Sunday, February 21, 2010

1981 Donruss, Tony LaRussa



#402 Tony LaRussa

Here is the next '81 Donruss- an old-school Tony LaRussa as the White Sox manager. Tony managed the Sox from 1979 to 1986, winning the division once in 1983.

I sent this card off to Tony with a week left in the regular season last year. I got it back last week. I was a little worried about it since I had written to Tony in Spring Training last year and had much faster results. I guess that he had some things to take care of during the off-season and he waited until the last minute to catch up on the TTMs. I now have a card signed by him as a Cardinal and a White Sock. I need to find a card of him from his playing days and send that and an A's manager card to get signed this year.

I like the jersey that Tony is wearing on this card. I had no idea that the Sox were using that logo in 1980. I thought that they went to that logo when they added red to their color scheme.

So far, Tony has the smallest signature I have seen for this set. He just barely beat out Jose Cruz.

'81 Donruss Tracker: 49/100

5 comments:

Steve Gierman said...

Great looking card for a LaRussa auto! The White Sox had been using that logo since 1976.

Anonymous said...

Wow, he looks pretty young in that photo.

Was that the White Sox jersey in 1980, or is that a warm-up t-shirt?

zman40 said...

Since '76? I had no idea. Thanks WSC.

Paul, I would assume that is was a warm-up/batting practice jersey or shirt. Dressed to the Nines doesn't list it as a jersey.

Steve Gierman said...

That definitely wasn't a regular uniform. I would assume that it's a warm-up/batting practice top, as well.

Orioles Magic said...

I wonder if he was wearing the uniform shorts when this shot was taken?