The White Sox announced today that Hall of Famer Tony La Russa is returning to the organization as their new manager for the 2021 season. La Russa has agreed to a multi-year deal, tweets Scott Merkin of MLB.com.
This is, of course, the second managerial stint for La Russa with the White Sox organization. His first began more than four decades ago in 1979 and ran through the 1986 season. While others were connected to the White Sox vacancy, most notably former Astros skipper A.J. Hinch, it appears that La Russa was owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s pick from the beginning. Indeed, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets that the move to hire La Russa was purely a “Reinsdorf decision” while noting that others in the organizations “have concerns” about La Russa’s ability (or lack thereof) to connect with the club’s young core.
It’s been nine full seasons since La Russa last managed at the MLB level, with the Cardinals, and the game has changed considerably since that time. Data from clubs’ analytics departments has increasingly made its way into in-game decision-making, often generating polarizing reaction from fans, and the sport as a whole has moved to embrace aggressive defensive shifts and pitching strategies that defy the conventional wisdom which permeated big league dugouts during La Russa’s last run.
Since that time, La Russa has remained involved in the game in a variety of roles, most notably serving as the Diamondbacks’ “chief baseball officer” from 2014-17 — a stint that is remembered more for his role in overseeing one of the more lopsided trades in recent memory than for the team’s performance in that time.
After moving on from skipper Rick Renteria, it was reported that the White Sox wanted an experienced manager with a winning pedigree, which prompted many onlookers to speculate about Hinch and former Red Sox manager Alex Cora. La Russa does fit the bill on a fundamental level, having spent 33 years a Major League manager during which time he’s posted a .536 winning percentage, taken home six pennants and won three World Series titles.
Still, to say this hiring bucks the industry trend at this point would be making a colossal understatement, and the decision to bring La Russa aboard has already generated a rather perplexed reaction from those within the game and pundits alike. La Russa will inherit a wildly talented core of young players that give him the foundation for a championship caliber club — Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Nick Madrial, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease and Dane Dunning among them — but the unconventional (by today’s standards) nature of his hire will also put him under a microscope as he strives to navigate that core to the World Series.
LOL!
And just like that, the White Sox window has closed.
Let’s hope the players take a knee.
How many years? And you have to wonder what what control he will exercise over the roster.
@realsox: he’ll have more control than Hahn, that’s just been proven.
Maybe Hahn moves on to his fav MLB team, the Cubs.
I thought La Russa was dead ? How old is that guy ?
He’s not. Just his career WAS.
He got better— Trapper John McIntyre
Time for the seventh inning nap . Sponsored by depends diapers
Chuckled hard at that, thanks! Lol
BAHAHAHAHA
Yes!
I think Tony will do a decent job. (Was Dusty bad this year?) Would you rather have him or Renteria manage the game? We’ll see if Tony’s still got it in the clubhouse.
Dusty actually finished under .500. That said, Tony will do fine—he’s got a very, very solid roster.
Over .500 if you count the playoffs (8-5 I think?) which you might as well in a 60-game season
Or 0-1 in the game that could have sent them to the World Series. If you are counting meaningful games.
About the best thing you can say is he’s probably better than Renteria. I can’t imagine the players being excited or being able to understand this. As one person offered “Hire Tony La Russa so top free agents don’t want to come here. Then, offer top free agents the most money knowing that they won’t take it. The Sox can then fail to sign them and Jerry can say he wasn’t cheap.”
Maybe harsh, but I just can’t imagine why they do something like this when the overwhelming response is so negative which was clear before they made the move. Reindorf has gotten them 1 championship in 4 decades… apparently he may even be able to screw this up too. We’ll see if they get any real players this offseason or make excuses.
Dose Tony know he can’t ride out on his Jazzy to Argue a call. Tony so old that when he used to make a call to the bullpen it was made with smoke signals
Wow the White Sox brought Tony Montana outta retirement from managing! Its Dick Vermeil 2.0 just different sport and more time in between. Dave Duncan was a major part of La Russa success as we all know so much depends on pitching in this game. I always liked him as manager of the cardinals.
Let’s hire a racist drunk to manage a team with unbelievable upside. Yeah, that’s smart.
He can get away with it on that team and that part of the city. lol (sarcasm, folks)
Run DMC, What about that comment is sarcastic? You mean exactly what you imply… What is actually ironic is the Native American stereotype that you use as an avatar while attempting jokes about racism
No, I don’t mean what I imply. When you consider the line-up features star SS Tim Anderson and the largest amount of Cubans in a starting lineup, playing in southside Chicago – I would imagine this job would have accountability IF (capitalizing for emphasis) he is even a smidge of what is out there about him. Not saying it’s true, but if there were any truth to it.
i know he has a DUI, but what has he done to suggest he is racist? serious question.
His ranting old man comments on anthem kneeling.
He didn’t say anything explicitly racist. He shared his opinion as he felt it was disrespectful, unless there’s another quote I’m missing.
How does calling people out for being anti-American make a person racist?
Note I am taking the quotes from this source:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2663640-tony-la-russa-comments-on-colin-kaepernicks-national-anthem-protest.amp.html
Ironic that you are in favor of one type of free speech but not another. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
His comments were he felt it was “disrespectful” but he wouldn’t sanction a player for kneeling. The majority of people feel that way and still respect ones right to protest.
Ron Gant, former player, called him racist in 1999.
