RetroSimba

(Updated April 5, 2025)

Winning the 2006 World Series championship with the Cardinals sealed for Tony La Russa his eventual election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

By joining Sparky Anderson as managers to win World Series titles in both the National League and American League, La Russa elevated himself into a special class.

La Russa and managers Joe Torre and Bobby Cox were elected to the Hall of Fame on Dec. 9, 2013. Each received 16 unanimous votes from the Expansion Era committee. Whitey Herzog, who, like La Russa and Torre, managed the Cardinals, was one of the voters.

La Russa (2,902), Cox (2,504) and Torre (2,326) rank second, fourth and fifth in career wins for managers. Connie Mack is No. 1 (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763) ranks third.

Herzog, Torre and La Russa managed St. Louis from 1980-2011, giving the Cardinals the distinction of having been led by Hall of Fame managers for 31 consecutive years.

High expectations

The Cardinals fired Torre in June 1995 and, after Mike Jorgensen finished that season as interim manager, La Russa joined the Cardinals in October 1995 after resigning as Athletics manager.

La Russa had won a World Series title and three consecutive American League pennants with the Athletics. In his first 10 seasons in St. Louis, he led the Cardinals into the National League playoffs six times and won a pennant in 2004, but the expectation was he would win a World Series title with the Cardinals.

Doing so with the 2006 Cardinals _ a club that won just 83 regular-season games and ranked fifth in the league in pitching and sixth in both batting and defense _ capped La Russa’s reputation for managerial excellence.

The 2006 World Series championship, achieved in five games against the Tigers, was the Cardinals’ first in 24 years (when Herzog led St. Louis against the Brewers in 1982).

Here is what a couple of St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnists wrote of La Russa after the 2006 championship:

_  Jeff Gordon: “If this is the worst team to ever win a World Series championship, as some will argue, then La Russa’s managerial performance ranks as his greatest effort. … By winning the World Series, La Russa has cemented his place in baseball history.”

_ Rick Hummel: “His reputation here this year has been enhanced by his ability to guide a talented yet flawed club through injury, illness and overzealous expectations.”

Classic Cardinal

Four Cardinals players in the Hall of Fame _ Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock _ were on hand to witness the clinching of the 2006 World Series championship in Game 5 at St. Louis. All four “applaud La Russa as an equal,” Hummel wrote.

In a 2014 interview with Cardinals Yearbook, La Russa said, “Winning that Series, and how we did it, was one of the best moments I can recall. What added to it was winning it at home … It contributed something significant to a franchise that is so incredibly steeped in history. For me, the topper was having Bob Gibson walk by in the clubhouse afterward, shake my hand and say, ‘You’re officially in the club.’ That’s the standard the Cardinals have.”

La Russa capped his career with another World Series title with the Cardinals in 2011. That was another exceptional achievement _ La Russa became the first Cardinals manager to win two World Series crowns since Hall of Famer Billy Southworth did it in the 1940s _ but by then his reputation as being of Hall of Fame caliber already was secured because of what he accomplished in 2006.

Mike Shannon, the club broadcaster who played for Cardinals teams that won two World Series titles and three pennants in the 1960s, provided the Post-Dispatch with the most concise and astute analysis of La Russa after the 2006 World Series. “There’s no doubt he’s going into the Hall of Fame as a manager,” Shannon said in October 2006. “… The people who really understand the game know his worth, his greatness. His value and his greatness will be appreciated more in his absence than in his presence.”

(Updated April 12, 2025)

Ted Simmons was a key to Joe Torre being able to return to big-league managing in 1990 after a six-year hiatus. Without help from Simmons, Torre might never have gotten the chance to revive his career.

On Dec. 9, 2013, three managers, Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Torre, were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Expansion Era committee. A candidate needed 12 of the votes from the 16-member committee to earn election. Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog was one of those voters.

It was Herzog who triggered the chain of events that led to Torre becoming manager of the Cardinals.

Support for Simmons

On July 6, 1990, Herzog, the Cardinals’ manager since 1980, abruptly resigned.

Cardinals coach Red Schoendienst was named interim manager while general manager Dal Maxvill launched a search for Herzog’s replacement.

There was media speculation and popular sentiment for Simmons to get the job. The former St. Louis catcher was the Cardinals’ director of player development, overseeing the minor-league system.

Five days after Herzog quit, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz opined that Simmons should be the manager.

