I think this is going to be really good for the White Sox,” said Dave Stewart, the former 20-game winner under La Russa in Oakland and later his GM with Arizona. “You have managers in this game that are good to a certain point, and then you need a guy that pushes you over the top. I think Tony will be the finishing touches for the White Sox.”
Yes, just like when the Cubs fired Rick Renteria for Joe Maddon, resulting in a World Series championship two years later, the White Sox believe they are doing the sequel, firing Renteria for La Russa.
And, yes, besides being the thirdoldest manager in baseball history, and joining Jack McKeon as the only managers to take over a team at 75 or older, Stewart believes there’s no doubt he can relate to players young enough to be his grandkids. Why, not a single active player was born when La Russa first was hired to manage the White Sox in 1979, and 15 of the players on that team will be in their 70s next season with five deceased.
“Modern players are modern players,” Stewart said, “but the game is still played the same. I think the moment Tony walks into the room he has a totally different respect than anyone else managing the game today.
“I don’t know why people don’t think he can relate with today’s modern players. Even today’s players respect the game and respect how it is played. One thing Tony is good at is that he’s good at how the game should be played. I think the adjustment will be from both sides, some give from Tony and some give from the players, and there will be a happy medium.“
Now, here he is, a three-time World Series champion who has won the thirdmost games in baseball history (2,728), back in the dugout where he first started, rejoining one of his closest friends, White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.