Or even implicitly for that matter.
So because someone calls him a racist he automatically is. Got it…
It’s worth noting that Gant was immediately contradicted by Rickey Henderson (who he used as a reference to back him up) and also followed the racist claim with the reason that LaRussa likes “yes men so he could be in control of the team”. Which is fine if you dislike that style of managing, but it has nothing to do with the color of a persons skin.
One player in decades of coaching? Huh.
How many mlb managers get called out for being racist by a player? Very few, so I’d say it’s notable when it happens
you obviously don’t understand what kneeling is about
Amen.
Or just not a Christian. It’s not a requirement in this country, you know. Despite what some of you believe.
I remember that….Ron Gant hit .240 and LaRussa would take him out for defensive replacement late in games because he couldn’t field.
The kneeling was recommended by a US military veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but you already knew that. Why do veterans not have a problem with the kneeling, but you do?
Gee I wonder…
https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2016/09/kaepernick-meets-veteran-nate-boyer-kneels-anthem
I really don’t care what your opinion on the matter is since it’s your opinion, but I’m sure you could find about 20 articles of veterans who support and 20 articles about veterans who hate what Kapernick did.
Emilia has the brain worms it seems
Playing the anthem before a game is to show loyalty to the country. Playing the anthem on memorial day, or veterans day may be considered as honoring the fallen, but that’s not a game situation.
@runDMC Carl Everett said dinosaurs didn’t exist and that fossils are a hoax. I guess that’s true too.
He clearly said he would send the player back to the clubhouse.
Loving your country = racism to some people so
@CalcetineBlancos
Yet here you are being an ageist bigot. Why is it “old man comments”, plenty of people do not agree with kneeling for the anthem(of any country).. Oh the irony in your comment.
@Emilia
“Stand for the flag=kneel for the cross! Unless you are communist or socialist.”
You want to stop the kneeling? Stop your cracker cops from murdering unarmed young men in the streets. Pure and simple. Otherwise, stfu.
There are 2,000 card-carrying communists in the country and not all that many more socialists. So what are you talking about? Who are you talking to? Nobody. You’re talking to nobody. Your ignorance is showing.
A couple of articles that might shed some light on the racism allegations by Ron Gant:
https://retrosimba.com/2013/11/18/how-ron-gant-jeff-brantley-burned-bridges-with-cardinals/
https://nypost.com/1999/02/25/rickey-la-russa-is-no-racist-but/
Emilia: Perhaps a forgiving God will show mercy on any protesting American or non-Christian athletes…
…and jdgoat has the brain of a rock….a very small one…..lol
How sad that you think standing for a minute is anything more than tradition. Congratulations for being so gullible. It’s what the powers want you to believe. It’s the lazy and unethical man’s way of saying they are patriotic. Meanwhile, the people who are being honored are left to fend for themselves… Get a clue, being anti American involves a lot of violence or plotting violence against the U.S., not taking a knee to protest inequality. The national anthem is the perfect time to do so. It gives them visibility. The fact that it riles up people like you indicates its effectiveness.
If I were a betting man I’d wager that Harold Baines doesn’t consider Tony La Russa to be a racist. Just saying…
Saying something racist is one thing, taking a knee is unpatriotic, don’t confuse the 2, Dems don’t allow free speech unless u something nice about them w/o criticism
Answering a question. Never said there’s any truth to it. Keep digging.
What’s anti-American about kneeling? I think they were praying.
It’s typical when someone doesn’t have anything real to attack someone with they just use the race card plain and simple it’s used every day in politics how do you defend against something like that
The word “racist” is one of the most meaningless words in the dictionary now. People use it with the same frequency as they use the word “cool” or “good.”
Are you white by chance? Lol.
@CalcetineBlancos
It seems you’re the racist & bigot based on your comments and also commenting on specific skin colour.
As opposed to a vague skin “colour?” Lol.
Hah…last time I checked he had 2,690 more wins managing than David Ross.
I don’t get your point. Billy Hamilton has more career hits than Tatis Jr. You are comparing two totally different scenarios to deceptively make a point.
Worked for Ozzie Guilin in 2005.
Being against anthem kneeling is NOT racist. There are too many reasons to be against it to mention here.
But,,,,, don’t you just love watching grandpa go to the mound in tight pants, that look like he’s wearing a leotard.
And his sexy dark hair, too.
Thank Gawd for hair dye………
When you find a brain, let us all know….until then doggone, go bury yourself!
Maybe Dusty Baker can confirm this
One DUI does not make someone a drunk, and he’s not racist.
What on earth
huh didnt see that happening.
WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK?
Maybe he’s spent the last nine years learning to use a phone.
Boo-urns.
What in TARNATION?!
It’s so nice to see fresh, young talent starting to land the managerial jobs.
this isn’t the plot of a twilight zone episode?
Heard Hahn said “it’s him or me”, smdh wtf sox, Gd Reinsdorf
He’s 76 years old. Forget COVID. How is he gonna last through 162 game season??
76 and has lived hard. Maybe all the alcohol has him pickled and well preserved.
Tony La Russa is an amateur compared to Keith Richards. Last I checked the other “Glimmer Twin” can still rock on stage and survive a worldwide rock tour.
….at least he has a better memory than Joe Bi..n and knows who the opponent is, where he is, and what position he holds…..lol
lol omg you are so funny good one!
Closer to 200 with White Sox in World Series!
