complicated vegetarian
We here at the ‘Fro don’t enjoy muck-raking, yet all the unabashed Tony LaRussa love since his Hall of Fame induction is a wee bit over the top. As I have said on this blog before, Mr. LaRussa’s “invention” of the most over-rated statistic in sports: the one inning “save,” is mind-boggling in its supposed importance, and is ultimately a money-eating affair equivalent to a crotch grab. LaRussa also won’t be inducted as an Oakland Athletic as he has nothing but nasty things to say about the ball club. While we are here to celebrate the athletes/managers who have played for the team that wears the green and gold, we certainly aren’t against critiquing or even exposing the things that prove even a so-called “genius,” “renaissance man” and World Series winner can be an idiot.
Manager Tony La Russa blew up at Ruben Sierra yesterday, blasting him as an “idiot” for comments he made in yesterday’s Chronicle.
“Every time he opens his mouth he makes a fool of himself,” La Russa said. “You try to protect guys, shade the truth a bit, but there’s a term players use, V.I., when a player starts believing fantasy. He’s a village idiot.”
I agree with LaRussa on this account. Ruben Sierra was a self-serving idiot. I saw the 2nd game he played in Oakland after being traded from the Rangers and he had the nerve to still be using use his Ranger blue glove.
The biggest news of the night came when Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa expressed his views of the Tea Party and Arizona’s immigration policy to KSDK.
“You’re supposed to be able to have opinions and disagree, and a lot of things they (Tea Party) do I think are correct,” said La Russa. “I’m actually a supporter of what Arizona’s doing, you know, people don’t fix your problem, and the government, the national government doesn’t fix your problem, and you’ve got a problem, they’ve got to take care of it themselves.”
This is a generalized, oppressive, ignorant, and racist statement. There really is no way to pussy-foot around it, and if LaRussa wasn’t in the privileged position of ordering grown men to do things in a children’s game, I’m sure he would think differently.
Radnich: First of all, congratulations on having your uniform retired in St. Louis. … I know you’re not losing any sleep, but the A’s haven’t retired your number, correct?
La Russa: Well the A’s have a little different opinion, with the current regime, about what a manager means. They really don’t think a manager means much, so I don’t think it’s gonna happen.
Radnich: Since you went that far, why does (A’s general manager Billy) Beane have that feeling? I mean, he played for you briefly – why do you think he feels that way?
La Russa: Well, you have a right to your opinion, but I take that personally because he watched me manage. I certainly don’t blame him, because those A’s clubs – I mean, I do blame him but I don’t blame him, because they were push-button clubs and anybody could have managed them. But you take other clubs, and the manager can contribute. You’re not a player, and neither is the coaching staff, but we all have a job to do. But he’s made it really clear that under their scheme of developing metrics and analytics, anybody could do the job down there, and I couldn’t disagree more with that.
Radnich: The one thing that bothered me about the movie was I thought Art Howe was just treated awfully. Have you talked to him?
La Russa: Yeah, in fact, I talked to him right when it came out, and he said, “You’re a lawyer, can I do something?” I said, “Well, you could sue, but that’s one of the toughest proofs.” You could do it to get press and just to make your point. … But whoever says he should get over it or don’t pay attention if it was them they wouldn’t feel nearly as forgiving when they’re being embarrassed like that. The point is, Art did a really good job there, and he was a part of that success as much as a manager could be, and it really portrays him as kind of a buffoon and useless. A lot of us – not just Art, but a lot of us that know better were really pissed off about that.
This site unabashedly supports the Oakland ball club on this position. It’s quite easy to dismiss philosophies when in St. Louis he had one of the highest payrolls and probably the best scouting in the game. Perhaps Mike Matheny leading the Cardinals to the World Series exposed LaRussa as the “button pusher” that he abhorred to be.
I certainly am not going to judge the man for this one. People make mistakes. Even hot-shot lawyers.
“I tell my players, ‘You’ll never see me without one of my friends,’ and by that I mean a book.”
The greatest thing to ever come out of his mouth.
Coco Crisp's Afro 
Maybe Larussa’s big hang up with Oakland nowadays is the challenge Billy Beane presented in terms of ideology. If I remember right, Tony didn’t subscribe to the same sort of statistical analysis advertised by Oakland with Money Ball and what not. Tony subscribed to noone but himself and maybe Dave Duncan.
It’s an interesting debate; the old time manager instincts versus statistical analysis. What I don’t understand is the extremes on both sides. We live at a time when managers can use both. Why reject one or the other? I guess it’s more of an ego thing.
“You’re supposed to be able to have opinions and disagree, and a lot of things they (Tea Party) do I think are correct,” said La Russa. “I’m actually a supporter of what Arizona’s doing, you know, people don’t fix your problem, and the government, national government doesn’t fix your problem, and you’ve got a problem, they’ve got to take care of it themselves.”
“This is a generalized, oppressive, ignorant and racist statement.”
I don’t know about that. I’m not offended by his statement, because I think that he’s entitled to his opinion, as muddled and inarticulate as it is. Anyway, who the hell is Tony LaRussa? Just because he passed the bar, (actually, I don’t think there are too many bars that Tony LaRussa has passed, based on his DWI record), doesn’t mean anything. Lawyers tend to be the most self-serving jerks, considering that so many of them are slime.
Frankly, the syntax of his statement indicates that he was drunk, and I hope he didn’t get behind the wheel of his car after he said that, because I have the feeling he would get another DWI).
Personally, I’m offended when it comes to the Arizona situation. People should carry around identification just because the may “look” Mexican??? When this first made the news two or three years ago, it gave me the shivers. As a Jew, it instantly brought back flashbacks of photographs I’ve seen over the years of Jews being made to wear the Star of David, starting right before Kristallnacht. They put Stars of David on Jewish storefronts, which meant “do not shop here; this store is owned by a Jew.”
Well, it would be pretty damn hypocritical for me to be offended by the things that happened in 1938 in Germany and not be offended by what seems to me to be similar stuff going on in Arizona.
I can see getting riled up by this. Definitely. But who CARES what Tony LaRussa has to say on the subject. Who the hell is Tony LaRussa, and who the hell does he THINK he is??????
He always struck me as an arrogant guy even back when he first started managing the White Sox while wearing his pajamas back in 1979. (By the way, am I the only one who LIKED those old White Sox uniforms????)
Glen
By the way, Gary, when I put my mug shot (actually country music great Webb Pierce’s mug shot) indicating that I liked your post, it doesn’t count as a “Drive-By Like” because I also wrote a comment explaining why I liked your post and all.
Also, who is Radnich?
Nice job on the post.
Glen
Radnich is Gary Radnich, a radio host for KNBR in the bay area. I grew up listening to his no nonsense banter. Great stuff!
Sorry for the late reply, Glen…but I NEVER liked ANY fucking White Sox uniforms.
I grew up watching the Cubs on WGN, yet as I grew older I found the Cubs and their fan base to be boring and abhorrent (still do), so I’ve come to appreciate the Sox more.