Steve Stone can relate to Tony La Russa. Both are 70-something baseball lifers, still up and running, still going strong.
Stone is rooting for the White Sox manager, whom he has become more acquainted with in the last year, playing golf and visiting for Saturday lunches in Phoenix with Bud Selig, Walt Jocketty, Jerry Reinsdorf and La Russa.
La Russa’s aim in his second go-round with the Sox has never been more clear to Stone.
“His overwhelming goal is to win one more time for Jerry Reinsdorf,” Stone said. “If Jerry did not bring him back, I’m not sure he would have gotten another managerial job. But he and Jerry have a wonderful relationship. Watching the dynamic between those two, they kid each other and laugh and there is a tremendous amount of mutual respect.”
La Russa’s pursuit of the goal starts Friday when the Sox open the season against the Tigers, La Russa’s 35th as a manager, 10th with the Sox and second of his second tour on the South Side.
“And Tony realizes how important winning one more time is for Jerry Reinsdorf,” Stone said. “And he wants to present that to him, he wants to be the guy that gets Jerry that other World Series championship.”
The Sox won one in 2005 but have won just three postseason games since. Reinsdorf turned to La Russa, who was fired by general manager Ken Harrelson in 1986, to come out of managerial retirement and bring home a second trophy. It was a controversial hire, but a good one, Stone says.
To watch La Russa all over the backfields during spring training, eyeing prospects, watching drills, talking with coaches, putting in long days is to know he won’t fail for lack of effort.
“It’s not in Tony’s DNA to coast,” Stone said.
“Most people really don’t understand how good a baseball man Tony La Russa is,” Stone said. “We have a tendency to believe that when you get in your 70s you forget everything you’ve learned through a life of professional baseball. You might argue there are guys who know some aspect of the game better than Tony but he prepares as much as anybody. He lives, eats and breathes the game of baseball.”
The same could be said of Stone, 74, who says he’ll stay in broadcasting as long as he loves it. La Russa is 77, still loves and breathes the game and like Stone wants to prove he’s not washed up.
“People think when you get in your 70s you ought to sit back, kick your shoes off and enjoy retirement,” Stone said.
That’s not happening with Stone or La Russa.
Stone keeps an open mind to the new age of analytics and data-driven player evaluation. La Russa says he does as well.
Much of the new stuff is good, Stone says, “but everything that is old isn’t bad, either.”
Some of it might be good for the game.
“The more of us who are allowed to stay in the game, the better the game will be because we’ve seen so much,” Stone said.
“Tony still has a lot to share. He knows the game backwards and forward and it’s nice to see him get a shot at it. He’s going to be a better manager this season because he knows the personnel of the White Sox. He has a better feeling now of what his players can’t do.”
NOTES: The Sox worked out in Glendale, Ariz. Wednesday morning before flying to Detroit. They will conduct a workout at Comerica Park Thursday morning and then announce the expanded 28-man roster, which should look like this:
Position players: Yasmani Grandal, Reese McGuire, Jose Abreu, Josh Harrison, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Andrew Vaughn, Leury Garcia, Danny Mendick, Gavin Sheets, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, AJ Pollock, Adam Engel. Pitchers: Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Vince Velasquez, Dallas Keuchel, Reynaldo Lopez, Liam Hendriks, Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer, Kyle Crick, Ryan Burr, Jose Ruiz, Tanner Banks, Bennett Sousa.
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Stone knows what La Russa wants: Win 2nd World Series for close friend Reinsdorf - Chicago Sun-Times
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