Tony La Russa and the Chicago White Sox: How the manager fared in two managing stints with the franchise
Tony La Russa is one of the most accomplished managers in major-league history.
He’s second all time in victories. He won the World Series as the manager of the 1989 Oakland Athletics and the 2006 and 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.
La Russa was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
His major-league managerial career began with the Chicago White Sox. La Russa went 522-510 with the Sox from 1979-86.
He returned to the Sox in 2021, but the second season of his second stint ended early at the direction of his doctors.
Asked if he had a sense if La Russa, 77, still wants to manage, Sox general manager Rick Hahn said on Sept. 24, “Right now the focus is on his health.”
Here’s a timeline of La Russa with the Sox.
The beginning
The Sox hired La Russa on Aug. 2, 1979, after Don Kessinger resigned.
“Don suggested that maybe it would be in the best interest of the ballclub to make some changes,” owner Bill Veeck said in an Aug. 3 Chicago Tribune article by Richard Dozer.
Dozer later wrote:
“Talking about his new assignment, La Russa said, ‘We’ll try to build a champion.
