The Chicago White Sox did not go through a time warp. On Thursday, the team hired Tony La Russa to manage the club for a second time. He succeeds Rick Renteria who was dismissed earlier this month despite leading the team to its first post-season appearance since 2008.
While La Russa is best remembered for his lengthy tenures with the Oakland A's and St. Louis Cardinals leading those teams to six World Series winning a title with the A's in 1989 and two with the Redbirds (2006 & 2011), he began his big league managerial career with the Chisox. La Russa managed the White Sox from the middle of the 1979 season through the middle of the 1986 season leading the club to an AL West title in 1983.
When the White Sox take the field in 2021, it will have been nearly 35 years since La Russa last managed on the South Side of Chicago. To give you an idea of how long it's been since La Russa managed the White Sox his last starting shortstop was Ozzie Guillen. In 2005, Guillen led the Chisox to their first World Series title in 88 years.
La Russa becomes the first manager to lead a team after being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Since retiring after the Cardinals' second World Series title in 2011, La Russa has remained active in baseball working in an executive capacity with MLB (2012-2013), Arizona Diamondbacks (2014-2017), Boston Red Sox (2018-2019) and this past season with the Los Angeles Angels. Although La Russa has been absent from the dugout for nearly a decade he is not far removed from the game itself.
It remains to be seen how this will work. If the Chisox regress then Jerry Reinsdorf looks like a jerk for dumping Renteria. But if La Russa leads a third big league club to a World Series title then Reinsdorf is a genius. But no one can dispute the 76-year old La Russa's credentials.
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