PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Tuesday night was a rarity for returning White Sox manager Tony LaRussa. A loss against the Pirates.
The 76-year-old has had amazing success at PNC Park and more broadly against the Pirates in his career.
Only four times in 16 years managing the Cardinals did LaRussa not have a winning season record against the Pirates. Three of those losing records were when the Bucs resided in Three Rivers Stadium. Since PNC Park opened, LaRussa is 115-65 against Pittsburgh, including 14-3 against the Pirates in PNC Park’s opening season. That 2001 season was the second best winning percentage in a season series in St. Louis’ history against the Bucs.
“I grew up in Chicago,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “They had those teams in the late 80s that were really good. At that time, it was kind of unheard of as a 35-year-old manager who was an attorney who was a standard-bearer for new age people because at that time no one managed at that age.”
Second in Major League history in managerial wins, La Russa has the White Sox in first place even with the loss on Tuesday. Marking his first games as the Chicago skipper since Ronald Reagan was president in 1986.
“I appreciate that he did it for a long time,” Shelton said. “This job is 24-7 all the time. To do it for as long as he has and as well as he has and then changing with how the game has changed. It’s extremely impressive.”