Tony La Russa never felt universal love in Cardinal Nation. Detractors dogged him right to the glorious end of his regime.

But he managed his way, like or not, and departed on his own terms with the 2011 World Series championship in hand.

La Russa seemed satisfied with his legacy while announcing his retirement during a Monday morning news conference.

“I hope it’s more upset than cheering,” La Russa said of the public reaction to his departure. “I do believe that most of them understand that they got my best shot.

“Could a better manager have won more games? Sure ... (but) they got my best shot. I tried hard and cared about my organization.”

La Russa enjoyed uncommon success during his 16-year run. Colleague Bernie Miklasz added it up elsewhere on this site: Most postseason wins by a National League team during that span: 50. Most postseason series won by a NL team: 12. Most NL pennants won: three. Two World Series championships, tied with Florida for the most in the league since 1996. Some 1,408 regular-season wins, second in the NL to Atlanta's 1,478.

But La Russa’s real accomplishment was promoting sustained effort and unwavering commitment. That is what he demanded of his teams. That is what he demanded of himself.

This is how he wants to be remembered. That is how deserves to be remembered.

And this is why he will be so hard to replace.

“The La Russa years will always be remembered as the La Russa Years,” Cardinals managing partner Bill DeWitt Jr. said. “We’re not going to find another Tony La Russa out there, given his career, what he meant to the Cardinals.”

Back in mid-summer, La Russa knew he had had enough of the daily managerial grind. He couldn’t see himself meeting his own expectations for 2012 and beyond.

Nothing that happened during the following months seemed to change his mind. He knew he couldn’t back come just because he had a loaded team. And he couldn’t come back just to reach No. 2 on the all-time managerial victory list.

“I’m aware of the history of the game,” he said. “(But) I wouldn’t be happy if that’s the reason why I came back.”

In recent years La Russa has thought long and hard about stepping aside. Was his message still relevant to his players? Did the Cardinals still want him as manager? Did he really still want to manage?

“If your fire starts to go out or you don’t want to be in that place, then you’re a fraud for taking the job,” he said.

How could he possibly make a half-hearted return? Under those terms, he said, "You’re a fraud for taking the job. You’re not a leader.”

The 2011 Cardinals will be remembered as World Series champions, yet La Russa prefers to remember the group for its remarkable character and endearing personality.

“You’re defined by your record,” La Russa acknowledged. “You either do or you don’t.”

But, he said, “this was a real good club to be around from the first day of spring training.”

La Russa praised the competitive character of the players and noted how much he enjoyed them as individuals. “If we had made a good run and not finished as the wild card, I would not feel any differently about them,” he said.

Breaking up was hard to do. His meeting with Cardinal players Sunday night was as emotional as you would expect.

“I’m encouraged that some grown men cried,” La Russa said. “I like that. They made me cry a few times.”

He has always defined success by how people went about their jobs.  These Cardinals provided the ultimate example of “playing a hard nine.”

They rallied from 10½ games back to earn the wild card berth. They upset the Phillies, the odds-on favorite to win it all, in an electrifying National League Division Series.

Then they picked off the heavily favored Brewers to win the pennant and the heavily favored Rangers for the World Series crown.

They sent their manager out on top, writing an appropriate ending to an astonishing era of Cardinals history. As the manager likes to say, no regrets, none at all.