Connie Mack was coaching in his mid 80’s.
@Megatron2005
Yes, imagine a 76 year old doing anything productive, I mean it beggars belief, how dare he, and how dare the CWS hire him. Will you have a motorised chair ready for his visits to the mound, ‘because most 76 year olds can’t walk’ and are ‘incapable’.
Warren Buffet says hello.
Indeed.
Maybe the players can show him how to use an iPhone or get on the interweb.
Our next soon to be 78-year old President says hello too!
No one wants either of them either.
Well I guess La Russa and JB will each have the last laugh this week. Perhaps La Russe was strictly a JR hire but he got the White Sox gig. JB will prevail on November 3rd because most of us disapprove of our current POTUS. It will be a sufficiently big enough margin guaranteeing that the ludicrous electoral college and an even more conservative Supreme Court won’t influence the will of the majority of Americans this time around.
The White Sox are going to be fun next season
Dumpster Diving Hahn and Reinsdorf!
I hope that’s how it’s supposed to be done lmao
Should’ve known that Hahn was forced to do this. Dumpster Diving Reinsdorf it is!
Dumpster diving? Do you really believe a 76-year old HOF manager will be working with the White Sox for peanuts or trying to impress Jerry Reinsdorf enough for an even better contract as he approaches 80?
2020 is wild.
So is he still a hall of famer? Haven’t seen any active hall of famers before lol
I still have have no idea why Buck Showalter not given a chance.
I think Connie Mack was a HOFer when he managed the Athletics. But he also owned the team.
He also wore a suit in the dugout, instead of a uniform
Larussa was 6 yrs old when Mack was still managing the A’s
Correct re Mack. He was the only one until now.
Stupid move to sign this guy over hinch
Seriously?
Maybe cheating had something to do with it?
Hinch is and probably will be a pariah amongst possible managing candidates….sooner or later, but it won’t be sooner!
Reinsdorf is senile.
So the two of them will make a great match, is what I’m hearing.
is he the first active hall of fame manager ?
Connie Mack is the only other one.
This is such a bad decision and will lead the White Sox to nothing but failure. A drunk racist out of touch old white guy was their best option? Sad, very sad. Hope they end up in 4th.
Has he done/said some awful things I don’t know about? you’re the second one to call him racist. Bring the receipts. Or retract it.
Yeah, I think “out-of-touch drunk who denied obvious, over-the-top steroid use in two of his Championship clubhouses and was rewarded with a Hall of Fame plaque for playing along with used car salesman Selig’s charades” hits enough points to make additional charges of racism necessary.
He’s not a drunk racist, and all the managers at the time played along with Selig in ignoring the PED problem as long as they could.
Ah well let’s hire them all then.
@fffbbb
It sounds like you’re the racist and bigot here, not TLR.
The racists are the cracker cops murdering young, unarmed black men, mostly innocent ones. Let all white conservatives reject the cracker cops and put them all in jail and we can be done with the kneeling. Simple.
So most of the black men killed by police are unarmed and innocent? You have got to be kidding!!!
In 99.9% of those cases, police are called due to the behavior of these outstanding innocent citizens. How about these pillars of society actually follow the lawful police order instead of fighting with the police?
This is especially stupid because there’s literally nobody else that would have ever dreamed of hiring this guy, so there was no reason to rush things.
Once they got approval, it was a done deal. It will be very interesting to see how this turns out. High risk!! When Durocher and Weaver returned, it wasn’t pretty.
Reinsdorf wanted his friend back to spend time with him. Does La Russa know how the new statistical way of playing ball is in? If he does not use analytics as much as demanded by Hahn (whom I think will be gone within a year and will be replacing the GM of the Cubs who I think will be fired at the end of the year) will that get him fired? And a multi-year contract?
Does he still have the alcohol problem?
White Sox will not win the division. La Russa is not going to bond well with the young players even though he speaks Spanish. And how many will blame him for the Renteria removal (talked Reinsdorf into doing it perhaps?) Gawd knows what fossil La Russia will dig up for a pitching coach. Is Duncan still alive? This is so sad………
This will rank up there with the Trubisky screwup for the sports teams of Chicago…….
Managers don’t have the kind of influence that a quarterback has. I’m not happy about the signing either, but managers don’t make THAT much of a difference. Gardenhire was great with the Twins and the Tigers were bad under him, because the Tigers had bad players. Renteria was a bad manager and still had a winning team. And at least LaRussa is not incredibly stupid, he does have 3 rings.
Not saying I like it but I would take Koko the gorilla over Renteria. Tony would have been my last choice, but we’ll see how it goes. I feel your pain though, not a happy day!
It won’t be that hard for La Russa to catch up on the latest analytics. He was always one of the best at in-game strategy, especially bullpen management, although he can no longer use one of his favorite tricks of bringing in a lefty for just one or two batters.
This has to be Reinsdorfs’ call. Can’t believe Hahn on board with this hire. Reinsdorf doing a “ make good” from when a LaRussa fired decades ago. Reinsdorf always regretted that
Jeff Passan has confirmed that it was Reinsdorf who made the decision. Such a stupid move for the Sox to make
Wow, I really thought this was all a smokescreen to distract from the blowback expected with a Hinch signing. This should be fun watching TLR manage again!
Where are all the Sox fans on here now???!! They love to dump on the cubs and Dumpster Diving Theo…come out come out wherever you are!!
