Newly minted White Sox manager Tony La Russa’s second stint with the team got off to an inauspicious start last week when he was charged with his second DUI. The White Sox stuck behind the 76-year-old Hall of Famer then, though, and aren’t currently looking to make a change in the dugout, Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press reports. However, that could change depending on the legal process.
“Tony deserves all the assumptions and protections granted to everyone in a court of law, especially while this is a pending matter,” the White Sox stated. “Once his case reaches resolution in the courts, we will have more to say. The White Sox understand the seriousness of these charges.”
La Russa was arrested in February in Arizona after registering a blood alcohol level of .095, which is above the legal limit of .08. Charges weren’t filed until Oct. 28. The White Sox were aware of the matter, but that didn’t stop them from bringing back La Russa, who’s friends with owner Jerry Reinsdorf and who previously managed the team from 1979-86.
If La Russa does keep his job, Ethan Katz will be his pitching coach, as Dave Williams of Barstool Sports first reported. The 37-year-old Katz, who will take over for longtime White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, already has a connection with the team in ace Lucas Giolito. Katz was Giolito’s pitching coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles and has spent recent offseasons continuing to work with Giolito. He has also had runs with multiple major league organizations (Angels, Mariners and Giants) and was most recently San Francisco’s assistant pitching coach.
He’s done. Just a matter of giving the owner a fig leaf.
It would’ve been nice to separate the two stories, instead of having Katz getting hired as the pitching coach getting buried under another potential 300 posts slamming LaRussa for the DUI.
As for Katz, seems like a good hire–at least better than hiring someone like Dotson or Burns. From what I read, the Sox had no chance of getting Fetter over the Tigers. Hopefully this hire works out for the Sox. He’s already worked his magic with Giolito.
Hiring Ethan Katz as the new pitching coach is a shrewd move by the White Sox. He has ample pro experience as a pitching mentor which was preceded by his contribution as a high school coach in Los Angeles with the development of 3 MLB TOR’s in Lucas Giolito, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty.
The White Sox are rightfully interested in locking up a somewhat ‘reluctant’ Giolito to a contract extension which could come easier now with his long time mentor on board. The hiring of Katz might also give the White Sox a leg up on the competition when Flaherty (2024) and Fried (2025) are potential free agents.
Atta boy Jerry, stick to your guns.
What? No Dave Duncan this go ‘round?.
Jose Abreu for MVP!!
Results due out within the hour!
Replace him with Carlos Beltran – last year’s “Fired Before I Managed A Single Game” prize winner…
So there is a chance he won’t be? The choice hasn’t been short of controversy thus far.
No not done, Don’t like him but he gets his way.
I read it as they want to bury this in process right now to decrease the heat, and address it if needed once the case has been settled.
I hope you’re right. Tony is an embarrassment to all White Sox
fans.
your all crazy. 2 mangers were just hired for cheating… cheating
So cheating is worse than multiple DUIs? Come on now.
About ten percent of all road deaths can be attributed to drivers not having flares in their trunk.
Do you have flares in your trunk? If not, you are probably more dangerous than a .095 driver who is obeying all traffic laws. Answer your phone while driving? Again, more dangerous. Texting… OH MY GOD, YOU ARE A MENACE TO SOCIETY AND MUCH MORE DANGEROUS.
I’d rather the Astros got busted for driving at .095 and obeying traffic laws than have them destroy the integrity of baseball seasons.
Now if LaRussa is driving recklessly, that’s a different story. I don’t know if that the case. But as far as the .095, we should have a little perspective. That’s about a full glass of wine.
Number of deaths caused by cheating scandal: 0
Number of deaths caused by driving while under the influence: 10,000 or more per year.
“At least it wasn’t RECKLESS drunk driving.”
This is really the hill you’re going to die on?
I beg to differ. What context? The man who killed Adenhart had a .19 BAC.
Context is everything. If people couldn’t get a glass of wine at dinner, many restaurants would close.
.095. You are fully capable of driving a car safely. If you are paying attention to what you are doing, you are probably a better driver than someone talking to a passenger or listening to the radio too loudly.
