Friendship on hold — Managers won't be talking

DETROIT — Jim Leyland woke up at 4:15 a.m. one day during the AL championship series in Oakland, called his kids back East and wished his son a happy birthday.

Then, since he was up, he called one of his best friends — Tony La Russa.

"We chatted for a little while and I went back to bed," Leyland said last week.

Now, the Detroit Tigers manager wants to put to rest a really good baseball story: his longtime friendship with La Russa, the St. Louis manager who is playing quite a different role in Leyland's life these days.

Their teams will play against each other as the World Series gets under way tonight with Game 1.

"I'm going to say this at the beginning of the World Series and hopefully end it. I'm not going to talk about Tony La Russa and myself this series at all," Leyland said sternly Friday, the day before Game 1. "I know some Cardinal players and have the utmost respect for everybody, obviously including Tony, but I'm not going to make that a story during the World Series because I don't think that should be a story.

"This story should be about the players. And that's what it's going to be about from my end."

Like a good friend, La Russa is on the same page.

"When the series is over, we'll reflect," he said. "Right now, we're not going to get into the personal stuff. Everybody knows we're friends."

Leyland and La Russa have been close for decades. After Leyland was passed over by the Tigers to be their manager — or a coach on Sparky Anderson's staff — La Russa gave him his first job in the majors as third-base coach for the Chicago White Sox in 1982.

Three seasons later, Leyland's ascent as one of this era's great managers began in Pittsburgh, where he led the Pirates to three straight division titles and won two NL Manager of the Year awards.

Leyland went on to win a World Series with the Florida Marlins in 1997, then exited the dugout as a burned-out manager in Colorado two years later.

That's when La Russa was there for his friend — again — helping him land a gig as a Pittsburgh-based scout for the Cardinals before he resurfaced in Detroit this season. Leyland said it was the best six years of his life.

"The Cardinals treated me like gold, they just didn't pay me much gold," Leyland joked.

La Russa and Leyland often talk on the phone after games — win or lose — and the latest chat came Friday morning after St. Louis outlasted the New York Mets in Game 7 of the NL championship series.