Former St. Louis Cardinals manager is a known animal lover. He started an animal rescue foundation in the early 1990s after a stray cat wandered up to him in the dugout when he was managing the Oakland A’s. When he learned that the cat would be euthanized at a local shelter if no one could adopt it, he made it his goal to begin rescuing animals. So how much does the 68-year-old love cats?
In a story about La Russa’s love for animals in the Wall Street Journal, Scott Pollack revealed that the three-time World Series champion currently has 17 cats. No, that’s not a typo.
La Russa said there were 17 cats at the moment at his home in the Bay Area, all of them rescued. Now let’s be clear: Only a handful were permanent members of the La Russa clan. The rest were foster cats, ones the La Russas were caring for temporarily until they could be placed in homes. Still, La Russa could name them, even the newcomers. It took a couple of minutes, a few pauses, but he ticked them off, one by one, as if running down a lineup card.
‘Skye, Pearl, Slash — named after a rock ‘n’ roll guitarist—Sophia, Maggie, Jack — my daughter found him in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box—Stella, Sierra, Kachina, Lakota, Fergus, Dexter — he’s very precocious — Misha, Cammie, Eddie, Patchy, Pawnee.’
Yes: That is all 17. Yes: It sounded as amazing as it reads.”
Wow. I’m more of a dog guy myself, but I couldn’t imagine having 17 of any animal. I think I’d have trouble taking care of 17 gold fish, let alone 17 mammals who are capable of making noise and going to the bathroom in the house. You may have known La Russa loved animals, but did you know the extent of his passion? Now you do.
Related: Tony La Russa was offered a job as an elephant keeper
H/T For the Win