People love to pass moral judgments. .095 in itself is not a crime against humanity. If that was it, then the cheating scandal was worse.
What Barry Bonds did was worse.
Absolutely is. What managers and players do outside the game shouldn’t matter. Anyone with hero worship for athletes is stupid anyway. A high majority are horrible people. So who cares? It’s what happens between the lines that matter. TLR had proven himself on the baseball field. Multiple WS wins and a HOF bust. Get over the righteous act and let’s see him turn the kids into champs.
Driving under the influence is bad. There is no “context”.
Its a bad idea to drive with alcohol in your system.
Saying x, y, and z are also bad doesn’t negate Tony making a poor decision.
Lyft and Uber exist for a reason.
No, but it’s a crime according to the US government. Stop grossly minimizing the dangers of driving while intoxicated. And there plenty of evidence to show that 0.08 and above is dangerous. It’s equally disgusting see how you want to justify it as well with behavior that isn’t even against the law (ie having a flair) or behavior that is (ie texting while driving).
“Context is everything.”
The entire reason we have uniform laws is so people don’t try to bend the rules with BS excuses like this. “Drunk driving is illegal…. unless you’re good at driving drunk” is how you get people killed. If you can’t understand that, you shouldn’t be driving, drunk or sober.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read on this board. Was he obeying traffic laws when he ran into the curb and damaged his car? No? Was he obeying traffic laws when he fell asleep at the light in FL? No? Oh and driving while above the legal limit by definition is NOT obeying traffic laws.
Drunk driving kills thousands every year. Cheating at baseball kills no one. What a stupid comparison.
“I beg to differ”
Yes and no. Everyone on this thread has done something more dangerous in a car than driving .095. Everyone!!! I have NO PROBLEM with anyone saying what he did was bad. We’ve all done stupid things in a car. As we get older, we do less stupid things.
But lets have some perspective. In itself, it’s less dangerous than what everyone here has done and no one deserves to have their livelihood taken away based on something like this.
Of course context is everything. If LaRussa is .095 and driving well over the seed limit, then blast away.
But context is everything.
Ppl are allowed back into all sports after they serve their time. If he gets a guilty verdict he could be suspended and docked pay and then allowed to return.
These are some of the worst takes I have ever seen. Just stop man. Jesus
You just made my point. People who are tired are a bigger risk. You ever drive while tired?
How about 20 MPH over the limit? How about lane changing without blinkers on a crowded freeway. What about rolling stops? Or driving without flares in your trunk. Ever pull off the road to fix a flat and not put up flares? What about a breakdown. Or accident? That’s a bigger risk.
I’m not saying what he did wasn’t bad. What I am saying is if that’s all there is to it, what you have done is worse. Should your livelihood be taken away?
Did you really just say breaking the law is more acceptable than cheating at a game? Drinking one glass of wine is not the equivalent of .095 bac. I don’t know where you get your facts, but that can’t be further from the truth, unless your “glass” is the entire bottle. Your body can process roughly one drink per hour and it takes the average person about 3 drinks in one hour to reach a BAC of .08. Those number drastically decrease/increase as you consume more alcohol. It takes your body longer to process as the alcohol continues to flow and therefore you become more intoxicated. So let’s do some math, he refused to take any tests until they drew his blood at the station. How many hours after his last drink until that point? You can easily estimate at least 2, but probably more like 3/4 after his time driving, being stranded, arrested, processing and finally getting tested. So that means he was driving with a BAC well over the test results. I wouldn’t be shocked he were twice the legal limit when he got behind the wheel. By the way, this is the same guy that got a dui because he passed out behind the wheel of his car in traffic. And he wasn’t obeying traffic laws, he hit a curb and blew out a tire. He was sitting on the side of the road. Doesn’t sound like he was ok to drive.
Please explain why. Have you ever done anything in a car more dangerous than drive at .095? Of course you have. Talked on a cell phone… BAM. More dangerous.
Should that prevent you from getting a job.
