Tony La Russa Marquee Hall of Fame 2014

His playing record is 132 games between 1963 and 1973, spread over six seasons and four clubs, with 35 hits in 176 at-bats and no home runs. He was signed at eighteen, hurt his shoulder, and never got a run of games anywhere. He took a law degree from Florida State while still playing and was admitted to the bar.

He managed thirty-five seasons, more than anyone except Connie Mack, and nobody except Mack has won more games: 2,898 against 2,509, with fourteen first-place finishes. He ran the White Sox, Oakland and St. Louis, and then came back to the White Sox in 2021, thirty-five years after he left. The archive counts only the games he ran himself, which puts its total a few wins under the published one.

He is credited, or blamed, for the modern bullpen: relievers used an inning at a time in defined roles. The Expansion Era committee elected him in 2014, three years after his first retirement, and he managed again afterward.