Monday, July 11, 2016

Hall of Fame TTM Success - Tony LaRussa

I haven't added to my Hall of Fame signed baseball collection in a long time, so I decided when I got my case of OMLBs in for the National, I would go ahead and try Tony LaRussa TTM to go ahead and get one out of the way.

I mailed to LaRussa on June 27 and got this ball back on Friday (July 8) while I was in Baltimore.  Still counts as an 11-day TAT.

LaRussa (b. 1944) played in the majors from 1963, 1968 to 1971 and 1973 for the A's (KC and Oakland), Braves and Cubs.  He had 35 hits, no home runs and a .199 batting average.

LaRussa would become the manager of the Chicago White Sox in 1979 and would go on to manage from 1979 to 2011 for the White Sox (1979-1986), Oakland Athletics (1986-1995) and St. Louis Cardinals (1996 to 2011).  He amassed a 2,728-2,365 record (.536) over 33 seasons.  He was the Manager of the Year in 1983, 1988, 1992 and 2002.  He led the White Sox to the post season in 1983, losing to the Orioles.  He took the A's to the World Series in 1988, 1989 and 1990, winning in 1989.  He led the Cardinals to the World Series in 2004, 2006 and 2011, winning in 2006 and 2011.

LaRussa was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014 by the Veterans Committee, in his first time on the ballot.  He is my 122nd Hall of Famer on a baseball.

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