You’re joking right!? Not having flares in your car is more dangerous than a 76-year old man with a BAC of .095? As for whether he was ‘driving recklessly’ the reason he got caught is that he crashed into a curb or something like that… and I’m guessing if that’s what the report was… that that meant he had to call (or had them called on him) the cops. Because otherwise you wouldn’t stop your car after hitting a “curb” unless the damage was so significant that you couldn’t drive your car anymore. And seeing as the cops did come… to me that indicates that it was a little bit more significant than a “bump to the curb”. And if all of that is the case… I’m also guessing that it took quite a while before his BAC was even taking… meaning the reading of .095 was probably an hour (or more) after the initial accident — so his BAC was probably closer to .12 at least.
Where do you get these “facts”? You’re just making this up. Show me one study that says driving with a .095 is safe.
Did you really just say breaking the law is more acceptable than cheating at a game? When you go one MPH over the limit, you are breaking the law. PERSPECTIVE!!!!!
I didn’t get beyond that. When you cheat you are stealing millions of dollars. You are stealing from fans, owners, players and tarnishing history.
So yeah.
People don’t have much perspective.
About ten percent of fatalities are caused because people did not put out flares after a road incident.
My brother is part of that statistic, so yes.
I’d rather you drive carefully at .095 than have a road incident and not put up flares. You can get a nice kit for less than 50 dollars.
“Have you ever done anything in a car more dangerous than drive at .095?”
In my early 20s, yes. If LaRussa were a 22 year old what he did would still be unacceptable but I’d at least understand that as a young person he still may not grasp the consequences for his actions and that as he matured that should change.
LaRussa is in his 70s. He’s done this before. He knows better. Yet he still choses his convenience over others’ safety.
“Should that prevent you from getting a job.”
If the cornerstone of my job involved serving as a public figure for my company as well as being a mentor and role model for the young men I supervise, absolutely. This shouldn’t even be debatable.
“I’d rather you drive carefully at .095”
The entire reason there’s a BAC limit is because passing it impairs your judgement and motor skills. You’re saying it’s ok to have impaired judgement and motor skills as long as you use good judgement and motor skills.
They had to get a search warrant to authorize the blood draws because LaRussa was so uncooperative with the police.
That means he had crashed, waited for help, dealt with the police, been driven to the station, gone through initial booking, and waited for the warrant, before he had his blood drawn. Easily a couple of hours.
His BAC when he was driving was undoubtedly considerably higher than 0.95%, which probably explains his crash.
Halo11fan are you trying to say drunk driving is ok? Cause if you are there are many victims and families of victims (of drunk drivers) who would probably like to have a word with you.
Sarcasm , right
But, we’re not managing the White Sox…
DirtbagBlues
You made some good points. One of the better counter posts. There wasn’t a bad note in your entire post.
At .095 you know something isn’t right, and since this was his second offense. He should have known better.
He’s also not a kid, it shows a complete lack of judgment.
My father, R.I.P, shouldn’t even have been behind the wheel at 76. LaRussa may already be a terrible driver, add .095 to that, and he very well could have been a menace.
In itself, your typical 80 years old driver is a bigger threat to safety. Than a person driving .095. But LaRussa is not 50, he’s 76.
Bottom Line.
Age is relevant. Second offense is relevant.
If you are 60 or less, I’d rather you be at .095, and drive as carefully as you could, rather than drive on a cell phone, sleepy, or god forbid texting. Or drive without flares in your trunk. I don’t think people have any idea how dangerous it is to have a road incident and not put out flares.
Again, that’s about 10% of all road deaths. Of course I know this, first hand. Most don’t. So the fact that it’s his second offense is a big deal.
“Ten percent of all road deaths can be attributed to drivers not having flares in their trunks.” Really? What is the source of that statement? Provide a link. Even if that statistic were true it has absolutely nothing to do with drunk driving and is totally irrelevant to the subject under discussion. What’s your solution to the alleged flares problem? Have states mandate that everybody have flares in their trunks then provide a manual detailing when they have to be put out? Really?
