Employment blues

There have been worse hires, one supposes. I mean, look who we hired four years ago to defile the People's House.

But the White Sox booting Rick Renteria, who molded a promising young team into a playoff team -- the Sox' first in 12 years -- and then dusting off 76-year-old Tony LaRussa was one of the odder adventures in personnel management. Yes, he was a Hall of Famer (more on that later), but he hadn't filled out a lineup card in nine years. And again: 76 years old.

Of course, he's also tight with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, so there you go. It's not what you know, it's who you know, and all that.

Then again, what the White Sox knew when they hired LaRussa makes this even more ridiculous.

See, the day before the Sox officially hired him -- the day before -- LaRussa was tagged for driving under the influence in Arizona. And the Sox knew about it. Presumably they also knew about the details of the arrest, which involved LaRussa trying to big-time the cops by flashing a ring and announcing he was "a Hall of Fame baseball person" while being shoveled into a squad car.

This was a variation on the time-honored "Don't you know who I am?" stratagem, and it's amazing how often it works. And by that I mean, it's amazing that it hardly ever works, and yet people keep employing it anyway.

So not only have the White Sox hired a 76-year-old relic, they've hired a 76-year-old relic with  a DUI charge hanging over his head. It's the second for LaRussa, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI in Florida 13 years ago.

Good job, Sox. Gooood job.