**Reader beware! This is purely an opinion based post! I am aware that people are going to disagree with part of this, but before you roast me, please read this book and you’ll see where I am coming from.** 

After reading the book, “3 Nights in August” by Buzz Bissinger I can convinced that LaRussa is obsessed with his job as a Major League Baseball manager! Mind you, I did not have a high opinion of him before I read this book, but I now have an even lesser opinion of him. Maybe it’s because I’m a family man and couldn’t think of doing to my family what he has put his through. His wife must truly be a saint for staying with him all of these years and for that I do give him credit for. He must be doing something right! But morally speaking, the man is a little too detached for my taste, except possibly toward Pujols whom it is said that he treats almost as if he’s the son he never had (again, just my opinion).  

As far as being a baseball man, I probably would admit to agreement with him on about 50% of how he manages, but it’s the way he has influenced the use of the bullpen in today’s game is what I am most irate about. See an earlier post on the Modern Day Use of the Bullpen in Baseball on this site for more details.   

Bissinger practically deifies the man as a baseball icon! I do admit that in this day in age, anyone who can keep his job with the same team for as long as he has in St. Louis (10/11 years) has got to be doing something right!  

I will give credit to LaRussa for understanding how important it is to understand that a players heart or drive plays into how he performs. That is something the Sabermetricians can not statistically prove (at least not yet). It is also why a player’s mood or off the field problems will never be taken into account by Sabermetrics either. That’s another thing that managers like LaRussa and others (Torre, Francona, etc.) really understand. That’s why some guys can’t play well in big cities like New York or Boston. Their personalities can’t take the constant pressure that the fans and the media in those cities demand and expect from them. 

I will be discussing, in two more parts, the book, “3 Nights in August” over the next few days. In one post, I will discuss the emotional highs and lows that this award winning author (who also wrote “Friday Night Lights”) brilliantly takes you through in the life of the Cardinals. In another post, I will write about the discussion, especially in the appendix of “3 Nights in August” concerning the book “Moneyball” (which is found in a link to your right) by Michael Lewis. Stay tuned!  

**Beyond this, I’m open to discuss LaRussa further in the comments section. If it’s good, I’ll post the questions and answers at the end of this post as an update.**

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