La Russa, Francona have family ties
For the here and now, it is the challenge of matching wits with Terry Francona that dominates Tony La Russa's thoughts in the World Series.
But when allowed a moment of reflection the other day, it was the mention of another Francona that brought a smile to La Russa's face -- John Patsy Francona, better known as Tito, the onetime .300 hitter in the majors, All-Star infielder, and father of Red Sox manager Terry.
"Talk about a first-class man," said La Russa. "He was just a terrific roommate."
That's right, the man trying to manage the Cardinals to a World Series win over the Red Sox once roomed with the father of the man who is trying to manage the Red Sox to a World Series triumph. Given the number of personalities involved in this World Series and the rich history of baseball, it's hardly a surprise there are overlaps such as this nugget.
They crossed paths at different points in their baseball careers, La Russa an unheralded youngster with the Oakland A's in 1969, Tito Francona at the end of a respectable big league career.
"I roomed with [Tito in 1969]," said La Russa. "I can't understand why they roomed us together. It was just a couple of trips.
"I was a kid. Some guys treated me like I shouldn't be there, which they should have, but not Tito. He was just a very, very helpful guy to a guy who was way in over his head."
La Russa made his major league debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1963, a season which had a rookie class that included Jim Gosger and Rico Petrocelli of the Red Sox, Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich of the Tigers, Vic Davalillo and Tommy John of the Indians, and Ken Harrelson and Jose Santiago of the Athletics.
Though he has become one of the game's finest managers, La Russa hardly made an impact as a player. After his rookie season (he hit .250 in 44 at-bats with just two extra-base hits in 34 games), La Russa spent the next four seasons in the minor leagues. When he next surfaced in the big leagues, the Athletics had moved to Oakland and over the course of four seasons, La Russa got into just 88 games and hit .176. Hardly a memorable career, but certainly memorable days. At least those spent as Tito Francona's roommate.
And just what moved Francona -- then 35 and with the eighth of nine teams in a 15-year career -- to treat the young La Russa so nicely?
"As one of the older guys, I always remembered how I had been treated as a younger player," Francona said from his home in New Brighton, Pa. "I thought it was important to help the younger players, like I had been helped. Tony was a nice kid."
Francona, 70, didn't make the trip to Boston for Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, but he said he'd go to St. Louis.
"I'm very proud of him because we've never been in this situation before," said Francona. "I played for 15 years and never got a chance to play in the World Series and that always bothered me. I used to be so envious of the guys who got to play in it. Now, I'm enjoying what is going on."
He lives not far from his hometown of Aliquippa, just across the river from a place called Beaver Falls, the hometown of Joe Namath.
"When I was playing ball, I used to tell everyone I was from Pittsburgh," said Francona, laughing. "But then Joe came along and I started to tell them I was from Beaver Falls."
Francona put up stellar seasons for the Indians after a luckluster start with the Orioles, White Sox, and Tigers. He hit .363 in 1959 when he was fifth in MVP voting, .292 the next season, then .301 in 1961 when he had a career-high 85 RBIs. But in 1964 he played his sixth and final season in Cleveland, then set off on an odyssey to St. Louis, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Oakland, then Milwaukee, his final stop, in 1970.
It was such a tour of major league cities that Terry Francona laughed when told La Russa had remembered his dad as a roommate.
"That's half the league," said the Red Sox manager, "because he played with so many teams and so long with so many people."
Even Tito Francona laughed when told of La Russa's remembrances, but he said he appreciated it. He has no regrets, except that "I always seemed to be one year too late or one year too early" in his moves. He went to St. Louis in 1965, the year after the Cardinals won the World Series and he left in 1966, the year before they beat the Red Sox to win it again.
Poor timing, but it is why this year's Fall Classic is so special to Tito Francona. He's part of baseball folklore as one of the four Indians who hit consecutive home runs in 1963 (for the record, it went Woodie Held, Pedro Ramos, Francona, and Larry Brown), but he never got a chance to bask in the World Series spotlight.
Having his son experience it is the next best thing.
