Elaine and Tony La Russa Go To Bat for Pets with Animal Rescue Foundation

One of baseball’s greatest managers teams up with his wife to rescue animals in need.

by Rich Watson

Tony La Russa is one of the winningest managers in baseball history; third on the all-time list. He led the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals to six pennants and three World Series championships. 

After nine years, he has recently come out of retirement to once again manage the White Sox, the first team he led, from 1979-86. He’ll likely move up to number two this summer, passing John McGraw and trailing only Connie Mack.

La Russa’s on-field accomplishments are many, but almost as well-known is his work with his wife Elaine in providing homes for abandoned and injured animals.

Tony and Elaine’s baseball marriage

After an undistinguished playing career, during which he also studied law at Florida State, La Russa headed the White Sox in 1979. During his first tenure in Chicago, he and Elaine had their two daughters, Bianca and Devon. 

He took his managerial duties seriously. Elaine enjoyed baseball—she would take the girls to games—but she had to adjust to Tony’s moodiness whenever the White Sox lost. 

The 2005 book 3 Nights in August by Buzz Bissinger tells of how in 1983, when the Sox were struggling, Tony got his sister to help take care of the kids back in Tampa so he could focus on the team. It’s a decision he now regrets. 

Elaine understood the pressure Tony was under. She did her best to be supportive, but according to the book she now feels differently about the situation:

“I know it helped him become what he is and where is he now,” [Elaine] said. “But on a personal level, I should’ve been more of a Scarlett O’Hara. In retrospect, if I hadn’t been so efficient, it would’ve forced him to become more of an equal partner. He knew that everything would be taken care of. I think it just fed into the monster.”

The Sox would win the American League West that year, but Elaine no longer went to the games with the girls. 

Tony struggled to balance work and family, in Chicago and in Oakland. In 1996, when Tony was hired by St. Louis, Elaine stayed in Oakland with the girls. She accepted her role in this marriage: to raise them while Tony concentrated on baseball:

“I know to somebody on the outside looking in, it must be strange and different and weird,” she said of their separation for two-thirds of every year, “but it’s what you have to do to make it work.” And it had worked. It had kept their lives intact and made their marriage whole; the separation eased by phone calls to each other every night after every game. But it wasn’t perfect, since few things ever are. “It’s not the ideal. If I had written about my life and what I expected it to be, even in baseball, it would not be any way like it has been.”

It was during a ball game, though, that something happened that would strengthen their partnership. 

A stray cat on the ball field

On May 7, 1990, during a game between the A’s and Yankees at the Oakland Coliseum, a cat scrambled onto the field.

Eventually it wandered into the A’s dugout, where La Russa helped ensure it would be safe. But what would be done with it afterwards?

The La Russas opted to find a shelter for the cat, whom they named Evie, except there weren’t any “no-kill” shelters available in the Bay Area. Evie would be euthanized unless a home could be found. 

After some work, they found one—but the situation opened their eyes to the plight of animals like Evie.

Tony and Elaine co-found ARF

A year later, Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) was born, the first privately-funded animal shelter in Northern California. 

The group’s mission is not just to find homes for stray animals, but to promote spay-neuter programs and animal therapy services. It is a cause to which the entire La Russa family has committed.

This video from early last year was taken at the ARF facility in Walnut Creek, California.

La Russa seeking personal redemption with White Sox

When La Russa stepped down as a manager in 2011, he served as an executive for several teams, as well as the commissioner’s office itself. His reputation, however, took a hit last year when he was arrested on a DUI charge.

The White Sox won a championship in 2005. Their current roster is believed capable of winning again. Owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who first hired La Russa back in 1979, regretted letting him get away. 

Therefore he made the unprecedented move of luring La Russa—a Hall of Fame manager—out of retirement. Because of the arrest, fan outrage was great, but the Sox remain committed to La Russa, for which, as he told ESPN last month, he is grateful:

...“I had already been beating myself up for the mistake without anyone knowing it,” La Russa said Wednesday [February 17]. “Once it became public, so soon after getting the job, when you understand the negative effect on fans, family and friends, that’s torture. I don’t enjoy torture.”

The White Sox’ season starts April 1.

ARF’s work goes on

As for ARF, it continues as before. During the pandemic, they have switched to an online system of adoption.

Their annual Stars to the Rescue fundraiser event, which has attracted a variety of big-name musical stars through the years, was held virtually earlier this month.

And other cats have been found at the Oakland Coliseum and rescued.

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Have you or someone you know rescued an animal?