Albert Pujols will be taking the field for the Angels on Opening Day for the ninth time in his career. In the opposite dugout Tony La Russa will be writing his first Opening Day lineup since returning to baseball as a manager. La Russa may not be the manager for the White Sox if not for Albert Pujols.

Pujols and La Russa’s connection goes far beyond 2021 Opening Day opponents. La Russa lead the Cardinals to two World Series titles with Pujols as his first baseman. They built a strong bond over their time in St Louis. On the White Sox Talk Podcast Pujols even said La Russa is “like a dad to me”.

Back in October Pujols was in the midst of enjoying his offseason. He was playing golf with his son A.J when he received a phone call from his former skipper. La Russa informed him that he was considering returning to the White Sox to manage. Nobody outside the organization was aware of this news. However he was hesitant to accept the job before addressing some major concerns. So he turned to one of the all time great first baseman.

La Russa was concerned about player accepting him

Say what you want about Rick Renteria but he was a players manager. The team played hard for him every night and overall he was beloved in the clubhouse. It came as a culture shock when the White Sox replaced him with an 76 year old that not been a managed in nearly a decade and was stealing headlines with news of his DUI arrest. How would the players react? La Russa had reason reason to be concerned.

So he asked Albert Pujols if he thought the team would accept him after his long absence. Pujols responded by saying “If I was a young player, and I have a Hall of Fame manager with the success that he has and the experience he has, I’d welcome him with a red carpet.”

He also wanted Pujols’ scouting report on the White Sox. Pujols gave the team rave reviews  saying

“the White Sox are ready to go. They’ve got a really good mix, really good young players and veteran guys. He’d have a pretty good chance to win again”.

A couple of days later La Russa was announced as the White Sox 41st manager.

La Russa Has A Chip On His Shoulder

Pujols also added he shouldn’t worry about what people say. “They’re going to talk bad no matter what”. Pujols was right the critics were loud when news broke of La Russa’s hiring.

Pujols is confident that the noise will not rattle Tony.

“I’m pretty sure that Tony is going to put that chip on his shoulder and prove a lot of people wrong out there this year.”

La Russa has a lot to prove. He wants to show fans that the White Sox made the right choice in handing him the keys to the convertible. He wants to prove that that game did not pass him by and he wants to show everyone that age is just a number.

He has all the tools to get the job done. We will find out starting tomorrow if he knows how to use them properly.