Sox Manager La Russa Could Face Jail With Guilty Plea: Report

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox may have planned for a busy off-season as their push for a championship continues, but having their new manager involved in court issues stemming his his second drunken-driving arrest wasn’t on the agenda.

But after reportedly agreeing to plead guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving charges in Arizona, Tony La Russa could spend a day in jail, according to a report on Sunday from The Athletic. The outlet reported that officials in Maricopa County, Ariz., are not opposed, however, to allowing the Hall of Fame manager and owner of three World Series championship rings to work release or home detention as opposed to jail after La Russa agreed to plead guilty to a reckless driving charge as opposed to charges of driving under the influence, The Athletic reported.

La Russa was charged with the offense in Arizona a day before he was introduced as the Sox new manager in late October. The White Sox revealed they were aware of the arrest when they agreed to hire La Russa to replace Rick Renteria, who was fired after four years despite leading the Sox to their first postseason berth since 2008 this past season.

The Athletic acquired a copy of the court agreement, which will be formalized at a change of plea hearing on Dec. 21. The agreement also requires La Russa to pay a $1,383 fine as well as incarceration costs and complete 20 hours of community restitution. The charges stem from an incident in February when La Russa was involved in an incident when he ran off the road near the airport in Phoenix after he had dinner with friends.

According to multiple reports, La Russa and the Sox are expected to address the matter after the court proceedings are over. Sox officials have indicated that La Russa’s job is not in danger from what is La Russa’s second alcohol-related arrest. La Russa was arrested for drunken driving in 2007 and later pleaded guilty to the charges. In the February incident, a peace officer who interacted with La Russa after his car hit a curb said the former Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals manager was argumentative in their exchange.

According to a report filed by the officer, La Russa said the officer was trying to embarrass him in an incident in which La Russa — according to the officer's report – asked the officer if he had seen one of his championship rings.

The officer asked La Russa what he was talking about, to which the manager replied, "I'm a hall of famer baseball person ... I'm legit, I'm a hall of famer, brother. Your (sic) trying to embarrass me."

The Sox have said little about the incident since news of the arrest broke only to say that the understand the severity of the charges.

La Russa, 76, has not addressed the charges and hung up on an ESPN reporter when contacted after the story of the arrest surfaced. Asked by reporters last week about how news of the arrest has been responded to by fans, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn again avoided the topic, saying that the club would wait until after the hearing on the 21st to address the situation publicly.

“I think we’ve been fairly consistent (that) we’re not talking about any elements of that until everything is resolved,” Hahn told reporters last week. “I’m sure once it’s resolved, first Tony and anyone else, myself or whoever else winds up on one of these Zooms, will be happy to talk about it at length. But for now we’re deferring it until that date.”