One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season [NOOK Book]

( 14 )

Overview

The team that refused to give up
their manager in his final season
A comeback that changed baseball

After thirty-three seasons managing in Major League Baseball, Tony La Russa thought he had seen it all—that is, until the 2011 Cardinals. Down ten and a half games with little more than a month to play, the Cardinals had long been ruled out as serious postseason contenders. Yet in the face of those steep odds, ...

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One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and a Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season

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More About This Book

Overview

The team that refused to give up
their manager in his final season
A comeback that changed baseball

After thirty-three seasons managing in Major League Baseball, Tony La Russa thought he had seen it all—that is, until the 2011 Cardinals. Down ten and a half games with little more than a month to play, the Cardinals had long been ruled out as serious postseason contenders. Yet in the face of those steep odds, this team mounted one of the most dramatic and impressive comebacks in baseball history, making the playoffs on the night of the final game of the season and going on to win the World Series despite being down to their last strike—twice.

Now La Russa gives the inside story behind this astonishing comeback and his remarkable career, explaining how a team with so much against it was able to succeed on baseball's biggest stage. Opening up about the devastating injuries, the bullpen struggles, the crucial games, and the players who made it all possible, he reveals how the team's character shaped its accomplishments, demonstrating how this group came together in good times and in bad to become that rarest of things: a team that actually enjoyed it when the odds were against them.

But this story is much more than that of a single season. As La Russa, the third-winningest manager in baseball history, explains, their season was the culmination of a lifetime spent studying the game. Laying bare his often scrutinized and frequently misunderstood approach to managing, he explains his counterintuitive belief in process over result, present moments over statistics, and team unity over individual talent. Along the way he shares the stories from throughout his career that shaped his outlook—from his first days managing the Chicago White Sox to his championship years with the Oakland A's, to his triumphant tenure as St. Louis's longest-serving manager. Setting the record straight on his famously intense style, he explores the vital yet overlooked role that his personal relationships with his players have contributed to his victories, ultimately showing how, in a sport often governed by cold, hard numbers, the secret to his success has been surprisingly human.

Speaking candidly about his decision to retire, La Russa discusses the changes that he'd observed both in the game and in himself that told him, despite his success, it was time to hang up his spikes. The end result is a passionate, insightful, and remarkable look at our national pastime that takes you behind the scenes of the comeback that no one thought possible and inside the mind of one of the game's greatest managers.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

On the last day of October 2011, Tony La Russa ended a fifty-year in baseball when he announced his retirement. This four-time Manager of the Year went out on a high note, having just won his third World Series. For the St. Louis Cardinals skipper, the last championship had been no easy pickings: As late as August 24th, statisticians gave them only a one percent chance of making the playoffs. Even after their astonishing end of the season run to capture the National League pennant, they still had to come from behind to win the World Series. In One Last Strike, one of baseball's most beloved men describes a comeback that no true fan will soon forget. A Barnes & Noble bestseller; now in trade paperback and NOOK Book.

The Washington Post
For those moved by comebacks in sports, One Last Strike is a book to lift the spirit. Texas Rangers fans are excused.
—Dennis Drabelle
Kirkus Reviews
With the assistance of St. Louis Post-Dispatch veteran baseball writer Hummel, former Major League Baseball manager La Russa dissects the game and his coaching style through the prism of the St. Louis Cardinals' improbable 2011 championship season. Though he wasn't a great player and spent most of his career in the minor leagues, La Russa found success with three different teams in both the American and National leagues and ended up as the third-winningest manager in the history of baseball before his retirement after the 2011 season. This is the fiery baseball guru's pitch-by-pitch account of that final season and how he successfully convinced an underachieving squad that they could climb back in the standings and win it all. The author largely eschews the interpersonal dramas often associated with America's pastime, instead focusing on his winning coaching process. That means an almost inning-by-inning deconstruction of key contests throughout the 2011 campaign. The approach will be familiar to die-hard baseball fans, especially those who fill out the scorecards for each game, but the venerable skipper throws a change-up here and there, harkening back to previous winning seasons with the Chicago White Sox and the Oakland Athletics. However, those forays are brief and ultimately serve to underscore some point or issue pertaining to the 2011 season. La Russa does share some of his feelings about members of the press, most of whom he doesn't care for. But here, once again, he doesn't dwell, only glossing over heated confrontations with annoying sportswriters before jumping headlong once more into the intricacies of managing the Cardinals to ultimate victory. A baseball exposé that keeps the focus squarely inside the ballpark.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780062207531
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 9/25/2012
  • Sold by: Harpercollins
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 432
  • Sales rank: 15923
  • File size: 11 MB
  • Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

Meet the Author

Tony La Russa managed the St. Louis Cardinals from 1996 to 2011, as well as the Oakland A's and the Chicago White Sox. He has three World Series wins, six league championships, and five Manager of the Year awards, and is ranked third in all-time major league wins. He and his wife, Elaine, founded the Tony La Russa Animal Rescue Foundation in Walnut Creek, California. They have two daughters, Bianca and Devon.

Rick Hummel has covered baseball for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for forty years. A former president of the Baseball Writers Association of America, he has received numerous awards for his writing and has been honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

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Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Part I

1 Going the Distance 7

2 Spring Starts at Zero 31

3 Opening Day 57

4 The Surge 76

5 The Storm 100

6 Buyer or Seller 114

7 Tough Decisions 132

8 Sliding 172

9 The Comeback 197

10 The Big Close 231

Part II

11 Seeing Things in a New Light 271

12 Turning Pages 295

13 Split 319

14 Hanging in There 344

15 Brothers in Arms 371

Part III

16 Hold 'Em Right Here 407

17 The Right Kind of Bull 424

18 Making It Happen 451

Part IV

19 Back Again 485

20 Run Not Hide 501

21 The Middle on the Road 519

22 You Had to See It for Yourself 544

23 We're History 577

Epilogue 611

Acknowledgments 617

Appendix 620

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 14 )
Rating Distribution

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Sep 28 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    Go Cardinals

    We miss you Tony. You did a great job

    3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Fri Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 2012

    Highly recommended

    Book really gives you a feel of the challenges that a manager goes through innning by inning as well as how to position your players to give the team the best opportunity to win.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted Thu Feb 07 00:00:00 EST 2013

    A Book On Leadership as Much as Baseball

    As a Cardinals fan, I try not to have a biased opinion. That's not really hard because I never was a Tony La Russa guy, myself. He was successful, no doubt. I came of age around the end of Ozzie Smith's tenure with the Cardinals and that always left a bad taste in my mouth. However, I appreciate exactly what Tony was able to share with us from this book. I found a new respect for him that I wish I carried during his long and amazing career as the manager of the Cardinals. Most of all, I came to respect his style of leadership more by reading this book. Very good stuff.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2013

    Great for any fan of the redbirds!

    Awesome in-depth look into the 2011 championship season through the eyes of one of the greatest managers of all time. Probably most entertaining to fans of the Cardinals and true admirers of America's past-time.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2012

    Tony, we miss your insight!

    What a great read! A must read for every Cardinal fan and for every baseball fan, as well! Tony is a true HOF manager.

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  • Posted Fri Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2012

    more from this reviewer

    Excellent

    What a career and amazing man, husband, father. Hall Of Fame bound......

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Fri Dec 21 00:00:00 EST 2012

    Anymous

    This book also shows that itis very hard being a manager in baseball. Well not just baseball, pretty much any sport. This book also shows that it is hard to be a baseball player. Anybody like me would think that a misquito could hit the ball, but it is not as easy as it looks.



















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