“Simmons makes sense for a lot of reasons,” Miklasz wrote. “The manager must be a motivator, someone who can communicate with the millionaires in the dugout. Simmons … has fresh perspective on what makes today’s players click. And he’s wired. His high energy level is bound to be contagious. Maxvill said the new man must be intelligent … Simmons would beat Tony La Russa at ‘Jeopardy.’ ”

Two days later, in an interview with Vahe Gregorian of the Post-Dispatch, Simmons ended the speculation. “It’s flattering to have people asking me every five minutes if I’m going to be the next manager,” Simmons said. “But, however flattering, it’s not my objective. It’s safe and fair to say I won’t be the next manager. I don’t have any interest.”

After that, attention turned to Torre.

Friends in high places

Fired by the Braves in 1984, Torre became an Angels broadcaster. Six years later, he admitted he largely had abandoned hope of managing again.

Herzog’s surprise resignation provided the opportunity; Maxvill and Simmons provided the support.

Torre and Maxvill were friends and former teammates. They had played together for the Cardinals from 1969-72. Maxvill was on his coaching staffs when Torre managed the Mets and Braves.

Simmons was a Cardinals rookie when St. Louis acquired Torre from the Braves in March 1969. Torre, a five-time all-star catcher before converting to first baseman, became a mentor to Simmons, who was being groomed to replace Tim McCarver as the everyday catcher. Torre and Simmons were Cardinals teammates from 1969-74 and often batted back-to-back in the St. Louis order.

In late July 1990, Torre told the Los Angeles Times he would enjoy working with Maxvill and Simmons. “It would be the first time I’d be working with somebody instead of for somebody,” Torre said. “That can only be ideal.”

Maxvill told the Post-Dispatch he had seven candidates: Torre, big-league coaches Don Baylor, Hal Lanier, Pat Corrales and Gene Tenace, Class AAA Louisville manager Gaylen Pitts and Cardinals minor-league hitting instructor Mike Jorgensen. Torre, though, was the leading candidate all along.

When Torre was named Cardinals manager on Aug. 1, 1990, Herzog told Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch, “I don’t know why they didn’t do it on July 7 (the day after Herzog’s resignation). He was going to be the guy.”

Tips from Ted

With eight Cardinals eligible for free agency after the 1990 season, Herzog also said Torre would have to rely on Simmons for advice on which prospects were ready to contribute at the big-league level.

Torre agreed, telling the Post-Dispatch, “I’m going to pretty much take the rest of this season to work with Dal and Ted Simmons and make sure that when we go out there in 1991 we’re going in the right direction.

“I’m looking to Ted Simmons to see where it’s coming from.”

Wrote Miklasz: “Simmons will develop the prospects for Maxvill. Maxvill will pass them … along to Torre. Torre will manage. Presenting: The Three Amigos. United, they stand.”

Said Torre: “It’s going to be very comfortable working with people that I know so well. We were teammates. We were taught the game the same way. We played together and now we’re working together.”

Maxvill elaborated to the Post-Dispatch about the relationship between Torre and Simmons. “When Ted came up, Joe was his mentor,” Maxvill said. “Joe told him about the league, about opposing pitchers, about what to expect in situations, told him how to handle our pitching staff. I knew they had a good relationship and that their baseball philosophy was pretty much the same.

“That’s helpful. If we go through our minor-league system, we don’t like to have eight or 10 different opinions about the way cutoffs or rundowns or relays should be done. With all of us being pretty much brought up on the Cardinal Way _ through George Kissell, all of us _ I think we’ll be able to pull the wagon in the same direction from that standpoint.”

The Three Amigos, however, didn’t stay together long.

Simmons left the Cardinals in 1992 to become general manager of the Pirates. Maxvill was fired in 1994 and, a year after that, Torre was fired by Maxvill’s successor, Walt Jocketty (who selected La Russa to manage the Cardinals).

Maxvill and Simmons brought Torre back into managing and, in so doing, opened a path to his Hall of Fame election. After leaving the Cardinals, Torre was hired by the Yankees. He managed them to four World Series titles and six American League pennants in his first eight years in New York.

“Basically, I’m not in the Hall of Fame if Dal Maxvill doesn’t make that call,” Torre told Cardinals Yearbook in 2014. “Because once you’re out of the game, people don’t know you’re around. He got me back in the game.”

In 29 years managing the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees and Dodgers, Torre compiled 2,326 wins, ranking fifth all-time.