ST LOUIS, Missouri: This time, Tony La Russa can celebrate his World Series championship.
La Russa became only the second manager in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series title with teams from both the American and National leagues when the Cardinals beat Detroit 4-2 on Friday to win the best-of-seven final 4-1.
La Russa's prior crown came with American League champion Oakland in 1989 in a Series against Bay Area rival San Francisco that was marred by an earthquake that caused death and destruction and halted the World Series for 10 days.
"The celebration was tainted. We didn't have champagne or anything like that," La Russa said, noting the focus was on recovery for the victims by the time the A's got around to completing the sweep.
This time, La Russa guided the Cardinals through a late-season slump and numerous injuries to have them peak for the playoffs. They ousted San Diego in the first round and the New York Mets in a seven-game National League final.
The self-destructing Tigers, who made eight errors in the five games, were no match for a team that doubted itself but became believers and made believers from doubters everywhere.
"We had a lot of doubts we could put it all together," La Russa said. "Doubts? How about daily and a couple of times during the games."
La Russa, who matched Sparky Anderson as the only manager with two-league Series titles, picked number 10 for his jersey because he wanted to be reminded that his ultimate goal was to lead the Cardinals to a 10th World Series title.
Once he did he gave all the credit to his players.
"The guys refused to not let this happen," La Russa said, unfazed about the fact the Cardinals won fewer games than any other champion in World Series history.
"There definitely ain't no bad World Series win," he said.
Jim Edmonds, who has spent years playing under La Russa, called this year's managerial job the skipper's finest hour because of the wildly different personalities in the clubhouse after trades and free agent signings.
"It was his most challenging by far with these 'idiots' we've got," Edmonds joked.
"We've had a lot of injuries. We got a lot of players from other teams. There are so many different personalities in there. Managing a bunch of different guys he's not used to is tougher for him."
La Russa has fought to keep an even emotional balance and block out the distractions, bringing the highs down and the lows up to maintain an even keel and keep even his biggest stars grounded in a team-first philosophy.
(China Daily 10/30/2006 page6)
