La Russa comes to Yankee Stadium one last time

[September 16, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Tony La Russa had to see Yankee Stadium one more time.

So with the Cardinals off Monday following a series in Pittsburgh and ahead of one in Cincinnati, the St. Louis manager made the trek to the 85-year-old ballpark.

"A lot of memories here," he said.

After speaking to cadets at West Point earlier in the day, La Russa headed to the Bronx and sat on the outfield side of the Chicago dugout with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. La Russa managed the White Sox from 1979-86. Yankee Stadium's finale is scheduled for Sunday, with New York moving across the street next season to a new $1.3 billion ballpark.

La Russa had two of his greatest memories at Yankee Stadium. The first was on May 22, 1963.

"I was 18 years old when Mantle hit the home run off Fischer, the long, long one," La Russa said. "I was in the dugout. I was an 18-year-old shortstop."

Mickey Mantle hit an 11th-inning drive off the Kansas City Athletics' Bill Fischer that bounced off the facade above the right-field upper deck, nearly becoming the first fair ball hit out of Yankee Stadium during a game. The facade was about 110 feet above the field, and some estimated the ball would have traveled more than 600 feet had it not been impeded.

La Russa also remembers his first trip to Yankee Stadium as a major league manager in 1979. He was hired that Aug. 2, just before a weekend series in Toronto. The White Sox were off Monday before starting a three-game series in New York, and La Russa came to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees play Baltimore on the off day.

"We were here that Monday when they had gone to the funeral." La Russa said.

Yankees captain Thurman Munson had died on Aug. 2 when the plane he was piloting crashed in Canton, Ohio. The Yankees traveled to Canton for the funeral four days later, then returned home, and in an emotional game televised nationally defeated the Orioles 5-4 as Bobby Murcer drove in all five runs.

La Russa's third-favorite Yankee Stadium moment was a special sweep that followed three snowouts.

"We had a doubleheader on opening day in 1982," he said. "We made a lot of memories."

[Associated Press; By RONALD BLUM]

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