You keep talking about road flares like that’s a debatable argument…2-3x as many road deaths are because of alcohol than because of not putting out flares. I understand that is important to you because of your loss, but way more people die because of drunk drivers. Meanwhile you sit here and try to justify his actions like it’s acceptable behavior. How’s that conversation go with your children? Son, listen I know your gonna go out and drink tonight. It’s ok to have 10 beers and drive as long as you pay attention to traffic laws, but for the love of god, if you need to change a tire be sure to use your flares
Halo11, you make some good points about various habits that contribute to unsafe driving,
However, your third paragraph is just silly. How can he obey all traffic laws and also be intoxicated? IF you’re BAC is that high, you are already violating a law that is typically worse than a reckless driving charge.
Unless he was on a dirt road in Montana; but that may not be legal anymore either.
Uhhh he crashed his vechicle
Where are you getting all of your numbers from??
Comparing the number of drunk driving deaths to texting related deaths is ludicrous, since we all have a cell phone in our car, so the sheer number of occurrences will inflate the number of deaths, even though it is debatably a safer activity than drunken driving. The number of people under the influence are much, much lower, so 10,000 deaths compared to the number of drunken drivers is significantly higher. And we’re completely leaving out the likelihood of non-death related injuries.
Also, you said a glass of wine will only increase your BAC to about .02. So to pretend a person who drank a glass of wine on a date was about as drunk as TLR in just nonsense.
HalosHeaven, I did not read that. AZ law is less strict than CA vehicle code. When one gets their CADL, one must agree that by having a license, one
must supply blood or urine when requested to do so by law enforcement. If one refuses in CA, your license is forfeited and the driver appears even more guilty.
From ESPN’s article: “La Russa refused to submit to a breath test or provide a sample of his blood or urine to test his blood-alcohol level, according to the affidavit, and the officer obtained a search warrant to take two tubes of La Russa’s blood.”
I guess it is fairly common in AZ. Probably a stall tactic. Had LaRussa been able to stall another half out to an hour he might’ve slipped to 0.08%.
The timeline above is speculation on my part outside of the crash. But I doubt a search warrant is given on the side of the road.
Anyone want to guess if this guy is an alcohol fan ???
OMG ! Someone stole a catchers signs ??!!! I’d much rather my grandson drink and drive than steal a catchers signs !!!!!!!
he crashed into a curb, probably chased his shingles meds with a full glass of wine. he was obviously impaired
why did Larussa crash into the curb if .095 is nothing?
he’s not turning any kids into champs
except Pete Rose and Joe Jackson
Wow, all these saints on here acting like they never got behind a wheel after having 3 beers or 2 glasses of wine. Apparently these people have never driven “drunk” or got into a car with a “drunk” driver. Someone posted earlier he was uncooperative with police, ummm he didn’t get charged with resisting arrest. He’s afforded rights like everyone else in America and he can refuse a blood/breath/urine test.
Go write your politicians to make it MANDATORY and then you Saints will whine & cry when you get pinched for barely being over.
That’s about a whole bottle of wine.
@nucat72 Because “all” White Sox fans never did anything wrong in their entire lives. How do you know “ALL White Sox fans” and what they think?
Just win. I really don’t care about his personal life.
I hope you’re right!!
It’s “you are”
I hope you are right!
It’s “you’re”
I wasn’t aware this was his second offense. If true (meaning he’s “convicted”) then this is clear indication of a troubling pattern. One of the idealistic goals of professional sports, though participants often fall short, is that all members of a sport serve as role models to children. To me, if he is allowed to stay, then his behavior handcuffs this effort.
Which also brings up the question how often did he drive drunk and not get caught? Chances are if you’re caught driving drunk twice you’ve probably made a habit of it.
I think this is a safe assessment. It seems unlikely that a person only drinks and drives twice (unless they’re hitting everything in their path) and gets caught twice.
And in all likelihood 90% of the people on here have driven over the limit, assuming they drink.
The first offense was almost 20 years ago. Zero pattern here.
All that tells us is he’s behaving in the same reckless manner he did 20 years ago.
I feel like after 20 years it’s more of a lifestyle than a pattern.
So if someone gets buzzed twice in 20 years it’s a lifestyle? Not saying it’s only been twice but that’s all we know about.
