The team announced Wednesday that Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa will be absent indefinitely due to an unspecified medical problem.
Bench coach Miguel Cairo will run the White Sox on a temporary basis while La Russa undergoes testing by his personal doctors in Arizona.
“It’s incredibly difficult,” defensive player Andrew Fon He said. “We don’t have a lot of information about what’s going on.”
Cairo said after Tuesday’s loss to the Kansas City Royals that the White Sox hope to learn more about La Rosa’s situation Wednesday.
“We will keep it in our minds and hope everything will be fine,” Cairo said.
Rosa’s absence was announced on Tuesday about an hour before kick-off for the first match. The Hall of Famer showed no signs of health issues during his pre-match session with reporters and while speaking with former General Manager Rick Hahn and former Oakland Athletic while introducing player Dave Stewart before the match.
La Rosa is in the second season of his second managerial stint with Chicago. The team started the year with aspirations for the championship, but it was one of baseball’s biggest disappointments.
As the second game of their series against the Royal Family approached, the White Sox dropped five in a row to drop to 63-66. Cheers “Fire Tony! Fire Tony!” It was heard in the guaranteed price field.
La Russa, a close friend of White Sox president Jerry Reinsdorf, was a surprise in October 2020, and guided the team to the MLS Central title last year. He began his managerial career with the White Sox during the 1979 season. He won the world championships with Oakland in 1989 and St. Louis in 2006 and 2011.
La Rosa and Sparky Anderson are the only managers to have won world championships in the U.S. and National Championships.
La Russa was dedicated to Cooperstown in 2014. He got his first major managerial job at the age of 34 when the White Sox promoted him from Triple-A to replace fired Don Kessinger. He took office in August and led them to the record 522-510 over portions of eight seasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
