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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate Tony La Russa on
4his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Tony La Russa began his managerial career in 1979
6when the Chicago White Sox took a chance on a law school
7graduate, giving him his first big-league job; he won one
8division title during his 8 years in Chicago and won his first
9manager of the year award in 1983; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Tony La Russa moved on to Oakland in 1986, where
11he spent 10 years with the Oakland A's and won 4 American
12League West titles, 3 pennants, and the 1989 World Series; he
13won 2 more manager of the year awards and became one of the
14more prominent and successful managers in baseball during his
15time in Oakland; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Tony La Russa's greatest success began in 1996
17when he took over the St. Louis Cardinals; he managed for 16
18seasons in St. Louis, the most by a Cardinals manager in
19franchise history; he won more games than any Cardinals manager
20in team history and earned 52% of his career victories as a
21Cardinal; he managed 5,097 Major League Baseball games in total
22and 51% of those games were spent in the Cardinals dugout; as a

 

 

HR0815- 2 -LRB098 20052 GRL 55290 r

1St. Louis Cardinal, he won 6 division titles, 3 pennants, and 2
2World Series titles, including one in 2011, his last season as
3a manager; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Tony La Russa led all 3 franchises into the
5postseason, but 50 of his 70 career postseason victories came
6as the Cardinals manager; he finished with the third most wins
7by a manager in a career that ended in 2011 with a record of
82,728 wins and 2,365 losses; it has been said that he became a
9big-league manager in Chicago, a great manager in Oakland, and
10a Hall of Fame manager in St. Louis; therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
12NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
13we congratulate Tony La Russa on his unanimous induction into
14the National Baseball Hall of Fame; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
16presented to Tony La Russa as a symbol of our respect and
17esteem.