Tony LaRussa was recently announced as the new Chicago White Sox manager, returning to the teams after several years. Well, now that the team announced the signing of the manager we learned that he was arrested in Arizona for drunk driving.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported on Monday that the veteranMLB manager was arrested for driving under the influence in February. To make things worse, he was formally charged one day before the White Sox hired him to be the new manager.
This is not the first time this happened to LaRussa. Back in 2007, he was also arrested for drunk driving after falling asleep at a traffic light while he was headed to the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training facility.
Tony LaRussa tried to flash his credentials to get out of trouble
We know that this DUI incident hasn’t been the first one he’s had in recent years, but it’s unclear if he handled things the same way he did last February. Passan was able to get the full report of LaRussa’s arrest and the manager apparently tried to use his HOF ring to convince the officers to let him go.
“Do you see my ring?” La Russa said to the arresting officer. “I’m a Hall of Famer baseball person. I’m legit. I’m a Hall of Famer, brother.”
Of course, fans weren’t happy with this and they flooded social media to make a statement.
This move was already controversial when it was announced, with plenty of fans and even executives showing their confusion with the decision. LaRussa has been involved in several controversies during his days as an MLB manager and he doesn’t seem to be the right addition to these White Sox.
He maintained a good relationship with Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the team, and many people believe his hiring was just a move by Reinsdorf. After learning about the recent incidents in Tony’s personal life, it seems to be a matter of time before we see the Sox parting ways with LaRussa once again.