Here I am….we were disappointed because we really wanted a manager with no experience and had 2,690 less wins likes David Ross.
Wow. The best you got? A few things left out in this comparison, but that’s the sox fan for ya! (The, not a, as I don’t know if there is more than one)
Time to raise that dosage.
Not a Chicago sports fan, but I would put my money on the Sox winning a WS before the Cubs going forward.
Jerrys commitment to keeping the team mediocre is unwavering. He doesnt want a championship team. Just a team thats good enough to make you think they have a chance.
La Russa gives them a better chance at it. He’s a Hall of Fame manager for very good reasons.
Talk about dumping water on the fire — wow.
If we can elect a 78 year old president for a 365-day job, why not a 76 year old for 162 games? Better yet, why aren’t people of that age retired?
I can’t wait for such extreme examples of the “council of elders” mentality to die with the Boomer generation.
Ha! It’s just going to get worse, because the millenials will live even longer, and they aren’t going to want to let go, either! BWAHAHAHA!
Their GOP will also do it’s best to make sure Social Security and Medicare is gone or try to increase the retirement age past most folks life expectancy.
Shocked. I didn’t think they’d actually do it.
To the White Sox;
Thank you!
Signed,
Tiger fans!
You’re welcome!
Signed, Manager who beat your Tigers in the World Series.
Got him!
Nicely done
Love it or hate it, you know it’s going to be interesting.
he’s going to round out his coaching staff by hiring Aubrey Huff as his hitting coach, Curt Schilling as his pitching coach, and Cap Anson as his bench coach.
Where’s Ozzie gonna fit in this mix?
considering Tim Anderson is going to demand a trade in about 5 seconds, shortstop is pretty wide open.
I think Guillen is a little old for SS; DH maybe.
Oh wow I thought La Russa was the past. I remember when he was the A’s skipper, the rumor was that Tony knew Canseco and McGuire were doing PED’s well in advance the scandal erupted. Well, I guess societies forget and move on…
Yeah 30+ years later.
La Russa still managed the Cardinals for years after all the PED scandals blew over. People didn’t care about his record on the matter then, and they don’t care now.
Is Tony going to put the band back together. Duc – pitching coach
Yes he already said Duncan is going with him
Jime Leyland is available to coach 3rd base!
Duncan is not coming with him. He announced on his press conference that Duncan is not coming out of retirement.
Great news for Twins fans
That remains to be seen. I’d be more concerned with winning an actual playoff game before worrying about who is managing a division rival.
Lmao
Yes, it all but ensures they’ll lose every game in the first round of the playoffs again.
Gonna be real fun when old man Tony manages the team to a 20-60 start and Reinsdorf has to fire his BFF, lol
What about if they get off to a 60-20 start? All these nay-sayers sure won’t own up to the negativity lol
That would be fantastic and I would 100% eat my words
I think this is a terrible move but if Tony the Lush can get them off to a 60-20 record I will eat my words as well.
Wow
Please name Tommy Lasorda the third base coach……
Whitey Herzog for Bench Coach
Adam and Eve for bat boy and girl.
Call up Nolan Ryan….maybe he will be the pitching coach. Then LaRussa can retire and Sox can bring back Robin Ventura. It’s like Vince McMahon wrote this script.
i know people will trash this hiring, but as much as it might be fun the guy’s a hall of fame manager. he’s no idiot when it comes to the game.
It’s a fair point. My counterpoint is, do you really think managing success in the 70s- even 00s has any impact on being a successful manager today?
Imagine using 50 year old strategy with this core of the Sox lol. “Eloy is 0-3 today… OMG HE SQUARES TO BUNT”
May be be some funny mlbn highlights
Apparently you didn’t watch Blake Snell get pulled the other night for analytics…
and theres a point here. you need s guy who can combine analytics to a reasonable degree. even if analytics have advanced greatly, the game isnt astronomically different then it was when La Russa last managed in 2011, and he’s remained around the game since so i highly doubt he’s completely inadept with new managerial advances.
And as much as I’m against this hiring laRussa wouldn’t have pulled Snell
One failure does not disprove the last 5-7 years of success for data minded teams.
The Dodgers are equally as analytically inclined as the Rays.
They did not have a pitcher throw more than 48 pitches or 2 innings. A RF with a .550 slg% hit lead-off. They don’t bunt.They don’t hit behind runners. They go by stacking the line-up and relying on OBP.
LaRussa has nots hown inclination to do these things.
It’s goofy how the narrative of this World Series somehow turned into “analytics vs. tradition” rather than one analytics driven team beating another analytics driven team.
I mean, they got the series with this exact formula. Their offense isn’t good enough to come back if Snell goes 3rd time and give up 9hole hit, hit, hit bomb.
The wrong call was Anderson (of course with hindsight), but his recent usage+results also say this shouldn’t have been the first guy out of the pen
It’s fun to blame analytics, but last I checked a computer isn’t pitching to a fax machine. Players still need to play.
The best managerial strategist of his time can easily adapt to 9 years of advances.
It’s not the same game he succeededin as a manger. Or even the one he failed at as an exec for AZ.
Buckle up folks, this is gonna be a hell of a ride
Heyyyy, if he can unretire while in the HOF, can we undo his ridiculous backroom arm-twisting of the HOF to lower the bar more than a few notches to get Hal Baines in?
