He leaves with the third-most MLB wins as a manger and three World Series titles, two of them with St. Louis, and will likely be honored for it one day by being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He becomes the ninth manager to win the championship three times and the first one to achieve it in three different decades.
La Russa said there wasn’t really one major reason for calling it quits just days after winning the World Series, but it was just a combination of things and he felt the time was right to step down. He said he actually made up his mind to retire back in August when it looked like the Cardinals wouldn’t be able to make the playoffs. However, he said the team’s position at that time didn’t have any bearing on his decision.
He told GM John Mozeliak it at that time, but didn’t tell his players and coaching staff until two days after the World Series, following the team’s celebration and parade. He said that’ he’s looking forward to the future and trying something a little different, but admitted that he didn’t have a new job lined up. He said he doesn’t expect to remain in the Cardinals organization, but could still remain in baseball in some capacity. Mozeliak said he’s got a list of possible replacements for La Russa, but declined to mention any names.
Looking back on La Russa’s career in St. Louis, he earned the most wins in franchise history with 1,408 season victories over his 16 seasons. He took the Cardinals to the playoffs in nine of those years and won three pennants and two World Series. Overall in the Major Leagues, La Russa won 2,728 games, which puts him third on the all-time list behind Connie Mack with 3,731 wins and John McGraw with 2,763. In total games managed, only Mack, who managed for a total of 53 years, ranks ahead of La Russa’s 5,097.
His 33 years on the job place him in a second-place tie for longevity with McGraw. He’s the only manager in history to win more than one pennant in both the AL and NL and the second manger to win a World Series in both leagues. La Russa’s 70 playoff wins are the second most in history. After managing for so long it’s obvious that LaRussa also lost his share of games and his 2,365 defeats are the second most in history.
La Russa only needed to win 36 more games to pass McGraw on the all-time wins list. But he said he didn’t want to continue managing just to achieve personal gain even though he and the team had a mutual contract option in place for next season. La Russa’s first managerial job came back in 1979 when he joined the Chicago White Sox. He then moved to the Oakland Athletics in 1986 and won a World Series with them in 1989. He joined St. Louis in 1996.
