Former Oakland Pitcher Dave Stewart talks about Tony La Russa
He may be the owner of a sports agency called the Sports Management Partners, which is known to represent baseball stars like Chad Billingsley and Matt Kemp, but Dave Stewart will always be recognized as a pitcher that flourished in the pitching rotation
of the Oakland Athletics under Tony La Russa. The former Oakland great spoke to the press on Monday, October 31, about his former skipper, La Russa.
As La Russa ends his reign as manager with 33 years of experience in Major League Baseball, the skipper will be remembered heavily for his recent achievement for the St. Louis Cardinals. The gaffer guided the club to a World Series triumph over the Texas
Rangers and has set the stage for the best exit, any manager could hope for.
La Russa leaves the game with three World Series titles and one of which that came with the Oakland club. Dave Stewart was part of that squad that lifted La Russa’s first title. He was the 1989 World Series Most Valuable Player and he owes a lot of his success
to the skipper. He characterized La Russa in a few words when he addressed the press.
"A winner," Stewart said. "He was a very prepared manager, and that put him in position to be better than the guy across from him. We thought of him at the time as a players' manager, and it seemed his guys in St. Louis felt the same way, from what I heard
from (David) Freese, (Albert) Pujols and (Chris) Carpenter."
The former pitcher talked about his woes when he made the transfer from the Philadelphia Phillies to the A’s in 1986. La Russa also joined the A’s that year.
"He was prepared more than anybody to win games, to have one step on the other guy, said Stewart.
The 1989 World Series Most Valuable Player went on to say that before La Russa, he was not sure on whether to trust the club or not. There was even a point where he wondered whether signing for the team was the right path in his career. However, when Tony
La Russa came in to manage, things got better and Stewart availed the opportunity to impress the critics.
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