Thirty-three years is a long time. A literal eternity, in fact, to some.
For Tony La Russa, 33 years was his career as a Major League manager.
"It's just time to do something else, and I knew it," La Russa said Monday morning in a news conference to announce his retirement. "If we won, if we lost, it wasn't going to change."
La Russa drove Brewers fans crazy for decades, but his track record is nothing short of incredible. In all, 5,097 regular season games managed. He has 2,728 wins, third all-time in baseball history, and a mere 35 wins away from second-place John McGraw. He is only one of two coaches/managers to have been at the helm for more than 5,000 games in any North American professional sport. Connie Mack, who both owned and managed the Philadelphia Athletics for 50 seasons, is the only other.
"Other than some of the personal attachments, I feel good," La Russa said. "I feel good that this is the right decision."
We all know the records: six pennants, three World Series championships, a four-time Manager of the Year. Someone who was so well thought of by the Oakland A's that he was snapped up by them almost as soon as he was fired by the Chicago White Sox – midway through the 1986 season.
To try to put La Russa's five decades of managerial experience into perspective, the Brewers had been in Milwaukee for just nine years when he managed his first game against them. Jimmy Carter was President of the United States. The week before La Russa became a big league manager, Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" was released. Even with an energy crisis, the cost for a gallon of gas was 86 cents.
Among the events of the world that have happened since La Russa started racking up wins as a manager: The Iran hostage crisis began and ended; so did the space shuttle program.
The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" U.S. hockey team won gold at Lake Placid during Tony La Russa's managerial career. John Lennon was murdered. Albert Pujols was born. ESPN, CNN and MTV were launched.
When Tony La Russa began his Major League managerial career, Walter Cronkite was still anchoring the CBS Evening News. The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped out at 907. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series.
La Russa was a mad scientist in the dugout, both annoying opponents and their fans alike. Even this past season he was up to his old tricks, planting the seed that the Miller Park ribbon boards were somehow giving the Brewers an unfair advantage. His postgame tête-à-tête with WTMJ's Greg Matzek will go down in Milwaukee sports radio lore.
La Russa's bizarre explanation of the telephone snafu in Game 5 of the World Series seemed hard to fathom. Clearly La Russa still cared; perhaps he was already on a beach somewhere, enjoying a well-deserved vacation a few days early. Whatever the case, he got it together in time for one of the most remarkable endings to one of the most remarkable careers in baseball history.
Most of the 2011 season, the St. Louis Cardinals underachieved. Languishing in third place as late as July 21, they were a team of spectacular players performing like anything but.
By Aug. 27, they were just five games over .500, more than 10 games back in the division, almost as far back in the Wild Card race, with two teams (Atlanta and San Francisco) in front of them.
It was about this time that La Russa told Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak that no matter what happened the rest of the season, he was not coming back in 2012.
Perhaps with the weight of the future unburdening him; perhaps as mere coincidence, the Cardinals became baseball's hottest team.
First they won four in a row. Then another five game wining streak. Then they won eight out of nine. As the Cardinals began to play up to their potential, the Atlanta Braves began to implode upon themselves. Before you knew it, and on one of the most memorable final nights of the season in any sport, St. Louis snuck in through the back door into the October party.
As the old adage in baseball goes, just get to October. After that, all bets are off.
What followed will be remembered by baseball historians for generations to come. How a team came out of nowhere to stun arguably the best team in the game (Philadelphia), then bounce their division champions (Milwaukee) en route to beating a club that not once but twice was one strike away from a champagne bath in Game 6 of the World Series.
It was, arguably, his best managerial job ever.
Through it all, Tony La Russa's accomplishments speak for themselves. He is often credited with the use of the modern-day bullpen. For that I am not sure if he deserves praise or ridicule, but La Russa has unquestionably left his mark on the game.
He also holds a special place here in Milwaukee, and not just for his nonsensical actions of Aug. 2.
By virtue of La Russa's career in the American League from 1979-1995, then from 1996-2011 in the National League, no team has opposed him more than the Milwaukee Brewers, who switched leagues in 1998. Game 3 of the NLCS was La Russa's 400th game managed against the Brewers. In all, he was 207-196 with the White Sox, Athletics, and Cardinals against Milwaukee.
We certainly have gotten to know him well.
La Russa is 67 years old. He says he isn't coming back to manage ever again, but with half of his life spent in a dugout, I would be more surprised if this was indeed the end. His accolades have been earned, even if begrudgingly by opponent's fans. After all, if you had a choice of anyone in baseball history to lead you into battle, Tony La Russa's name would be at the top of many people's lists. He was exasperating to play against, but incredible to play for.
Tony La Russa never gave an inch, and earned miles of respect back throughout the game in return.
Next stop: Cooperstown.
Doug Russell has been covering Milwaukee and Wisconsin sports for over 20 years on radio, television, magazines, and now at OnMilwaukee.com.
Over the course of his career, the Edward R. Murrow Award winner and Emmy nominee has covered the Packers in Super Bowls XXXI, XXXII and XLV, traveled to Pasadena with the Badgers for Rose Bowls, been to the Final Four with Marquette, and saw first-hand the entire Brewers playoff runs in 2008 and 2011. Doug has also covered The Masters, several PGA Championships, MLB All-Star Games, and Kentucky Derbys; the Davis Cup, the U.S. Open, and the Sugar Bowl, along with NCAA football and basketball conference championships, and for that matter just about anything else that involves a field (or court, or rink) of play.
Doug was a sports reporter and host at WTMJ-AM radio from 1996-2000, before taking his radio skills to national syndication at Sporting News Radio from 2000-2007. From 2007-2011, he hosted his own morning radio sports show back here in Milwaukee, before returning to the national scene at Yahoo! Sports Radio last July. Doug's written work has also been featured in The Sporting News, Milwaukee Magazine, Inside Wisconsin Sports, and Brewers GameDay.
Doug and his wife, Erika, split their time between their residences in Pewaukee and Houston, TX.
