One of the coolest perks so far of being a big-league manager, Tony Vitello likes to show off to friends from back home, in St. Louis. It’s Tony La Russa’s phone number.
And he’s put it to use often.
“Over the course of the time that I’ve been hired, you could average it out to once every couple of weeks I’ve heard from him,” Vitello said. “And it hasn’t been surface-level, stereotypical conversations or just broad comments; it’s been very in-depth.”
The Hall-of-Fame manager was one of many to reach out to Vitello in the days and weeks following his unprecedented hiring from the college ranks to be the Giants’ next skipper.
Most of the calls were short messages wishing him congratulations, but Vitello quickly learned La Russa intended this connection to be more than that. He scrambled to find something, anything, to scribble down notes, and settled on a paper plate.
“It was the one thing I could find,” Vitello said. “I don’t know that I’ll frame it, but I know I still have that. I did actually put it into a computer, as well.”
The relationship, which Vitello described as “sincere and almost sweet,” has only grown from there. Multiple phone calls. Text messages back and forth. Besides Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker, who are both employed by the Giants, Vitello said La Russa has taught him the ropes more than anyone in his transition from the University of Tennessee to a major-league dugout.
“You can see he’s got a feel for the game and he’s a natural winner, but there’s a relationship aspect there, how much people appreciate how he impacts their lives. I never thought I’d be one of those guys,” Vitello said. “Just that personal connection he has with people. Because he’s gone well out of his way to help me.”
La Russa, a World Series champion in St. Louis, said the idea sprouted when he was talking with Buster Posey. San Francisco’s president of baseball operations gave him Vitello’s information.
“Because Tony’s from St. Louis, right?” La Russa said. “So it was an easy connection to make.”
By the time La Russa arrived in St. Louis, Vitello had begun his climb through the college coaching ranks. But he was a childhood fan of La Russa’s Bash Brothers era Oakland A’s.
Having La Russa as a resource, Vitello said, has been “mind-boggling.”
Consider the math: A combined 2,884 wins, three World Series rings and 35 years of major-league managerial experience. Oh, wait, that’s all La Russa.
Vitello, 47, faces the unique challenge of winning the respect of a clubhouse full of major leaguers having never played or coached at any professional level himself.
La Russa, now 81, was 34 when he got his first managing gig with the White Sox in 1979. He had his own challenge managing the big personalities of those 1980s A’s teams. His words of advice: It’s only the circumstances that are different.
“I don’t care who you are, especially in a team sport, you start at zero and you have to earn the respect and trust of your team,” said La Russa, currently employed as a special advisor by the White Sox. “Even when you’ve been the manager the year before, each year you start at zero. …
“In his case, the uniqueness of him coming out of college will get their attention. … You’ve gotta pat ‘em on the back when they need it and sometimes you’ve gotta pop ‘em in the butt if that’s necessary. But you’re honest.”
The wisdom is a product of a slightly more organized version of Vitello’s paper plate. La Russa jotted it down in a notepad over lunch one offseason with John Madden.
During his 10 years with the A’s, La Russa made a ritual of meeting up with his contemporaries in the area at the time. He would sit down for meals every winter with Madden, Bill Walsh and even Bob Ladouceur, the architect of the De La Salle football powerhouse.
“I always had a pad and I would write things down … Those are advantages that kept refreshing the approach that I had and our coaching staff had,” La Russa said. “Well, Tony is going to spend the spring with Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker. That’s as good as it gets.”
Vitello amassed a 341-131 record and won the College World Series at the University of Tennessee, but the extent of his experience outside the collegiate ranks amounts to a single summer in his early 20s with a since-defunct independent ballclub in Salinas.
In between globetrotting to Korea with Jung Hoo Lee and building out a coaching staff that has still yet to be finalized, Vitello said the nearly four months since his hiring have been his best attempt to “get a master’s degree as quick as possible on what is the difference” between college baseball and the pros.
Who better to ask than Pat Murphy, the former Arizona State coach turned Milwaukee Brewers manager? Vitello sought out “probably half” of MLB’s managers at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, but his conversation “in detail” with Murphy stuck out.
(It wasn’t the former college coaches’ first meeting: They were in opposite dugouts for a couple games between Murphy’s Sun Devils and Missouri, where Vitello was a pitching coach. One particularly “epic” matchup, according to Vitello, featured Mike Leake vs. Kyle Gibson.)
Murphy, who climbed the ladder in professional baseball for more than a decade after his time in college, told Vitello the game isn’t that different.
“It obviously has a different tagline, it’s the best players in the world,” Vitello recalled from the conversation. “But don’t think you have to completely change either your mindset or yourself when it comes to moving up to the major-league level.”
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“There’s been a lot of debates, too,” Vitello said. “It’s been kind of fun arguing or cracking jokes or making fun of each other on the phone. That’s allowed for a lot of those things to happen organically, to learn more about this position, or you have to do this to prepare for a game. Because I know the people better, I think it’s helped me understand the game better.”
All in all, it has amounted to a whirlwind past few months for Vitello, who said getting to know La Russa was just one of “many surreal moments” since he was hired.
He’s gotten answers to a lot of questions. Now, with spring training around the corner, it’s about time he begins to answer an important one: Can this all work?
Consider La Russa a believer.
“Based on the time that I’ve spoken with him and texted with him,” he said, “I would bet on it.”
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