White Sox hire Tony LaRussa as manager

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
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I think the White Sox are just playing the heel role now. A section of the ballpark that had been named in honor of a longtime, beloved concession worker was renamed for... Tony LaRussa.

View: https://twitter.com/TheTyronePalmer/status/1397605553749336072?s=19
Wow. This feels like the sort of thing that might happen after a complete regime change for a team (new owners, new management, zero institutional memory), but ownership hasn't changed in 40 years. That's gross.
 

Wallball Tingle

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Jul 16, 2005
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The White Sox have 3 sacrifice bunts today, first time an AL team has done that in a nine inning game since 2017.

In related news, they have no runs and are down 1-0 after 7.
Maybe they should stop giving him the sign to get hits.
LaRussa's Lounge - Two Drink Minimum
I love this place and you all.

And fuck LaRussa. Knowing what a drunk driving, smartest-in-the-room jackass he is, it's even sweeter to watch '04 WS G3 and see him wither and die inside when Suppan bones it between 3rd and home.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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Wow. This feels like the sort of thing that might happen after a complete regime change for a team (new owners, new management, zero institutional memory), but ownership hasn't changed in 40 years. That's gross.
How tone deaf is it possible to be?
 

JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
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And fuck LaRussa. Knowing what a drunk driving, smartest-in-the-room jackass he is, it's even sweeter to watch '04 WS G3 and see him wither and die inside when Suppan bones it between 3rd and home.
Bill Simmons had the best take on LaRussa's motionless expression during that play - it was like seeing a guy who just walked out of the mall to discover that his car had been stolen.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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I think the White Sox are just playing the heel role now. A section of the ballpark that had been named in honor of a longtime, beloved concession worker was renamed for... Tony LaRussa.

View: https://twitter.com/TheTyronePalmer/status/1397605553749336072?s=19
Wow. This feels like the sort of thing that might happen after a complete regime change for a team (new owners, new management, zero institutional memory), but ownership hasn't changed in 40 years. That's gross.
How tone deaf is it possible to be?
Oh it is much worse than that,

here are quotes from her family
“Loretta’s Lounge,” in the 100 section of the stadium, was dedicated to Loretta Micele before Game 1 of the 2005 World Series to commemorate her 60th year working for the team.

But it’s now “La Russa’s Lounge.”

Micele was a die-hard White Sox fan who began working for the team in 1945, said her great-grandson, Lou Soto. The lifelong Bridgeport resident died in 2014.

Soto said Micele’s family was not notified the section named for his great-grandmother was renamed for La Russa. They realized it when his sister attended a game this season and saw the sign had been changed.

“They never called us at all,” Soto said.

Soto’s family reached out to the White Sox to ask for the “Loretta’s Lounge” sign to hang in a family bar but was told the team disposed of it.
“They told my mother that they threw the sign out,” Soto said. “It was really disheartening. It meant a lot to our family. Every time we’d go to a game we’d take a picture in front of it.”
“Loretta Micele has always been a treasured member of the White Sox family and a plaque in her honor remains in the space to honor her memory despite the name change. As we say in the plaque, Loretta was a dedicated concession stand staff member known for her service with a smile attitude.”
https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/05/26/white-sox-face-backlash-after-changing-late-beer-vendors-lorettas-lounge-to-honor-tony-la-russa/
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apr 22, 2016
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Wow. This feels like the sort of thing that might happen after a complete regime change for a team (new owners, new management, zero institutional memory), but ownership hasn't changed in 40 years. That's gross.
It's like the movie Major League, except if the manager was a friend of the evil owner instead of the lovable Lou Brown. I have to believe there have been informal player discussions among the White Sox along the lines of "fuck this guy but let's not let him get in the way of winning." Which is to say, as long as the White Sox are doing well, everything will probably be fine, but if they go on an extended slump I suspect the wheels may fall off very quickly.
 

moondog80

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Sep 20, 2005
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I'd like to know the details of this before pinning it on LaRussa. I'm not his biggest fan, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't demand a concession stand be named after him as a condition of managing, and certainly didn't stipulate that it should be the one named after an old lady who started working at the stadium in 1945. Good chance he had no idea about this.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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I'd like to know the details of this before pinning it on LaRussa. I'm not his biggest fan, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't demand a concession stand be named after him as a condition of managing, and certainly didn't stipulate that it should be the one named after an old lady who started working at the stadium in 1945. Good chance he had no idea about this.
I agree that that's the likelihood. But I would prefer to learn that he not only demanded it, but that he did so because he gets a cut of the Lounge's profits.
 

santadevil

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Aug 1, 2006
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How tone deaf is it possible to be?
TLR has worked 1,079 games for the White Sox over 9 seasons for the White Sox. Guy has been able to produce a .510 winning percentage for them and made it to one postseason appearance

Loretta Micele worked 60 years and probably was at 4,800 games or so. I assume she was paid to do that job and likely a lot less combined than LaRussa has even made through the first quarter of this season

This decision is beyond tone-deaf
I now may actually root harder against the White Sox management than any other team I've rooted against in the past

Thanks for posting this article
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apr 22, 2016
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Do the white Sox think this statement makes things better?
View: https://twitter.com/JRFegan/status/1397985129411272708
It's all just so odd. Other than the fact that he's friends with the owner, why would the White Sox want to name anything after La Russa anyway? The team was supremely mediocre during his first stint with them, winning all of a single playoff game.

For comparison's sake, Francona was the Red Sox coach for longer, won a helluva lot more games, and brought the Red Sox two World Series including their first in 86 years, and to my knowledge has nothing named after him at Fenway or anywhere else connected to the Sox.

Edit: missed that @santadevil covered similar ground above already, but I'll leave the post here anyway.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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May 5, 2017
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I think we all knew it was only a matter of time before Yermin came back to earth, but it's still fun to pin it on LaRussa – in the 15 games since his own manager threw him under the bus, Mercedes is batting .154 with 1 home run.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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May 5, 2017
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Yermin Mercedes has gone from April MVP to a July demotion to AAA. It doesn't fit the timeline to perfection since he hit well in 2 of the next 3 games, but overall he's hit .162/.236/.207 with 1 home run in the 32 games since LaRussa publicly shamed him and invited the Twins pitching staff to throw at him. Fortunately for LaRussa, he just needs to avoid self-inflicted controversy like this to manage in the postseason. The Indians are in full collapse mode with their zero man rotation and the Twins are bound to be sellers.
 

DanoooME

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Mar 16, 2008
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White sox fans seem to be done with TLR

Loud fire Tony chant at the stadium right now
View: https://twitter.com/ThreeTwoEephus/status/1535740273107640324
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/joeydoughnuts_/status/1535740451751399425
View: https://twitter.com/Starting9/status/1535741168956366848
Reinsdorf is going to give TLR a contract extension just to stick it to those fans.
The announcers in the 2nd clip did a fantastic job of shutting up and letting those chants be audible to everyone watching the telecast. They could have talked right over it and it would have had 1/10th the impact. Kudos to those guys.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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The White Sox fans I know hate him so much; like Bobby V levels of hate. They know he has a talented team that should be cruising in first place with such a weak division.
 

nattysez

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Sep 30, 2010
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The Orioles have more wins than the White Sox. At some point this level of embarrassment becomes untenable.