AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > October > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USLet’s give La Russa his props
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Tony La Russa is two victories from a World Series title with the second-worst team ever to play in a World Series. I mention this because it has become fashionable to deride La Russa as the most overrated manager in the big leagues, just as it was once fashionable to label him a genius.
The La Russa backlash started in earnest after his mighty Oakland A’s were swept by Cincinnati in the 1990 Series; this coming two seasons after an underwhelming bunch of Dodgers had beaten the A’s in five. And when La Russa’s Cardinals kept losing in October — wasting a 3-1 lead against Atlanta in the 1996 NLCS, losing to wild cards New York and San Francisco in 2000 and 2002, failing to win a game in the 2004 Series against Boston — the new consensus held that his teams failed because the clever manager overmanaged.
So what’s the new new consensus? La Russa has taken a team that nearly blew a 7-game lead in the season’s final fortnight, a team that finished a rather motley 83-79, and has beaten two demonstrably better opponents and is giving Detroit a better go than anyone dreamed it would. Does this mean La Russa has remembered what he was believed to have forgotten? Does it mean he has ceased overmanaging? Does it mean anything at all?
I think it means La Russa, who was never as good as George F. Will made him out to be in “Men At Work,” was never as bad as recent postseason results suggested. I think it means the manager in postseason baseball is nearly as helpless as anyone else to explain why one team wins and seven others don’t. I think it means postseason baseball has become the great imponderable in professional sports — a crapshoot, to invoke the buzzword.
Mostly I think it means that a manager who keeps taking his team into October — like La Russa, like Bobby Cox, like Joe Torre — is apt to do as Bill Cowher just did with the Pittsburgh Steelers: Win it all with a team much less than his best. See, the true test of a manager/coach isn’t in lifting the big trophy; it’s in repeatedly putting a team in position to have a chance at that trophy.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Mark Bradley, Quick Hit
Comments
By thisisbiggerthanitshouldbe
October 26, 2006 10:51 AM | Link to this
The role of the baseball manager and the effect on whether a game is lost or won is highly overrated. The Cardinals were better than the Padres and the Mets simply left too many runners on base. That’s baseball, plain and simple.
MB, if you must throw bouquets to Tony, do it in the St. Louis paper!!
By deano
October 26, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
Nicely done Mark, the guy is consistent.
By Ron Roberts
October 26, 2006 12:47 PM | Link to this
The guy deserves almost as much credit as Bobby Cox does, and both are good managers who put their teams in position to win it all.
Outside of the Yankees’ payroll-bloated organization, I’d tip my cap to any manager who can get their teams to the playoffs as consistently as Cox, Jim Leyland & LaRussa have.
All the other managers are just in a different class than these two, Torre included. I like Joe, but Joe gets mad money to make a team win, and he does it; but he does it with help.
Look around. Everybody wanted the Braves to dump Cox for that blabber mouth Ozzy Guillen and look what his “leadership” got the White Sox to this year. Everybody clamors about the “talents” of Dusty Baker, and he’s unemployed now, having no ability to take the bloated payroll of the Cubs to the promised land. Terry Francona managed the Red Sox to their miraculous World Series two years ago, but with their $100+ million payroll, they, too, found themselves wellllll behind the Yanks and the moderately-priced Tigers and Twins for the wild card race.
Cox, Leyland and LaRussa are the cream of the crop when it comes to Major League managers.
By brewerfaninATL
October 26, 2006 01:39 PM | Link to this
Ron,
I agree with you somewhat, but come on, the Tigers are not moderately-priced. They have a payroll over $80 million, same as the Braves and Cardinals. Compared to the Yankees, they may be moderate, but not the overall league. I thought Joe Girardi managed the best this year, hands down. He was handed a $14 million payroll with a bunch of “green” players and kept them in contention all the way till the end, now THAT is managing! What did he get for his reward? The ol’ heave-ho! Too bad, because it would have been interesting to see what he could do next year. Bruce Bochy and Ron Garenhire are also some of the best managers in todays’ world, in my mind at least. Now, THEY have moderate payrolls and they compete year in and year out. I’m not taking anything away from Cox, LaRussa, and Leyland because they are great, but they are still afforded pretty dog-gonned good payrolls too, again, not Yankee-level, but still near the top…unlike the Twins, Padres, Marlins, who are at or near the bottom.
By Braves 20
October 26, 2006 02:05 PM | Link to this
Interesting column. When all is said and done, LaRussa is probably closer to the genius level than the over-rated tag. I have often fantasized about him running the Braves the past 14 years. And just like Cox, you need to look to the right, Duncan is every bit as responsible for Tony’s success as Leo was for Bobby’s. Lastly while Girardi did a world class job with the Marlins, other teams must know something we don’t know for him not to be in a dugout next year.
By dirtie birdie
October 27, 2006 06:41 AM | Link to this
larussa will only get as much props from me as marv levy ever got. smoked by the dodgers in 1988. smoked by the reds in 1990. smoked by the red sox in 2004. OVERRATED!
By cardsfan
October 27, 2006 09:29 AM | Link to this
dirtie birdie,
I love how you compare LaRussa to Marv Levy?? History would indicate that would be your boy Cox…who IMO I think is a great manager even though I am not a Braves fan. Just b/c you aren’t a Redbird fan or LaRussa fan doesn’t mean you can’t give the team or manager their due. Bradley hit it square on the nose. Great managers put their teams in position to win and LaRussa does that every year. I don’t think you could find one Cardinal fan who at one time or another hasn’t taken issue with a decision LaRussa has made. That said, he’s still a great manager who puts us in position to win year in and year out. A few breaks aside, this year he has clearly outmanaged every manager we’ve gone up against in the playoffs and we deserve to be where we are.
Drop the beef with TLR and root the for the National League. We need to start keeping the trophy in our league for a while!
Go Cards!!
By Gene
October 27, 2006 10:09 AM | Link to this
There is no question that LaRussa is one of the best.
By Ron Roberts
October 27, 2006 10:34 AM | Link to this
Brewefan…
One side note to Girardi.
I, too, think he did a great job managing the Marlins, but one of the reasons he and ownership and the GM in Florida had a falling out was because they wanted to play the kids and he wanted a more seasoned squad. He didn’t exactly sign off on the team he wound up managing so well. That sorta stains my impression of him.