Tony La Russa took nine years off between seasons in the dugout, serving as a member of the Arizona front office and consultants in Boston and Anaheim. Alex Cora, meanwhile, had a forced sabbatical of just one year, spent at home in Puerto Rico.
La Russa's return from the sideline has gotten more attention nationally. It's not often, after all, that a 76-year-old Hall of Famer comes out of retirement to manage again. But the return of Cora has been, from a distance, a highlight of the 2021 season for La Russa.
When Cora was a managerial rookie in 2018, he leaned on La Russa for guidance. By then, La Russa had already won better than 2,700 games, three championships and six pennants. Former director of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski thought La Russa would be a good resource for the inexperienced Cora, and the two hit it off famously.
Instead of worrying that a managerial legend was looking over his shoulder or second-guessing his in-game moves, Cora wisely used La Russa as a mentor, with sage advice to offer on strategy, building relationships with players, delegating authority to his coaching staff and dealing with front office executives.
Now, they're both back in the dugout for 2021, facing each other this weekend for the first time as managerial rivals, and La Russa is thrilled that Cora is back doing the job he loves most.
"I was a fan before I even got (to Boston),'' La Russa told BostonSportsJournal.com, "I knew quite a bit about him from people that I trusted and then I had my own chance to observe him as a rookie manager. The decision-making that he had, he was very positive and he did what he thought was best, which is always a key in this league -- you trust your guys; you don't cover your butt. I think the fact that (the Red Sox) are playing well is no surprise. He checks all the boxes you look for in a manager.''
During the 2020 season, with La Russa working for the Angels and Cora in exile with his family in Puerto Rico, La Russa would periodically check in via text every few weeks, "just to keep in touch.''
La Russa knew that Cora was enduring a tough year, removed from the game he loves and unable to be involved.
"He's a baseball man,'' said La Russa. "He grew up in Puerto Rico, and that place, it's like going to graduate school when you're in kindergarten (for baseball). And he had his (playing) career, particularly here in Boston. I always point, as an example, how he was with (Dustin) Pedroia (in 2007) -- he did all he could to make Pedroia as good as he could be and sometimes that would cut into his own playing time. You say, 'Geez, he's got all the qualities you want for a coach or a manager. Like I said, he checks all the boxes.''
In the first two and a half weeks of the season, the Red Sox have built the best record in the American League and more than half their wins have been of the comeback variety. The 2021 Sox have shown some scrap and heart that last year's team exhibited, but La Russa isn't one who believes that teams take on the personality of their manager.
"I've always disputed that,'' he said. "I've always thought that was too easy a way to describe when something's good. I don't think it's ever the personality of the manager. I think a manager contributes, but you contributes as a staff. But the players play the game; they're the ones that have to embrace it and go out there and compete. It's the group, including the coaches and the manager. I think you should compliment the group, rather than the individual.
"I think it's a combination -- Alex and the coaches are contributing.''
While he perhaps didn't foresee Cora leading the Red Sox to 108 wins and a World Series title in his first season as a manager, La Russa, in retrospect, wasn't surprised by the success Cora was able to have right away.
"If he had come out of nowhere, that would have been unexpected,'' La Russa said. "But when you look at his background and the way he was raised -- with the Dodgers as a young player on a playoff team, then you look at his experience as a player in Boston, then he coaches with a championship team in Houston -- it all comes together. He's a smart guy and he knows how to relate to players and whatever type of personality a guy has.
"He's what you look for in a manager, above and beyond his baseball knowledge and decision-making, is his leadership qualities. It starts there, and if you have that, you're going to have guys who are going to want to play for you.''
La Russa has paid some attention the Red Sox' quick start, and this weekend aside, revels in the success they're enjoying. La Russa also formed relationships with third base coach Carlos Febles and hitting instructor Tim Hyers, and is happy for them, too, after the year they endured last season.
"I'm just pleased for the franchise,'' he said. "I have a totally different view of the Red Sox being around for a couple of years. The people, they love their baseball and they love their team. It was a wonderful experience and I was very lucky to be a part of it for a couple of years. I'm pleased that the fans are going to be excited about coming to the ballpark.''
And La Russa remembers the disappointment of the 2019 season, too. La Russa had tried to warn Cora how difficult it would be to defend the championship they had won the year before.
"I don't think,'' La Russa said with a rueful chuckle, "that Alex wanted to believe me.''
In time, La Russa was proven correct. The Sox stumbled badly out of the gate and in September, fired his friend Dombrowski, whom La Russa first got to know in his first turn with the White Sox, almost 50 years ago.
A lifetime in the game has taught La Russa not to predict too far ahead. He lives in the moment. His friends always say the same thing about him: when they ask how he's doing, La Russa always answers the same way: "Check with me in a few hours (once that day's game has been completed).''
So he's not about to make any bold pronouncements about his protege or how the 2021 Red Sox season will finish.
"I don't predict what the next 140-something games are going to be about,'' La Russa said. "I just know if they go about it right, they'll get the wins they're supposed to get -- and then some.''
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