Dave Stewart to be pitching coach? I hear Shelby Miller and Yasmany Tomas are available LOL
The disdain for this hiring feels premature. He could be returning for 1 or 2 seasons with the idea being to groom a successor? Let’s see the staff before rushing to judgment.
I applaud it over hiring Hinch, I know that much.
Oldest manager in baseball now. That’s cool… Get one of the youngest teams in baseball the oldest manager in baseball.
People living in the year LaRussa was born were closer in time to the last year of what would have been Abraham Lincoln’s 2nd term than we are to LaRussa’s birthday.
This made me laugh
As the show says, Jerry Jerry Jerry! Rooting for utter chaos
Oh. Wrong guy? Sorry this is going to be just as big of a disaster
they’re signing Jerry Blevins?
I like how people automatically accuse an older white man as racist instead of seeing that maybe age isn’t a factor, if you believe they can get the job done. Not a big fan of the hiring, but they said they wanted someone with experience and they went with the guy that has the most experience and is still alive.
Do you really think people are just making this up? Cmon. Why don’t you do your homework before calling others out for jumping to conclusions
https://www.google.com/amp/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/the-hypocrisy-of-tony-la-russa-and-the-understandable-fears-of-black-baseball-players-045857175.html
Lol using yahoo as some type of authoritative source. What’s next, wikipedia?
I usually like Passan, but wow, that is a horribly-written article
Nice column. Note it’s a column. Indicating an OPINION. And the first paragraph alone is indicative of what a garbage journalist Passan is. He lists several things that have nothing at all to do with the supposed topic of the column.
The hate that person spews is unreal,
His virtue signaling unending.
there is no such thing as virtue signalling, also Passan is the best journalist in the game. Sounds like all larussa does is spew hate, just like you.
There is no such thing as virtue signal?
What?
Signaling *
Cool your jets pinstripes.
1. Passan clearly hates LaRussa. Every opinion column he’s ever written on the subject proves that.
2. The reason Passan hates LaRussa is because of politics. He disagrees with his politics so he writes poorly written columns about him. Hardly worthy of “the best journalist in the game”.
3. Passan often glomps onto the most incendiary topics of the day. Always with a leftist bend, so as to make his media over-lords happy. The very definition of virtue signaling.
4. The fact that you said I “spew hate” is evidence of the real problem in our society. There are people who disagree about a variety of issues. One side consistently labels the other side as “racist” or “radical” or “hateful” or whatever other label you want to put on it. The other side simply disagrees.
5. You, and others like you, are wishing for a bad ending. It’s a big problem in our society. You want to squash the speech of people you disagree with. You want laws enacted to squash the speech of people you disagree with. You want to squash their speech via intimidation and public shaming via social media. In the end, freedom will prevail.
Maybe the owner is suffering from dementia and he really believes it’s 1988. F and that is a very big if Tony manages to survive a season as a manager what happened in 2022 when he is physically unable to walk to the mound to remove his starter? Does he use a walker, wheelchair or have his pitching coach do it? Tony is very old-school and that is not going to fly in 2021 we should start a poll over or under how many Chicago White Sox pitchers are recommended by the end of the season for Tommy John surgery. I will say between two and four
So tired of these young people thinking that all older people are out of touch. You what a lot of older people work cause that is what was installed in us. Not everything from the passed is outdated, you know like hard work. How about this you young people quit thinking you know everything. Go in there with the idea of willing to learn and work hard. Yes absolutely there will be things he is going to adjust to along with accepting certain tools at his disposal. Now over numerous decades this guy has brought a lot of new ideas to the game that so many teams now use. Like making bullpen an intracellular parts of the modern game.
It depends on the person. Joe Maddon is over 70 but he gives off a way different vibe.
Never mind. Maddon is only 66. I tried! 🙂
Ah yes. The young people are just big ol bullies. I’m so tired of old people claiming millennials are the worst thing to happen to their life
Look who destroyed our country. Wasn’t the millennials. It was your generation! Maybe we don’t feel like making the same mistakes as your idiotic generation did? Hmm
But yeah. The generation who are the same ages as current players are the ones out of touch. Not you. 40+ years older than the oldest guys out there. Sure. And of course we don’t know how to work too!!! Hahahah wow. You’re something. I’ll make sure to get off your lawn.
Our country has been destroyed? News to me.
Yadi to the White Sox now makes all the sense in the world. Easy way for LaRussa to connect with the young Hispanic players, invaluable experience for the young pitching staff, “assistant to the manager” training for Yadi, a DH sp they don’t lose Grandals bat when Yadi is catching…I hope he stays put, but I would be more surprised if he did at this point.
Stan- stick to super heros.
Beautifully articulated counterpoint there!
The G on the jug in the dugout will be for Geritol not Gatorade.
Tony- Quick somebody feed me a tablespoon of Geritol. I’m going to make a pitching change and the pitching mound is too steep of a climb for these legs. I’ll be winded by the 5th inning.
Beautiful!!!!! I luv it.
Tony can speak Spanish… maybe that was a factor lol
Can he think in Spanish?
Wow!!
It’s possible this guy is a good manager in 2021 but going behind the back of your GM to make a decision is not a good look for any owner. For that this still gets an F.
Hahn needs to say goodbye and walk away
Pitching Coach- Tony why are u kneeling for the flag? I thought you were against it?
Who’s kneeling. I bent down to tie my shoes and I can’t get back up.
This makes no sense.
