NASHVILLE, Tenn. • Walt Weiss knew Tony La Russa even before we did.
Back in Tony's A's days, Weiss was Tony's prized shortstop (long before his prized shortstop was Royce Clayton). Weiss won the Rookie of the Year in 1988 and then won the World Series with TRL in 1989.
But all these years later, they're rivals – Weiss the manager of the NL West's Colorado Rockies; La Russa the chief baseball officer of the NL West's Arizona Diamondbacks (in other words, he's the Diamondbacks' Don).
I caught up with Weiss here at the winter meetings, and asked his take on Tony these days.