Hadn’t thought of this...
Original Article
The Hall of Fame can only hope this flirtation between Chicago White Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and his former manager Tony La Russa turns out to be nothing more than a consultation about other managers between two old friends and that La Russa wouldn’t seriously come out of retirement, at age 76, to take the helm of the White Sox. If that did become the case, it would be a direct slap in the face to the Hall of Fame, and the Veterans Committee which elected La Russa along fellow managers Joe Torre and Bobby Cox in 2013.
It would also make La Russa look like a hypocrite. “I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I came back to move up one more spot,” he said when he retired in 2011, 35 wins shy of John McGraw for second on the all-time list. “You finish where you finish and John McGraw is a legendary figure. I kind of like that he’s second.” … If La Russa needs any perspective on this, there is Tommy Lasorda to consider.
A couple of years after his Hall of Fame induction in 1997, Lasorda started talking about coming out of retirement to manage the Dodgers again, only to get a phone call from Yogi Berra, who’d been a member of the Veterans Committee that elected him. “We voted you in,” Yogi said, firmly. “You’re not gonna embarrass us by managing again.”
The rules for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame are strict in the sense that candidates must be evaluated on their complete careers. It is the reason for the five-year waiting period for players to appear on the Baseball Writers ballot, and the requirements that former managers and executives be either 65 or older or officially retired before being considered by the Veterans Committee.
