Tony La Russa’s career in Major League Baseball: By The Numbers
May 17, 2014, 10:15 PM | Updated: 10:15 pm
The Arizona Diamondbacks made major news Saturday morning hiring Tony La Russa, a long-time manager from 1979-2011, as the organization’s first Chief Baseball Officer.
As the team’s CBO, La Russa will oversee the D-backs’ baseball operations, reporting directly to team president and CEO Derrick Hall.
Here’s a look back at La Russa’s MLB resume — both as a player and coach — by the numbers:
2 Part I:
La Russa is only the second person in baseball to currently hold the position of CBO. Dan O’Dowd of the Colorado Rockies is the other.
2 Part II:
In 2006, La Russa became just the second manager to win a World Series in each league, joining Sparky Anderson. For his career, La Russa won three world championships, six league championships and 12 division titles.
4:
In his 33 years as a manager, La Russa was named the MLB Manager of the year four times: 1983, 1988, 1992 and 2002.
.590:
La Russa faced the D-backs exactly 100 times from 1998-2011 as the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. He recorded a .590 winning percentage in those games.
6:
The 69-year-old played six big league seasons with three different teams — Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. He had seven career RBI and batted .199.
1979:
The D-backs CBO first became a manager back in 1979, when former Chicago White Sox GM Roland Hemond hired him at the age of 35. Hemond is currently a special assistant to Hall.
1988:
When current D-backs manager Kirk Gibson hit his historic, pinch-hit home run in Game of 1 the 1988 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the opposing manager for the Oakland Athletics was La Russa.
2014:
This July, La Russa along with fellow managers Bobby Cox and Joe Torre with be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Only Torre (84) has more career postseason wins than La Russa (70).
2,728:
During his managerial career, La Russa won 2,728 games during the regular season. In the history of the game, only two other managers — Connie Mack and John McGraw — have more wins.
