TTM Stats
- Sent: 10/6/2018 | Received: 10/22/2018 | 16 Days
- ’92 Topps, ’08 Topps Heritage, ’09 Topps
- Address: Boston Red Sox
The Story of the Autograph
Tony La Russa played in the majors in 1963, 1968-1971 and 1973. He played mostly at second base but also saw a little time at shortstop and third base. He spent time in Kansas City and Oakland with the Athletics and then in Atlanta and Chicago, with the Cubs. But Tony is better known as the manager of some great teams in Oakland and St. Louis.
His first managing job was in Chicago where he managed the White Sox from 1979 through 1986. He had been managing some of their minor league teams prior to that and when the White Sox fired Don Kessinger as their player manager during the 1979 season, he was replaced by La Russa. The White Sox finished the year out at .500 with him managing. He would go on to have a few winning seasons in Chicago but the best being 1983 with a 99-63 record and finishing first in the division, but they would lose in the postseason. Still, that got him is first Manager of the Year Award.
From there he went on to the A’s in Oakland where he had several great seasons including two with over 100 wins, four division wins and postseason appearances, three AL Pennants and one World Series title. The best run was of course from 1988 through 1990 when his teams won 104, 99, and 103 games respectively. In 1988 they ended up losing to the Dodgers in the World Series. They would win in 1989 against the Giants and the lose in 1990 against the Reds.
La Russa then went on to manage the Cardinals from 1996 through 2011. He again had great success with two teams that won 100 or more games, seven division wins, nine postseason appearances, three NL Pennants, and two World Series Championships. They lost to the Red Sox in 2004 and then beat the Tigers in 2006 and the Rangers in 2011. He’s won of the greatest managers of all time and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
The Score on Tony La Russa – 6.5
I’ve always like Tony’s signature, but there’s normally two things that Tony does that I normally don’t like to see. First, he always signs a bit small for me. His signature is really nice so I’d love to see it bigger. Second, Tony always seems to try to find the best place to sign the card to see his signature. I love the sentiment, but sometimes that makes for an awkward signature on the card, like there he signed the 1992 card on his leg.
Thanks Mr. La Russa! I’m giving this return a 6.5.
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Information gathered using Wikipedia and Baseball Reference.