By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Chicago White Sox have hired Tony La Russa as the team’s new manager. He replaces Rick Renteria, who was fired at the end of the season.
This will be the second stint as manager for La Russa with the White Sox. He previously managed the team from 1979 through 1986.
Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa celebrates on the field after defeating the Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7 to win the World Series
Tony La Russa celebrates on the field after defeating the Texas Rangers 6-2 in Game 7 to win the World Series (Getty Images)
La Russa was considered to be the favorite for the job after the White Sox fired Renteria. In 2020, Renteria guided the team to a 35-25 record.
In addition, he guided the team to their first-time playoff appearance since the 2008 season.
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La Russa was last a manager a decade ago with the St. Louis Cardinals. He managed the Cardinals from 1996 through 2011.
In his final season, he guided the Cardinals to a World Series win over the Texas Rangers. He also guided the team to a World Series championship in 2006 over the Detroit Tigers.
La Russa has managed the White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Cardinals. He was a manager every season from 1979 through 2011.
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Besides the two World Series Championships with the Cardinals, La Russa also guided the Athletics to the World Series Championship over the San Francisco 49ers.
He has guided his team to six pennants and 2,728 wins. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said firing La Russa in the 1980’s was ‘one of the biggest mistakes and regrets of his ownership tenure.’
Reinsdorf said he considers La Russa like a brother.
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“I stupidly allowed him to be fired, but I can still sort of justify it,” said Reinsdorf during the 2013 Winter Meetings after La Russa joined Bobby Cox and Joe Torre as Hall of Fame inductees as voted on by the 16-member Expansion Era committee. “When you are running an organization, you can’t tell the head of a department who is going to work for him. So the general manager wanted to let him go, and I couldn’t talk him out of it. So I had to let it happen.
“Before I let that happen, I called Roy Eisenhardt, who was president of the Oakland A’s at the time, and said, ‘Things aren’t working out here. If we let him go, will you hire him?’ He said, ‘In a heartbeat.’ I would like to think if Roy said no, I would have stopped it.”
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