Tony La Russa, the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, is truly one of the most iconic figures in baseball today. Players and fans love him or hate him, so it's surprising that although the 2009 season will mark his 30th anniversary in a major league dugout, nobody really knows much about him or his life.

In this first full and unauthorized biography of La Russa, author Rob Rains goes behind the scenes to learn the influences behind La Russa's intensity and uncompromising focus, why winning every game possible is so important to him, and why he often puts the game ahead of his private and personal life.

Combining new interviews with past and current players, managers, and executives-including LaRussa himself- with intensive research through newspapers, magazines, and other archive material, Rains reconstructs La Russa's life from his days as a young boy growing up in Tampa, where he spoke Spanish before he spoke English, to his current standing as the third-winningest manager in baseball history.

Tony La Russa

Man on a Mission

By Rob Rains/Foreword by Joe Buck

On the verge of his 30th season in a major league dugout, much is known about Tony La Russa the manager. He's an innovator, an icon and most importantly, a winner. But beyond those closest to La Russa nobody truly knows that much about the man or his life.

Tony La Russa: Man on a Mission by Rob Rains, delves not only into the famed baseball mind of La Russa, but also the upbringing and sheltered personal life that helped shape La Russa into the man he is today. In the first full biography of La Russa, Man on a Mission goes behind the scenes to learn the influences behind La Russa's intensity and uncompromising focus, why winning every game possible is so important to him, and why he often puts the game ahead of his private life.

Man on a Mission gives you an exclusive look into the life and career of one of the most polarizing figures in the game, including:

¨ His first-hand experience with some of the most prevalent figures of the steroid era, including Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco

¨ La Russa's days growing up in the baseball hotbed of Tampa

¨ His bonus-baby status as an 18-year-old shortstop with the Kansas City Athletics

¨ The turbulent start to his managing career at the young age of 34, with Bill Veeck's Chicago White Sox

¨ La Russa's success on the field and controversy off of it in Oakland and St. Louis

In interviews with more than 50 relatives, childhood friends, former players, coaches, fellow managers, baseball executives and La Russa himself, veteran sportswriter Rob Rains paints a portrait of La Russa that reveals why he truly is a Man on a Mission.

About the Author:

Rob Rains has been writing about sports for more than 25 years. He is the author or co-author of 25 books and is a lifetime member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Baseball Writers Association of America. He formerly worked for United Press International, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and USA Today Baseball (now Sports) Weekly. Now a freelance writer, Rains also is an adjunct professor in the school of communications at Webster University. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Rains lives in St. Louis with his wife Sally and two sons, B.J. and Mike.

CONTACT: Josh Williams, Triumph Books, 312.252.1261, j.williams@triumphbooks.com

Day 21: 30 baseball books in 30 days of April, '09: Another LaRussa LeLegacy LaMakeover

by Tom Hoffarth, 4/21/09, LA Daily News Blogs

The scoop: From Buck's forward: "You don't know Tony LaRussa. You think you do, but you don't. I guarantee you that what you think you know about this man is not accurate. I have never met a man in sports, or life, who is more misunderstood."

OK, we'll give you that. Now change our mind.

That's where Rains, a writer who has done books on Jack Buck, Red Schoendienst, Albert Pujols and Whitey Herzog, comes in, interviewing more than 50 relatives, friends, players and execs. He draws from the books "Three Nights in August" by Buzz Bissinger (2005) and George Will's "Men At Work" (1991), as well as Canseco's "Juiced" (2005). But no dogs were interviewed.

The reason this book has some significance: By the end of this season, LaRussa will have managed more games in major-league history than everyone but Connie Mack. In more than 29 years he's managed, there have been 156 others who have come and gone in the majors. There's also some discussion this could be LaRussa's final year, since his contract is up and he hits 65 in October.

An excerpt: From page 121:

On Sept. 28 (1988), with only a few days left in the regular season, the first public accusation was levied that (Jose) Canseco had used steroids. Appearing as a guest on a CBS program, Thomas Boswell, the columnist from the Washington Post, said Canseco was "the most conspicuous example of a player who has made himself great with steroids." Boswell said that he was basing his accusations on conversations he had earlier in the season with LaRussa, who said Canseco had made "some mistakes" earlier in his career.
Boswell implied that LaRussa was talking about Canseco using steroids, which LaRussa denied.
"That's a very irritating inference that he took," La Russa told reporters at the time. "It wasn't anywhere near what I meant ... It bothers me that he put me in there as a source. It's bull."
Boswell later told the Miami Herald that he asked La Russa if he was worried about Canseco's long-term future because of his use of steroids, to which La Russa made the mark about Canseco having made "some mistakes" in the past. La Russa said Boswell never asked a specific question linking Canseco to steroids and said, "Whatever my response was, it wasn't to that question. Somebody made a mistake, and it's not me."
Canseco denied the charges and Major League Baseball officials said they had no plans to investigate the allegations.

So, how is LaRussa misunderstood now? In this New York Daily News story (linked here), LaRussa says there should be "zero tolerance" for those who've used steroids, yet he still seems to be in denial about Mark McGwire.

This is the same guy -- a vegetarian from California who likes wine over beer, was never comfortable with the "baseball genius" tag given him by George Will, and calls Bob Knight and Bill Parcells his friends -- who actually had high aspirations of being a top-notch major league player. Maybe that helps explain his approach.

Rains recounts how LaRussa was a bonus-baby shortstop from Tampa, Fla., drafted out of high school with the Kansas City A's in 1962. He went to work out with the A's in June in Los Angeles as a 17 year old. On Aug. 25, 1962, he was the first 18 year old to ever start a major league game at shorstop (later repeated by Robin Yount and Alex Rodriguez). So there's a good trivia question.

But there was one incident that changed his career -- he played with some friends in a slo-pitch softball game in Tampa and tore a tendon in his right arm that haunted him throughout his career.

Does it help us know why he pitches the batter eighth in the lineup? Or why others refer to him as well prepared, loyal, intense and respected?

In the end, we do get to know LaRussa better. We're just not sure we like him any more.

How it goes down in the scorebook: Reread "Three Nights in August," and get back to us.