"Slow it down by staying ahead of it to stay on top of it"

I set out to write a piece slandering Tony LaRussa, casting aside any pretensions of journalistic integrity or baseball pride.  With my support propped behind the scuffling Atlanta Braves, my attention has been forced, as so often seems the case, to the St. Louis Cardinals.  As a lifelong Cubs fan, despite my growing up just north of Atlanta, the Cardinals have always held a place in my rearviewmirror.  That is, only on the rare occasions that they aren’t glowering down from atop their enviable pedestal built on the tradition of quality baseball, and of course winning.  With the Cubs looking ahead to 2012 since the beginning of June, I have been forced to take pleasure in two things: the Braves putting together a fine season on the backs of young, exciting arms (though those arms are now bending under the weight thrust upon them from the rest of the team) and the Cardinals slow and steady demise at the hands of the Brewers.  Though of course, as it often does, September has changed things.  On the television (the retina of the mind’s eye, as Mr. McLuhan might say!) Tony LaRussa stands in the clubhouse after the Cardinals emerged victorious, surrounded by reporters clawing for his thoughts on the shrinking deficit in the Wild Card race.  Before the manager can provide a perfunctory answer, the cacophonious exclamations of a team united drown out the reporters.  Omar Infante of the Marlins has just launched a 2-run walk-off homerun off the beleaguered arm of Craig Kimbrel, handing the Braves another loss and moving the Cardinals within 2.5 games.  The face of the sixty-six year old LaRussa, a face that a few years ago would’ve looked at home hanging on a tannery line, stretches a bit further into a plasticine grin of exultation.  I’ve grown to loathe that face, because it is often a reminder of the Cubs’ futility.  But tonight, through the magic box, that face is filling me with love and excitement for this game and all that can happen in a very short amount of time.  Because it is a face that doesn’t simply reflect a reaction to good news, it is the face of a man who is making things happen.  Leading a team that, going into September was dead in the water, like the surviving floaters of the USS Indianapolis waiting for the sharks to pull the last bits of flesh from the bone, LaRussa was feeling the heat from all sides of the Cardinals family.  The fans, the media, and quite probably even GM Mozeliak had begun looking forward to LaRussa’s contract expiring at the end of this season.  As was I, until I swallowed my personal bias against the man and looked a bit deeper.

Well respected baseball man Paul Richards (BAL, CHW, HOU, ATL) advised LaRussa early in his managerial career that a manager’s primary focus should be to “make something happen”.  Richards’ proclivity for small ball was embraced by LaRussa from the beginning.  Contrary to another mentor, longtime manager of the Orioles Earl Weaver, who lived and died by the three-run homer, LaRussa believes that “the most aggressive thing in baseball is guys on base running around and sliding, raising dust”.  In an era when many managers are reluctant to pursue aggressive play on the base paths, in part to avoid the nagging condemnation of the media when a move goes sour, LaRussa consistently refuses to play station-to-station baseball, preferring instead to force the other team’s hand:

“If we get a man to second with no one out, we may have three guys coming up who can hit home runs, but why stand around and wait for that?  Let’s have the next guy get the runner to third and pick up one run.  It’s not correct to sit and wait for extra-base hits.”

LaRussa’s 1988 season with the Oakland Athletics stands as a prime example of his aggressive style of play.  Jose Canseco flexed his laboratory muscles for an MVP season, posting a formidable .307/.391/.569 in addition to joining the elite 40/40 club.  While Canseco’s talent is about the only aspect of his career that cannot be argued, the 40 stolen bases he amassed still stands as an impressive feat and made him the unanimous choice for MVP.  However, for any other manager, Canseco’s dominance would have been relegated to the plate, rather than with the added fear his base running instilled in pitchers.  In today’s game, the common adage from managers is to never take the bat out of your slugger’s hands.  A base runner on first or second base is rarely given a green light to steal with a power bat at the plate for fear of running into an out and thus lessening the blow dealt from a homerun.  LaRussa typically slotted Canseco third in the A’s lineup with Mark McGwire and Dave Henderson batting in the cleanup and fifth spots.  McGwire and Henderson combined for 56 homeruns that season, however LaRussa was never content waiting for the blast where most other managers would be, comfortable in the constant truth that a single or a successful sacrifice is always more likely than the long ball.  When the Athletics won three consecutive pennants (’88-90), the team averaged nearly as many stolen bases(142) as homeruns(149) as well as being among the league leaders in sacrifice hits(50) and sacrifice flies(55).  These statistics in combination with the incredible success of his Oakland tenure reaffirm what George F. Will states in his superb book Men at Work that “LaRussa believes in taking risks precisely because baseball, the game of failure, is all risks, the odds being what they are: against.  Against almost anything you try.”