I mean, I’m all for hiring experienced managers (for instance Buck Showalter should absolutely have a job) but this guy hadn’t managed in almost a decade, he’s failed miserably at everything else he’s tried, he’s had off the field issues that bring his character into question and he’s made some woefully tone deaf comments that may well annihilate any chance he’s got to connect with his players.
On top of it all, this is a young team that should be trying to make itself relevant for the long term bringing in a guy who’s not might be there–what?–two or three years tops? I don’t get it.
There’s a lot of evidence that says pretty plainly that this game has passed him by, and absolutely none to suggest that he’s got any chance of catching lightning in a bottle in the next year of two.
White Sox are gonna win the 1989 pennant.
The godfather of multiple pitching changes in the same inning. The three-batter rule will drive him batty.
This is clearly an intentional finger in the eye to the analytics movement. Thank Kevin cash White Sox fans. Maybe it’ll be the start of an anti analytics movement.
Good point he for sure would have never made that game changing mistake Cash made
I could honestly see LaRussa being more amenable to analytics than most old-school managers who are still floating around. I think this is more of a case of Reinsdorf wanting to make a flashy move for his ego.
Shows their payroll will be bottom 3. Disgraceful. They want to lose to save money
then why did they sign Keuchel and Grandal if they were so cheap?
They’ll be gone mid-season. it was nothing but a half-assed attempt last season
The rotation of Lamarr Hoyt, Dick Dotson, Britt Burns, Floyd Bannister and Jerry Koosman will make his transition back into managing much smoother.
As long as he hasJuan Agosto to rely on when the game is onthe line, everything will be OK.
I think it’s a big mistake. He’s 50 plus years older than most of his players. My biggest issue is that they made the hire without interviewing many, very deserving candidates. I thought Beltran or Alomar, Jr.., among others would’ve been worth interviewing. I believe Reinsdorf made the decision. These type of decisions should come from the guys hired to run the organization, not the owner. Time will tell, but I don’t like the hire!
The actual hiring isn’t even the worst part about this. The worst part is that they had absolutely ZERO interest in even talking to other candidates.
How long is he gonna be at the helm? Are they gonna name Paul Konerko hitting coach/manager-in-waiting?
This isn’t like hiring a Buck Showalter to set the foundation for a rebuild, takes everyone back to fundamentals, and how to tie their cleats- this is a guy who relied on the brilliance of Dave Duncan to turn poop to gold pitching wise and a few Gold Glove/100 RBI guys. Is he gonna try to get Yadier Molina?
Wow, way to reduce all of his accomplishments, including three World Series rings a pretty darn big win total, and a hall of fame induction, to nothing. If it was that easy, every manager would be doing it.
At least he’s younger than Sleepy Joe.
And ten times as smart as the Orange Snowflake.
Sox just can’t get out of their own way.
Terrible.
Laughingstocks of baseball. Again.
Maybe one of the worst decisions in MLB history. This guy will never get these young players to play into his my way or highway attitude. If Hahn has any he moves on and resigns
There is a misconception that Tony doesn’t play young players. The Cardinals gave Yadi the starting job at 22. Who replaced Isringhausen as closer at the end of 2006? Cardinals had Braden Looper, who had over 100 saves and was also on the 2003 Marlins.. Instead, he went with rookie Adam Wainwright as the closer and it worked. Obviously going with Pujols as a 21 year old worked out pretty well, too.
Now expecting a 76 year old manager to gel with a bunch of young players now may be difficult.. They have a talented group of young players, so maybe all Tony needs to do is fill in the lineup card and watch them play.
I seem to recall a few here saying interviewing LaRussa was nothing more than due diligence but as i said then you don’t ask to interview a manager like LaRussa if you aren’t going to hire him and here it is
Plus, as I stated earlier, he’s friends with Reinsdorf. Once his name “leaked” he was the candidate.
On the surface, this seems like a very strange hire and doomed to failure. Having said that, I was equally skeptical when ASU hired Herm Edwards as their head football coach. Herm now has ASU football on the upswing having surrounded himself with an excellent coaching staff that is recruiting well and developing players.
If TLR is, and has been, in constant learning mode the past several years, he may surprise us all. If not, this could be a colossal mistake… stay tuned.
Fun fact: LaRussa will pass (most likely) John McGraw for second all time in managerial wins with 2,764. He’ll still be nearly 1,000 wins behind Connie Mack (3,731). I have to imagine no one will ever touch Mack’s record.
Hard to get fired when you own the team. But even George Halas took some coaching breaks now and then.
To all these young, up-and-coming, exciting White Sox players, I’m sorry. So sorry. Your future was so bright.
Will they let him use a wheelchair or motorized cart to go out too the mound or when turning in the batting order
read on this site a couple of weeks back that Larussa to chisox was a possibility. no surprise here
I’ll bet the free agents will be lining up for the chance to play for this egotistical, soured dotard.
So much complaining about hiring a hall of fame manager. I was shocked, don’t get me wrong, but he’s tony la russa. You don’t think they talked about the differences in his and the current baseball eras? Give him a chance. And of course people call him racists. Everything is racist now, except the ones claiming racism on everything of course
The mob won’t agree with you about giving him a chance….all these baseball brainiacs have already made up their minds and because you don’t agree with them….your a RACIST! the new mantra for the uninformed and mentally challenged.
Tony will probably sublet his position to someone else and head back to napping his afternoons away.
