Is Tony Larussa the most successful St. Louis Cardinals manager of all time?

As much as we in Cardinalland loved "Whiteyball", I would now have to agree with you. Sometimes we think him nuts, but in the end, he keeps getting us to the dance, and this year we're the homecoming king.

Just hope we don't give away the whole team in the off-season.

I'll contend that although LaRussa has done some great things since becoming the St. Louis Cardinals manager, he still has not surpassed the legend of Whitey Herzog.

I say this because Whitey took this team to the World Series three times in a span of 7 years. The Cards won the 1982 World Series, should have won the 1985 World Series, and could have won the 1987 World Series if they had home field advantage because each team in the series split their home games. The composition of those teams is drastically different than the current composition of MLB teams, but that doesn't take away from the accomplishment. Furthermore, Herzog had to get to the World Series by winning the division outright (only 2 divisions existed at that time - NL East & NL West each with 7 teams) and then playing in the NLCS. While some would contend that having to play in the additional division series (NLDS) today makes winning the World Series more difficult, I woud agree. However, getting into the playoffs was a lot harder back then because you had to WIN your division. The Cardinals have won the Central Division six times since LaRussa assumed the reins, but we would not have gone to the playoffs everyone of those years under the old system.

If Tony can take us back to the World Series one more time before he finishes his stead in St. Louis, then I think he may earn the distinction of best St. Louis Cardinals manager of all-time.

The fact that he is 3rd all-time in managerial victories, and 2nd all-time for the Cardinals doesn't play as much a role in my reasoning because he spent so many years with the Athletics (& some with the White Sox) before he came to St. Louis.

Perhaps the best Cardinals manager--considering what he had to work with sometimes. I agree with the other answerer about Whitey though. He concentrated on fundamental baseball and capitalized on the turf at Busch. He is probably the most beloved--the equivalent to royalty in St Louis. His teams were exciting to watch.

LaRussa is not happy about passing the Redhead. He has considered making Red the manager and himself the bench coach so he doesn't pass him. He gained a lot of fans this year, but will probably never be as revered as Red and Whitey.

Right now I think Bobby Coz and Tony LaRussa are the best managers in the game. Most successful that's for sure aside from Joe Torre. I am sure both of them will make to the Hall of Fame.

I sure hope Mike Scoscia makes it to the Hall of Fame as well because he has been a great addition to the Angel franchise

Whitey Heroz

Red Schoendist

only time will tell