La Russa gets Presidential call
Manager Tony La Russa was spending time with some of his best and furriest friends Thursday morning when his phone twittered. There are few calls that take him away from a tour of an animal rescue shelter or a conversation about the need to have and hold and save pets.
This was one.
“That was the White House,” the manager explained. “The President wants me to greet him at the airport.”
Post-Dispatch staff writer par excellence Elizabethe Holland was kind enough to provide the on-the-spot reporting for this blog entry. La Russa told us yesterday that he would spend part of his off day at Stray Rescue of St. Louis as it was competing for a $1-million makeover of its shelter. Judges for the contest were in town today and a festival of sorts welcomed them. Supporters brought their animals and La Russa was one of several local two-legged celebrities in attendance.
The winner of the contest will be announced May 21 in USA Today.
It was during a tour of the facility that La Russa’s phone rang with the invitation from the White House. President George W. Bush is visiting St. Louis on Air Force One on Friday (read more about it over at Jo Mannies’ “Political Fix”), and he wondered if La Russa had the time to meet him at the airport.
La Russa has a previous engagement Friday night, but said he’d be happy to be at the airport Friday morning to see Air Force One pull in.
The manager and the former owner of the Texas Rangers have crossed paths many times since both of them left the American League for other endeavors. Bush threw out the first pitch at old Busch a few seasons ago, emerging from the dugout at just about the same spot La Russa stood for all those years. And, after the 2006 World Series victory, Bush hosted the Cardinals at the White House.
Then-shortstop David Eckstein once told me about being pulled aside into a room at the White House to stand with La Russa, then-general manager Walt Jocketty, and chair Bill DeWitt Jr. as they waited for the President. Those five would be the last people to go to the dais, and they had some time to kill.
“The President came in,” Eckstein said, “and had all these questions for us. He just wanted to talk a little baseball.”
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
2 faults that TLR has are he is a LAWYER and he works for those idiots from PETA in the off season, but he’s a great manager! GO CARDS!
Yeah, KGBSWO, just think how horrible our country would be if we still had 4,000+ Americans with us, tens of thousands not injured, and Iraq wasn’t a training ground for Al Queda.
Meanwhile, after overstretching our military and destroying our economy, Boy George gets to live out his childhood fantasies and talk some baseball. Wheee!
About of this ratings stuff, did you know that the 2006 World Series was the worst rating of all, but who cared unless you were following the ratings. We still WON THE TITLE, all I am saying is when things go well no one saying that he had a 95% approve rating (whatever it was) but now some people saying that 71% disapprove and now he is the worst ever. so whoever disapproves of Bush that is fine, but since HE is sending out rebate checks just put yours in my account since YOU dont approve of what HE does.
I love President Bush!! I always have, always will! All the stuff that is going on in this country - NONE of it is Bush’s fault. Katrina? FEMA’s fault Housing crisis? homeowner’s and bad lenders’ fault. Immegration problems? …Congress’ fault. The war?!!?! THE TERRORIST’S FAULT!!!!!
support our troops!!!!!
Johnny McCain in ‘08!!!
GOP 4 life, son!!!!!
Dan….
71% of people in this country are retarded; so, your argument is void.
Right now, the cost of the war divided by the population is $1,721 per person. So while he’s sending you rebate checks, he’s sending all your grandchildren’s money to Iraq. If you’re cool with that, then I guess there’s not much more to be said.
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
Adam…
Seriously?! That’s your arguement? Our grandchildren’s money is being sent to Iraq?!
Well, ok, to answer your question - YES, I am ok with that. Because I’d rather have their money
sent to Iraq that have them blown up by an emboldened terrorist organization that should have been taken care of 50 years ago!!
Two score and one blogpost ago, some blowhard seemed to be trying, inarticulately, to blame George W Bush for the A-Rod’s $250 million contract:
I’m pretty sure the Texas Rangers signed their crazy A-Rod contract AFTER the team was sold, or at least after Bush sold his share of the team. Blame him for deficits of a couple hundred billion dollars, if you like, but the A-Rod contract had nothing to do with him. I think A-Rod’s entire 10-year contract, which he voided last year under the wise advice of a crappy agent, would be spent in less than a day.
Vote Libertarian.
Jace,
Not going to take issue with anything else you wrote, but Katrina? Sorry, but Katrina and the disaster that threatened one of the greatest cities in our country and changed the lives of so many of my friends … well, that was a failing of people and programs long before FEMA was a household acronym. FEMA’s fault? Dial it back a decade or so.
dg
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