News Flash!!!!
Tigers to hire Joe Torre!
No wait!!! Lou Piniella to be interviewed first.
Better than hiring a 30 year old nerd that knows nothing about the game other that he read Moneyball and knows how to access Fangraphs.
Actually, it’s even worse. Teams hire 30 year old nerds who only watched Moneyball and haven’t even read the book! SAD!
People will complain mightily if AJ Hinch or Alex Cora or Carlos Beltran get hired to manage a team, but they won’t bat an eye over the guy that did nothing about McGwire and Canseco getting hired. Well they won’t bat an eye for that reason.anyway.
Don’t you wonder what McGuire and Canseco could have done if they knew what pitches were coming and juiced up WOW!
What’s to say they didn’t? Let’s not kid ourselves. Most elite players and managers know pretty much what pitch is coming at all times. All you have to do is listen to the play by play guys that call pitches before the sign is even dropped. The key is for the pitcher to do something unexpected, but not too often.
That’s right, because rightfully nobody cares about the latter point, while the other guys rightfully deserve the criticism.
The best thing about this hiring are the comments. Keep them coming!
I really like LaRussa and hated Hawk Harrelson’s decision to cut him loose. I believe we would have done considerably better with him 10 or 20 years ago, but at age 76? C’mon, Jerry Reinsdorf, what the hell are you thinking? I don’t believe any manager at age 76 has the energy to endure a 162 game season and can hardly imagine that LaRussa is a good, long-term fit with a young team.
76 year olds are only suited to be president. At least that’s what both parties think.
76 year olds are only suited to be nursing home residents according to some young people. It will be funny when they finally realize that old age comes a lot quicker than your willingness to accept being old.
Yep! When I was a rebellious teenager I was a big fan of The Who’s song ‘My Generation’ until I approached the age of 30. lol
As a diehard White Sox fan, can we have Rick Renteria back.
What?!
Tony would have never pulled Snell…..
I thought he retired from managing?
Hahn built a top-notch race car and Reinsdorf just gave the keys to Mr. Magoo
Saw this post on a Sox website a while ago, and while it is an excellent thought, you should cite the source unless you are one and the same from the other site.
funny quotes are worth plagiarizing and spreading..
Does anyone actually post the source of all the memes that repeatedly make the rounds?
Odd …
I hear the Tigers are holding a seance to see if Sparky Anderson wants his old job back.
There is no mention of his age. How does a 76-year old manager relate to today’s game? Time will tell but has changed quite a bit since he last managed in the majors.
Leyland will be snugly tucked away as bench coach. The players will revolt by June.
Not sure why he decided to manage again. He’s got nothing else to prove
Perhaps this is a good thing for the White Sox. Reinsdorf may do everything possible, like ok’ing the signing of big-money free agents to help his friend win yet another World Series.
Just possibly, Yadier Molina signs a two-year deal with the team as at least a part-time catcher while being groomed as the new manager beginning 2023.
I thought he died
Unfortunately I have to predict that the likeliest outcome will be similar to Bobby Valentine’s nightmarish 2012 season in Boston. This won’t be pretty, but it will make for great TV.
I knew Saturday is Halloween,,didnt know its april fools day too
All games will now be at 3:30 so Tony can go to Golden Corral by 2:30 for dinner and get home after the game by 7:30 to be in bed. Hopefully the Buick battery is charged up and it has no other issues.
Kind of hoping the White Sox lose 85+ games in 2021.
I’m sure you were hoping they would win the World Series before they signed LaRussa.
Nah, they’ll only lose 76.
The Boomers win again.
Technically, Tony is not one and Jerry certainly is not.
Funny that my first comment is still awaiting moderation for writing the dreaded B word.
Bunt? Yeah, not in 2020 buddy.
No, B00mer was the word in moderation..
I had referred to myself with the ‘B’ word in an earlier article regarding the possibility of Tony La Russa being hired and it also went to moderation. Instead of waiting I simply repeated that comment by changing the ‘B’ word to my actual age which went through. For all I know I might have two near identical comments there now. This site sure gets testy with some words that are not even close to being profanity unless you believe the last name of our current POTUS is profane. lol
I remember trying to post a comment about D!ck (Don’t call me Ritchie) Allen on this and other websites and they went to moderation when the ‘D’ word is his accepted name including on his baseball reference link here. lmao
The 46th POTUS’s name goes into moderation, too.
Baby boomers
Generation born during the Post–World War II baby boom; with birth dates starting 1943-46 and ending 1959-68.
Hence, La Russa (born in 1944) most certainly is a Boomer.
I don’t know why I’m going to argue this, but the generally accepted definition is 1946 (the year after WWII ended) through 1964 (the last year before the pill became widely available).
https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p25-1141.pdf
So you’re arguing about “1” year difference. Seriously? By and large, anyone who grew up during the 50s and 60s in the US is considered a “Boomer”, as they were children of the WWII generation (Silent Generation).
He’ll be good. But once again he must really really hate his family
Well, I hope they have some idea for a brilliant but inexperienced protege to be TLR’s bench coach and take over in couple years. Odd move, but let’s hope they land a great pitching coach to get the most out of Cease/Dunning/Kopech. That issue and going after a significant starter in offseason are arguably more important…..but wow.
They hired him because, for some reason, Casey Stengal is not returning their calls….
That is frickin’ funny!