And what he does for shelter animals more than makes up for falling asleep at the wheel (first time) and hitting a curb this time. He’s never had incident involving another person, car or property.
“Yes I fired a gun in a public place but I didn’t hit anyone so it’s ok.”
On average someone will be caught once every *80 times* they drink and drive.
In all likelihood LaRussa has done this well over 100 times.
But he hasn’t killed anyone so it’s ok.
I’ve heard a similar ratio. At the alcohol education classes I had the pleasure of attending after my DUI. Not going to be a hypocrite here I did the same thing before getting sober.
Personally I think that ratio is low for serious drinkers, not sure if Tony fits that mold.
That’s similar to saying “His first murder was 20 years ago. Zero patter here.”
@Darth Nihilus
Is it? Have you looked at the date when the first DUI happened?
The space of time in between is no “pattern”..
Why would the white sox hire this idiot? I must be missing something. Just when they’re becoming competitive???
I’m just a fan. But can someone tell me any substantial upside to hiring this POS! Please, I’m serious.
He has a close relationship with the owner.
Jerry Reinsdorf doesn’t have time to worry about PR.
He’s more concerned if Phil Jackson will start Dennis Rodman tonight.
To piggyback. Reinsdorf has always said his biggest regret in sports is allowing Hawk Harrelson to fire Larussa. By all accounts, this is his way of making good on that decision from 30 something years ago. The hire was not driven by winning but by personal friendships, the Reinsdorf Way.
Reinsdorf votes against the Mets sale but goes ahead and hires a repeat Drunk Driver to manage his team. Only in Chicago!
Possibly bc he’s a HOF manager
@Idoggnation You’ve met him and know him I take it, and that’s why you use the terminology “POS”.
How many World Series have you won?
Chapman won a World Series, and he was charged with domestic abuse. One can say he is a POS without knowing him. Pretty sure a World Series ring does not make a difference in the world of being a POS.
He stays… he’s a hall of fame manager…
The real question is will he be awake in the 3rd inning after his scotch?
AJ Hinch has already hired the away-dugout batboy and La Russa has a pitching coach. Someone seems a bit behind. Could something else have arrested his attention?
The players will be relieved not having to worry about drinking and driving, they know there’s no consequence, at least not from the team, or league.
Seeing how PEDs are victimless and DUI can crater families, the players can PED it up and not have consequences from it from here on out.
Thanks to MLB and its owners for lowering the bar on leadership.
I got one a long time ago and my wallet disagrees with your opinion on no consequences. I rarely drink anymore, so I’d say the the punishment I received worked for me.
@Tony Carbone There are always consequences, but given the fact that you don’t know the facts of what happened you’re quite judgemental and sanctimonious indeed.
The fact that you’re trying to bring PED’s into your strawman and asserting that there will be no consequences tells me everything I need to know. What utter garbage you wrote.
He was barely over the limit. A good lawyer and he will get off completely.
Yep. He has the money to get a good one.
zeroing in on that last paragraph – Katz seems like a really inspired hire as the new pitching coach.
Such an awful hire
What has to happen for this guy to disappear? What a crying shame that this is the new CWS…..
I’m sure the young bucks are planning a mutiny as we speak. He is the round peg in the square hole.
Katz had a prett damn good rotation he was heading up Harvard-Westlake.
Lucas Giolito
Max Fried
Jack Flaherty
All three are studs I expect great things from him.
It’ll get dragged out and Tony can afford a good lawyer. Reduced to reckless driving and the Chisox will ignore it.
Mountains out of molehills. He’s an old man who’s been drinking his whole life, at 0.015 over the legal limit he’s more sober than most of you are at the best of times.
That’s not to say he was a good hire, or that Reinsdorf has any idea what he’s doing. Just that it’s a red herring to focus on the marginal-at-best-DUI that he’ll probably beat when he has his day in court.
That’s wrong. Whether you’ve been drinking for one day or dozens of years alcohol will still have an effect. Even seasoned drunks will have diminished reaction times when drinking. Hell it’s actually worse that he’s an old drunk, that’s two factors against his ability to drive safely.
Reaction times will begin to drop for anyone at as little as a blood alcohol content of 0.06. At above 0.08 you’re looking at mental impairments.
