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| Tony La Russa told St. Louis Cardinals goodbye on Monday morning as the manager with the third most wins all-time announced he was retiring a World Series Champion. - Photo courtesy of Getty Images |
Just three days after the St. Louis Cardinals completed their miraculous run to an improbably World Series title, the first of many dominoes fell in what is sure to be an eventful off-season.
Hosting an oddly timed 9 am press conference, the St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt and general manager John Mozeliak announced that manager Tony La Russa has decided to hang it up and retire.
La Russa said that he had known since August that he was going to call it quits, one way or another.
"We went through the season, and I felt that this just feels like it's time to end it, and I think it's going to be great for the Cardinals to refresh what's going on here."
La Russa is a lock to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. La Russa ends his managerial career a World Series Champion.
La Russa currently sits in third place on the all-time wins list at 2,728, just 36 wins behind John McGraw. But La Russa said that passing McGraw is simply not important to him.
"I'm aware of the history of the game. But I would not be happy with myself if the reason I came back was to move up one spot. That's not why you manage ... it's not something that motivates me. Wherever you finish, you finish."
What has been important to La Russa is winning and nobody can ever accuse the man of not giving it all every single night. La Russa will forever go down as a grinding manager who had teams who never game up, sometimes brought frustations, and always played the game of baseball the right way.
During his entire 33 year career La Russa has done nothing but win and recognizes that he is ready for a change.
"I'm looking forward to what's ahead. I'm ready to do something different."
While La Russa's life is about to change forever, there is one thing that will not. Tony La Russa is the best manager in St. Louis Cardinals history and fans will always appreciate him and the two World Series Championships he brought to the City of St. Louis.
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