Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

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Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

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http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports ... enDocument

Image
Cards manager Tony La Russa should be back with the team in 2008.
(Chris Lee/P-D)

La Russa has fans on his side
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, Oct. 21 2007

At the most recent Winter Warm-up, a Cardinals true believer stood up during
Tony La Russa's address to the fans and reminded him of a promise La Russa had
made. Bedecked in an official jersey, the man said that La Russa wore No. 10 as
a pact to bring the 10th world championship to St. Louis.

In 2006, he did.

"So," the fan said, "what can we do to get you to change your number to 11?"

As La Russa grinned, there was a thunderous ovation.

They liked him. They really liked him.

La Russa said Friday that he is prepared to return for a 13th season as the
Cardinals manager, barring unforeseen complications in his talks with team
Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.

In his first dozen (mostly winning) seasons with the Cardinals, La Russa has
had a polarizing relationship with his summer home. Initially distrustful of a
West Coast interloper with an American League flair and a brainiac reputation,
Cardinals fans eventually warmed to everything La Russa and his annual trips to
October.

La Russa felt a shift in recent years, a move to embrace him, to welcome the
animal-loving California vegetarian into the flock. But gripes about his
handling of young players and his return to

California each winter haven't faded entirely with success.

Hard-line critics found talk radio and online message boards to spout their
fury. The recent chatter lobbying him to return for a 13th season stands in
stark contrast to the previous public messages. In 2001, a plane flew over the
ballpark trailing a banner that read: "Save Our Cards — Fire La Russa." A vocal
minority, he has to accept, will never accept him ... for one reason.

He isn't Whitey.

"When Tony joined the Cardinals in 1996, there's no question Cardinals fans
were still longing for a return of the winning days with Whitey Herzog as
manager," club President Mark Lamping said. "Tony was of a different
background, a more cerebral-type person. Not the typical Midwestern, old-school
manager. There were things Whitey embodied for the fans, that they expect from
Tony, and that had a lot to do with the standard Whitey had set."

Whitey called St. Louis home. Still does. Tony returns to California every
offseason. Always will. Whitey talked like a chum and told stories as if he
were on a barstool. Tony passed the bar, and even his wife, Elaine, comments on
his stoic, even snippy, demeanor during live televised postgame news
conferences. Whitey acquired Ozzie Smith. Tony put him in a platoon. Whitey
spawned Whiteyball. Tony batted the pitcher eighth.

There was no winning for La Russa.

Except for his constant winning.

La Russa led the Cardinals to the playoffs in his first season and six of the
past eight seasons. Twice the Cardinals led the majors with 100 or more wins,
and twice the Cardinals won the National League pennant. The World Series
championship in 2006 clinched what he called a "greater acceptance" in St.
Louis. It completed what Hall of Famers such as Lou Brock and Bob Gibson and
the late Jack Buck started by publicly supporting and lauding La Russa. It put
a ring on a personality most of the fan base grew to appreciate once it stopped
assuming, according to Mike Shannon.

"I think you have to look at the radio show" he did on KMOX and then on KTRS,
Shannon said. "Fans got a chance to talk to him and see what kind a person he
is, not the person everybody thought he is. I hear people talking a whole lot
differently about Tony. He has a reason for everything. He has an (engaging)
personality. The fans now get to see that."

In Cincinnati last month, La Russa cataloged the elements of his decision to
return. He mentioned his relationship with owners, with players and ... with
fans. Long a believer in the 10-year term — a belief espoused by his peers that
a coach wears out his welcome after a decade in office — La Russa has
reconsidered the notion. He said he is "not so sure that formula applies to St.
Louis, to the Midwest mentality."

He went on to say how the fans seemed fonder of him in the Cardinals dugout now
than they were in his first half dozen seasons. The calls for his return prove
the point.

The "formula" flipped.

After more than 10 years, he felt Cardinals fans hadn't become weary of him,
they had just accepted him, and, despite the simmering faction, granted him the
lifetime citizenship of a champion, like Herzog.

"When people would come to me early on, they would talk about how he's an
outsider," Lamping said. "He's from Oakland, California guy, vegetarian. My
response was always if you only knew him like I did. This is someone who was
just desperate, just determined to make a mark on a historic franchise like the
Cardinals. You would have a much different view of him if you recognized that.
I think people eventually did."

dgoold@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8285

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Re: Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

Post by Radio_Bugtussle »

All of that work by The Faction down the drain. All that wasted time. All those worn out keyboards in Damtoft's garbage. Oh, the humanity of it all... :D

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sighyoung
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Re: Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

Post by sighyoung »

Radio_Bugtussle wrote:All of that work by The Faction down the drain. All that wasted time. All those worn out keyboards in Damtoft's garbage. Oh, the humanity of it all... :D
Designing banners helps them practice their spelling, and I'm sure their typing skills improved.

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Re: Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

Post by Colbert Rasmols »

They liked him. They really liked him.
I can see TLR looking at a mirror and imitating Stuart Smalley.

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Re: Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

Post by a_smith »

Radio_Bugtussle wrote:All of that work by The Faction down the drain. All that wasted time. All those worn out keyboards in Damtoft's garbage. Oh, the humanity of it all... :D

nice, i miss damtoff and the gorilla avatar.

ahh the good ole days of damtoff baiting

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docellis
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Re: Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

Post by docellis »

a_smith wrote:
Radio_Bugtussle wrote:All of that work by The Faction down the drain. All that wasted time. All those worn out keyboards in Damtoft's garbage. Oh, the humanity of it all... :D

nice, i miss damtoff and the gorilla avatar.

ahh the good ole days of damtoff baiting
I kind of wish he could be outed. What if he managed a mcdonalds your kid worked at?

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sighyoung
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Re: Derrick Goold PD Article-La Russa has fans on his side

Post by sighyoung »

docellis wrote:
a_smith wrote:
Radio_Bugtussle wrote:All of that work by The Faction down the drain. All that wasted time. All those worn out keyboards in Damtoft's garbage. Oh, the humanity of it all... :D

nice, i miss damtoff and the gorilla avatar.

ahh the good ole days of damtoff baiting
I kind of wish he could be outed. What if he managed a mcdonalds your kid worked at?
You really think he had management potential?

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