Please don’t trivialize this. What LaRussa did was wrong, it was dangerous, it was selfish.
People in the stands on the road will be sending Bud tall boys to the White Sox dugout every game to try and get Tony sloshed.
For the love of God, somebody teach Tony how to order a Lyft or Uber.
I think this hire was a terrible move regardless of the drunk driving arrest. I mean he was a great manager in his day don’t get me wrong — the problem is that “his day” was 20 years ago… now a days with all the modern analytics and the trend towards younger “player managers” I just don’t see any free agents wanting to go to Chicago now and play for an ‘old-school’ hardass… unless he’s going to change up his style and put guys around him that know all about analytics and such… he did work in the red Sox front office recently… so maybe he is up on/on board with all the analytics and what not… but idk just seems like an ‘out of touch’ hiring. Especially considering how young (and talented) the white Sox core is. But who knows? maybe that’s why the ownership felt TLR would be a good hire… to mentor the younger guys/keep them in line. But from what I’ve read… it sounds more like a runaway train of the owner hiring his friend instead of the baseball ops people hiring someone who would actually be a good fit.
Jeff Z,
It may be a horrible hire.
We all have had indiscretion in a car. If the severity threshold for preventing someone from getting a job is driving .095, then none of us should be employed.
Nope, just the ones with two DUI ‘s and manager of WHITE SOX.
this old rummy refuses to lay off the hootch
C’mon, finish the job. Casey Stengel for bench coach.
If hiring drunks is on the table maybe we can see if Jimmy Dugan is available.
Barstool Sports reporting on La Russa’s coaching staff? You can’t make this stuff up.
You gotta hope they play a lot of day games. At 79 with a scotch or two under his belt he will take a nap in the middle of the game.
LaRussa.. blah blah blah….LaRussa. Blah blah blah… LaRussa this , LaRussa that.
Oh by the way Sox hire pitching coach.
Can’t MLBTR find writers who aren’t 13 year olds writing out of mom’s basement?
If you’re the White Sox, why deal with this? If you want an experienced, Hall of Fame coach, go get Bruce Bochy
sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/jack-mcdowell-80s-whi…
Wonder why MLB along with this site isn’t running with this story or is it just certain people who they attack over the same allegations… what is manfred anyway la russa’s and also the yankees his best of buddies now?
Comment away all you like on Tony La Russa, but when it’s ‘other people’ involved in MLB, then an “administrator has closed/turned off comments for the thread”. That is called double standards and utter hypocrisy.
Yep… a bunch of non-objective, MLBTR hacks.
the first question from LaRussa to a potential new staff member will be can you mix a Highball?!
So the White Sox hired a manager, who also happens to be friends with the owner…
This might possibly end up being the worse clash of loyalties since Mike Scioscia+Arte Moreno Vs Jerry DiPito+Tony Reagins.
This signing has piqued my interest.
If Josh Hancock wasn’t this guy’s “never again” moment, nothing will be.
Lead was buried! Ethan Katz best hire for pitching coach. Even better than Fetter with Katz turning Giolito into ace for WSox that Coop failed besides Flaherty/Fried being fantastic. AJ Pier should be bench coach mentored by smart but flawed old man, b/c he can be great future Mgr. Didn’t like JR hiring TLR when Hahn knew better, but that is an elderly owner guilt trip decision. Move on to smart FA/trade decisions if correct Katz hire happens please.
why fire him now? Reinsdorf knew Larussa was driving torched and still hired him. it’s too late to reverse course, stick with him and take your lumps
.095 is not driving “torched” but dont let facts get in the way of your narrative
I love how everyone is ignoring the real facts here. Most likely TLR takes meds for his shingles. Mix that with a glass of wine or a beer or two… easily gets you to .095. Hardly drunk but that doesnt fit the narrative of all the kiddies here that dont remember what a great manager this man is.
I agree with what @Halo11Fan is saying.
Plus even if he did have more than a couple drinks it has nothing to do with his managing. What about his credit score? Not good enough for some of you apparently.
My bac is .095 when I get out of bed.