Cardinals Manager La Russa Announces Retirement

(With additional reporting from The Associated Press)

Three days after winning the World Series, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is retiring.

The 67-year-old manager announced his retirement at a news conference Monday at Busch Stadium.

"I have no regrets about looking at them and saying, I did the best I could and the numbers are what they are," he said. "Could a better manager have won more games? Yeah. He's better and he could have won more, but they got my best shot."

La Russa has the most wins as a manager in Cardinals history, and is third on the all-time baseball wins list, behind Connie Mack and John McGraw. The World Series win over Texas was the third of La Russa's 33-year career. The manager guided the Cardinals to the championship despite losing ace starter Adam Wainwright for the season in spring training and despite being 10 1/2 games behind Atlanta on Aug. 25.

In addition to this season, he won championships in Oakland in 1989 and St. Louis in 2006. LaRussa also managed the Chicago White Sox from 1979 to 1986, winning the American League West division title in 1983.

La Russa said both general manager John Mozeliak and owner Bill DeWitt Jr. asked him several times as the Cardinals made a thrilling late season and playoff run if he was sure about his decision. He says he never wavered.

"You gotta look in the mirror, and I know if that I came back I would be coming back for the wrong reasons and I couldn't do that," he said.

La Russa says he is a bit nervous about the unknown, but says he might own a minor league team or open a bookstore. Team officials say they have not set a timetable by which they'd like to hire a new manager.

(AP Photo/Ed Betz)