I mean, the game hasn’t changed at all in a decade, and I’m sure he’ll relate well to the great grandkids on the team, who will love hearing about how the game is meant to be played from the old man.
This won’t end well, but at least they didn’t hire Hinch. Rather have a dinosaur than a the guy who enabled the *stros scandal. Let that be someone else’s problem.
Don’t know why LaRussa is even interested honestly….but I’m sure he will do fine.
I highly doubt he is “racist” if he chose to leave retirement to manage a young upcoming team led by Tim Anderson and the Cuban quadruplets. Maybe Jirschele gets a look as bench coach for a year before taking over in ’22. Pitching additions and pitching development are two biggest offseason goals, manager would be down the list a ways. Good luck, Tony! Go Sox!
And, they’re building a memory care facility next door.
AJ Hinch to Detroit!
I really doubt that Detroit would interview 12 other candidates if they were really expecting to hire Hinch.
Why?
It’s not surprising that Reinsdorf would push for this hire. He always said firing La Russa the first time around was his biggest regret.
Not anymore.
Who cares how old he is if he can win games, he is a proven winner.
La Russa only has to win 36 more games as a manager to pass John McGraw for 2nd all-time!
This is obviously White Privilege. White Sox white manager.. lol get a grip people.. dusty did a fine job.. la Russa is a hall of famer.. he will do fine
Uh, he is 76 years old. The game has changed.
My only concern with this involves Tony’s history of not liking to rely on young players. And I’d hope for the sake of the Sox pitchers that Dave Duncan doesnt return as well. He’s a superb pitching coach but he wants everyone to pitch to contact and the Sox have a staff full of flame throwers. But I think if TLR let’s go of his affinity for veterans… he will be successful in his comeback
Seems like there are a lot of racists & ageist bigots on this site, oh I did forget, you can’t be racist if a person is white, and you can’t be a bigot if you discriminate against someone because of their age. 2020 progressivism. The hypocrisy is expected. Indeed.
Wow, how dumb is this.
@abgn123
I agree, your comment is asinine.
I’m not a big fan of the hire. I would have much preferred that they conduct several interviews with top candidates. However it appears that JR was set on TLR so that’s that. If Hahn really objected to the hire he needs to leave. Not what I want but he can’t stay if a manager was forced on him that he really objected to.
Now, enough with the “he’s too old to walk to the mound” crap. Enough of the “let’s hire Al Lopez for bench coach” stuff. The first one was amusing. The 500th one is ignorant. Everyone knows the guy is older.. I’m fairly confident he can manage. Whether he can win over the players is the key. If they come in thinking he’s not worth listening to, it’ll fall apart quickly. But, let’s face it, this team hasn’t won ANYTHING. TLR has.
I’m hoping for the best. He wasn’t my choice but the Sox are my team. I’ll wait and see.
All-time greats don’t always adjust well. This feels like when Bill Walsh went back to Stanford–didn’t end well (except that years later he found them Jim Harbaugh).
The two most amazing things to take away from this comment thread:
1) how many triggered liberals are on this site that the very notion of hiring a 76 year old white man has set race relations on this board back to the stone age
And
2) how many people here can’t spell “McGwire”
Dead on…..I noticed that too. Most of the triggered are trolling Cubs fans so it makes sense.
It’s open season for the Sox to use PEDs now.
As a White Sox fan I see bringing in La Russa right now is to mentor someone to take over his spot in a few years. La Russa is fluent in Spanish which is key for guys like Abreu, Jiminez, Moncada, and Robert.
Why would you hire an 80 year old when COVID will still be in play next year? Hopefully they hired Kamala Harris to take over if he can’t fulfill his contract.
I hate listening to La Russa speak after being confronted with anything, or challenging a call by an ump. He always sounds like a sleazy defense attorney.. He was visibly angry with interviewers and basically interrogated them because they questioned Harold Baines as a Hall of Famer.
Was my thought too. Gets asked question about obvious cronyism then gets super mad they even have the nerve to actually ask him.
White Sox ownership have 2 goals, get more publicity than the Cubs and beat them in the City Series. Great hire.
What an absolute GRAND SLAM hiring. 2700+ wins, 3 world series wins (only manager to win at least 1 in each league), 4x manager of the year. Brings a commanding presence to the dugout and the White Sox wont have to worry about being out-managed again this year like they were with Renteria.
The interesting decisions will be his staff. Have to believe that he will groom his replacement and I’d be interested in seeing if he goes analytical or old school.
AJ Pierzynski as protege/bench coach to take over as Manager in 2 years. Tendency to stay in the family may work in this case. Pitching coach hire the big deal.
I have been saying Pierzynski for awhile since he said it during a broadcast a few years ago at the White Sox home open that he wanted to be a manager after becoming the White Sox’s Ambassador.
It’s good to know that the 2021 White Sox highlight video will now be available on Betamax.
Dave Duncan pitching coach. Jim Leyland bench coach. Hal McRae hitting coach. Jose Oquendo 3B/infield coach. Dave McKay 1B coach.
Someone walked by Jack Bucks grave and heard Jack Buck Scream ” I CANT BELIEEEEVE THE WHITE SOX HIRED LARUSSA!!!!
Won’t take cranky larussa long to clash with their young talent and lose the team.
At the end of the day, this team has Balls.
As a former Red Sox fan I’ll take LaRussa over Cora any day. Tony has one less conviction and two less crimes committed.