ST. LOUIS – At his most frustrated and irritated point, then-Astros outfielder Lance Berkman never could have imagined himself playing for Tony La Russa and the Cardinals.
"I could visualize myself meeting him in the parking lot after the game rather than playing for him," Berkman joked.
The Cardinals welcomed the future Hall of Fame manager back to Busch Stadium Friday night, retiring La Russa's No. 10 in a pregame ceremony before they faced the Atlanta Braves.
La Russa retired three days after leading the Cardinals to their second World Championship in six years last October with a historic and dramatic run that began in late August and didn't end until a Game 7 victory over the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
And despite the continued frustration at the man in the sunglasses in the opposing dugout, Berkman said it was the thought of playing for La Russa that eventually steered him to St. Louis as a free agent in December 2010.
"As an opposing player he can get under your skin a little bit but there was always something about his Cardinal teams that I admired and the competition that we had against each other," Berkman said. "I had nothing but respect for Tony and wanted to see first hand what it was all about and was not disappointed.
"It was irritating a lot of times and when you have that kind of feeling towards the other team, it was always fun to win. I think that added to the competition and made some of those games the greatest games I've ever played in."
Berkman's Astros met La Russa and the Cardinals in both the 2004 and 2005 National League Championship Series. The Cardinals advanced to the World Series in 2004 after winning Games 6 and 7 in dramatic fashion while the Astros won a six-game series in 2005.
More than 20 former players and executives were back in town Friday night to honor La Russa. Representatives from his days with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and Cardinals were on hand as La Russa's No. 10 became just the 12th number put out of service in St. Louis.
La Russa finished his 33-year managing career with 2,728 victories, just 35 short of John McGraw for second place on the all-time wins list. In 16 seasons with the Cardinals, he led them to eight division titles, three National League pennants and two World Championships.
Among his decisions as manager was to insert rookie Adam Wainwright into the closers role late in the 2006 season. Wainwright didn't allow a run in the playoffs, posting nine scoreless appearances to help the Cardinals win the 2006 World Series.
"One thing he taught me and a lot of other guys was the importance of being locked in and tenacious all the time," Wainwright said. "He had his sunglasses on from the first inning on and he said it was because of the lights but I'm convinced that was his game face and we all respected that.
"He never took an inning off. He was always locked in and competing. He told us that there's going to be things that I do that maybe aren't the way you want them or they might not work, but just know that I'm competing just like you are and nobody ever in that clubhouse doubted whether he was competing or not."
The Cardinals finished below .500 just three times under La Russa and won at least 100 games twice. He's the second manager in franchise history to lead the club to multiple World Series Championships.
With La Russa at the helm the Cardinals posted National League bests in both regular-season wins (913) and postseason wins (33) during the 2000s. They are first in the NL in playoff wins (50) since La Russa took over in 1996 and their .544 winning percentage in the regular season was second in the NL during that span.
Seen as an over-manager by some, Berkman said joining La Russa's side last year gave him a much different view of the future Hall of Famer.
"People have the wrong impression of who Tony La Russa is," Berkman said. "As an opposing player you see all the moves and all the head games if you will with different things that happened over the years and the impression you get is, ‘Man this guy really digs himself, he thinks he's a genius and he's really trying to manipulate the game to prove to people how smart he is.'
"That's how you view him as an opposing player but that's not how he is at all. He honestly could give a rip what anybody thinks. He's more than willing to take the blame if something doesn't work out. What he does is he just tries to win the game that night. He does everything in his power to win the game. You may not always agree with the moves he makes, but in his heart he's not doing it for personal accolades. He's doing it to try and win the game.
Added Berkman: "He said I'm going to do what I think is best and I could care less what people say about it and that's not the impression you get as an opposing player but it comes through loud and clear when you play for him. It makes you love the guy."
