Major League Baseball (MLB) is about to lose one of their most iconic figures in recent memory. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has announced just days after he took his team to a World Series victory that he’s calling it quits.

La Russa held a Busch Stadium news conference on Monday to which he revealed:

“I think this just feels like it’s time to end it … Other than some of the personal attachments, I feel good,” he said. “I feel good that this is the right decision.”

La Russa has had a successful career as a manager winning the World Series with Oakland in 1989 followed by a second championship ring with St. Louis in 2006 and now a third in 2011.

According to the Cardinals manager he began thinking about retirement half way through the current season and had informed the front office in August after the Cardinals had begun slipping out of wild card contention.

When asked what he plans to do with all of his spare time the soon-to-be former manager said he wasn’t sure but “maybe open a book store.”

We’ll likely see Tony La Russa inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame soon, he’ll be eligible for the honor starting in 2014.

Are you sad to see La Russa retire?

Tony La Russa Helps Cardinals Win World Series, Announces Retirement is a post from: The Inquisitr

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa on Wednesday took full responsibility for a bullpen mistake that likely caused the St. Louis Cardinals to fall behind 3-2 in World Series Play.

According to La Russa he called to the teams bullpen for closer Jason Motte on two occasions and apparently wires were mixed somewhere along the lines.

Apparently La Russa believes that bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist may have hung up the phone after which time La Russa asked for Motte to be ready, he then says that after calling back to the bullpen and asking for Motte his bullpen coach instead heard the name “Lance Lynn.”

In response to the mixup the second time around La Russa said:

“Hey, it’s my fault … Maybe I slurred it, whatever it is. It comes down to who has the responsibility when there’s those kinds of miscommunications.”

According to La Russa they don’t double-check names when calling to the bullpen, something they will likely do moving forward. La Russa says he told Lilliquist “10 times” that the mixup wasn’t his fault.

After the game La Russa said:

“The phones are preventable. It’s my fault for not handling it better and making sure. All I had to do was look in the bullpen — repeat — to make sure.”

While in most ballparks La Russa would have simply looked at his bullpen to realize the right guy wasn’t warming up he couldn’t do that in Rangers ballpark because you can’t see the visiting bull-pen from the third-base dugout.

Speaking about his teams bullpen disadvantage  Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland (A friend of La Russa’s) noted:

“They need to put TV monitors in all the ballparks you can’t see,” while adding, ”I guarantee you they’ll be a proposal made at the general managers’ meetings. That’s all that’s going to come from this. You live and learn.”

In the meantime perhaps a text message or carrier pigeon could be used to ensure visual confirmation from the bullpen.

Tony La Russa Takes Responsibility For Bullpen Mistake is a post from: The Inquisitr

After taking sometime to think about his future, it seems that St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa will return to the team in 2010 for his 15th year as Manager. Now ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that La Russa is close to hiring former star slugger Mark McQwire to be his hitting coach. We can go ahead and file this one under one of the worst ideas ever, as McQwire will forever be linked to the MLB “Steroids Era” and that many fans have yet to forgive McQwire’s shameful performance in front of Congress in 2005.

If Major League Baseball ever wants to get beyond the shame of the steroids scandal than they are going to have to ban a few of the players that so defined that period of Major League Baseball. So far the tem owners have managed to keep Barry Bonds out of the game, and many of the others involved in the steroids mess have been marginalized by recent events, but the Cardinals could be making a huge mistake here.

For the most part slugger Albert Pujols has been able to put up big numbers, while staying away from any claims of steroids use. Hiring McQwire to be his hitting coach could erode the public’s willingness to give Pujols the benefit of the doubt. While McQwire was once a fan favorite, and assured of selection into the baseball hall of fame, is refusal to answer questions about his own steroid use killed his shots at immortality in Cooperstown, New York.

Had he been honest about his steroids use, he may have been able to save his status with the fans of this sport, and been able to take a job like this. However, since he chose to be evasive and has never come clean about it, hiring this man is little more than insuring a new round of steroids questions each time the press gets a chance to.

McQwire to be Cardinals hitting coach? is a post from: The Inquisitr