It was my good fortune to sit down with Tony La Russa a few weeks after he hit the daily double in late 2011, managing the St. Louis Cardinals to an Improbable Dream World Series championship, then retiring with the third most managerial wins in major league history — 798 from his time with the Oakland A’s.
La Russa said he had decided to retire in the dog days of the 2011 season, a time when the Cardinals were not doing well. As you might expect, he methodically thought it through. For years he had preached to his players and staff the importance of giving 100 percent of whatever they had on a given day.