When the news broke last November that newly hired White Sox manager Tony La Russa had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in the Phoenix area in February 2020, the organization quickly acknowledged that it was aware of the incident before hiring La Russa on Oct. 29.
That’s true, but the pervasiveness of that knowledge within the White Sox was limited to one individual.
La Russa informed chairman Jerry Reinsdorf of his DUI incident early on in the interview process, but Reinsdorf didn’t share that with anyone, Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports reported in a piece Wednesday that focused on La Russa.
The day after the incident back in February, La Russa had also informed Angels owner Arte Moreno, as he was working as an adviser for the organization at the time. La Russa offered to resign, but Moreno chose to keep him on with the Angels for the 2020 season, Nightengale reported.
La Russa was formally charged with DUI on Oct. 28, a day before the White Sox introduced him. The timing of the charge some eight months after the incident was partially tied to delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities have said.
News of La Russa’s arrest surfaced on Nov. 9, when ESPN reported on the incident. La Russa ended up pleading guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor reckless driving. He was fined and ordered to serve 20 hours of community service and one day of home detention.
Throughout the process, Reinsdorf stood firm by La Russa, who also pled guilty to a DUI charge back in 2007 as well.
“I made no excuses, it was an inexcusable mistake,” La Russa told USA Today as White Sox camp gets set to open. “It has cost as much embarrassment personally as possible. Anyone to think that this wasn’t something that had a very negative impact…
“I mean part of the embarrassment and negative feelings is the impact on the organization and the fans and the people that hired me. There were already enough questions of me managing, and then this. It has been torturous.”