A 15-minute talk in late March made this week’s news about Tony La Russa meeting with the manager-less Chicago White Sox not all that surprising.
Months ago, a phone call with the former Cardinals manager during what should have been baseball’s season-opening week found a Hall of Famer suffering from a severe case of baseball withdrawal.
La Russa, 76 now, had never gone so many consecutive days without a baseball game to play, manage or influence in some way from one of the various front-office roles he's held in recent years. He jumped into baseball as soon as he got out of high school, and he never got out.