LaRussa’s aggressive style of managing is all about sacrifice, the sacrifice of the individual for the betterment of the team.  LaRussa demands compliance with his methods:  there is no argument concerning how he runs the club.  This conviction is often interpreted as stubbornness or even flat-out arrogance.  To an opposing fan, it is this superficial arrogance that shines through.  On many an occasion, LaRussa will put his own team at a disadvantage to prove a point.  LaRussa has deservedly earned a reputation as a headhunter manager, never shying away from sending a message to the opposing dugout.  LaRussa insists that he will never order a batter hit by a pitch simply because he is swinging a hot bat, but he will always retaliate if one of his own is struck, intentional or not.  Sometimes he takes this too far, as it seems if Albert Pujols gets so much as jammed, someone is getting hit for it.  LaRussa garners the respect of his own dugout by firmly backing his own players; however, his retaliations often draw the ire of the Cardinals fan base as well as the general baseball public because, not wanting to miss an opportunity, LaRussa will order a hit batsman even late in a one-run game.  He defends his actions by echoing Paul Richards that “sometimes, you have to be willing to lose a game to win more later”.

While LaRussa puts himself on the line to maintain the respect of his players, he expects the same from them.  And when they don’t show it, they don’t last long on his ball club regardless of their talent.  Since Marvin Miller and company flipped the power pyramid in baseball, the players have wanted for little financially, eliminating a primary performance incentive.  While the changes were necessary and many of the results positive, the newfound powers granted to players(through money and free agency) has worked to defragment teams into individuals because the money doled out in free agency is granted based on individual success, not on the success of one’s team.  It is this mentality that LaRussa struggles with the most (as do most baseball fans).  LaRussa will oftentimes clash with his ownership and his team’s fan base because of how he handles certain star players.  Despite their talent, their potential, or their gaudy numbers, LaRussa will not tolerate laziness or cockiness or selfishness in a player: he will find a way to get that player removed from his team.  In an age when such a high degree of nonsense histrionics are tolerated from our top athletes, it is reassuring that there is at least one man in charge that refuses to accept it.  LaRussa had Canseco shipped out of Oakland despite the controversial slugger being an integral part of three consecutive pennants.  He had J.D. Drew, considered by top scouts to be the most talented player in the league (even garnering comparisons to Mickey Mantle), sent to Atlanta due to his lackadaisical attitude.  And most recently LaRussa insisted upon trading Colby Rasmus, a five-tool player just twenty-five years old, because the young star resisted LaRussa’s style of ball, preferring instead to seek other influences.  While one may scoff at LaRussa’s willingness to let such rare talent walk out the door, there is something remarkable about his conviction for the team game.

The St. Louis Cardinals will play at least two more games with LaRussa as skipper, while fighting to overcome a one game deficit in the Wild Card race.  In the past, and even earlier in this season, I looked forward to the end of LaRussa’s contract in hopes the stalwart tactician would either step or be pushed aside.  In truth, LaRussa’s potential absence from the Cardinals dugout would be a significant loss to the game.  Because is always the case in baseball, victory is sweetest when it comes against the best.  And as LaRussa has proven once again, by re-igniting a team injury-laden and left for dead, he is among the best ever to lead a ball club.  One may root against him, but there is great joy in watching to see if he can, in fact, “make something happen”.

Indisputaple statistics:

2,726 managerial wins (3rd all-time)

13 Division Titles (5 AL West, 8 NL Central)
5 Pennants (3 w/OAK, 2 w/STL)

2 World Championships (1989 w/OAK, 2006 w/STL)*

*Sparky Anderson the only other manager to win a championship in both the AL and NL (1975-76 w/CIN, 1984 w/DET)

A Leader of Men

But Also a Lover of Furries