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

Tony La Russa is a well known animal lover, so it’s no surprise to hear about the first job offer he’s received since retiring as a manager. Appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman Monday night, the former manager made a funny.

“I actually got a job offer [Monday]. I swear. There’s a group called Performing Animal Welfare Society just outside of Sacramento,” La Russa said, “and they offered me a job as an elephant keeper.”

PAWS just announced that they’re receiving three elephants from Toronto, so maybe Tony will be responsible for taking care of them. If he does take the gig, it should be perfect for him; he’s already used to dealing with large figures and putting up with a lot of crap.

La Russa just can’t resist talking about animals, can he?

Whether it was John Elway or Jerome Bettis walking away from the game after winning the Super Bowl, not much compares to seeing a sports figure leave the game on top. Tony La Russa may not be a player, but seeing him leave after managing for 33 years following his third World Series title is pretty cool.

La Russa says he began thinking about retiring midway through the summer. He says the team’s wild card and World Series run were coincidental. He also said he won’t be back, but he wouldn’t rule out another job in baseball.

La Russa is 67 years old and seems to be pretty sharp, so this was unexpected. The man seems perfectly capable of continuing to manage in the bigs.

Because he just won a World Series and retired unexpectedly, his name will be popular when openings are mentioned. Will he resist all overtures? He’ll probably have a lot of opportunities to turn down, so that won’t be easy. Maybe he will stay true to his retirement plans. If he does, he’ll leave the game having won three World Series, six pennants, and four Manager of the Year awards. He’s third all time in career wins as a manager.

And now he doesn’t have to worry about bullpen phones not operating properly.