Here is the first article in a series of baseball backgrounds - looking at the legends who make this sport so great.

In the world of Major League Baseball, managers or coaches compete for the title of who is the best. Fans, players, and other baseball personalities will say that it is arguably Tony LaRussa.

He started making waves in 1962, playing for some Minor and eventually Major League clubs along with the Kansas City Athletics. From there, ironically, he entered law school and graduated with a law degree (Juris Doctor). However, his true heart and soul were still in the fields playing baseball.

Realizing his true passion, he decided to go into coaching for Minor League baseball.

His first team to coach was the Chicago White Sox. Although with a slow start, victory after victory came until in 1983, the White Sox achieved the AL West Division title under LaRussa’s lead. That was the same year he was given the title of Manager of the Year.

He reinvented himself once more when he was offered the managing position for the Oakland A’s. He took on the job with great passion once more and led the Oakland A’s to the World Series between 1988 and 1990 which they won once in 1989.

In 1996, LaRussa shifted to managing the St. Louis Cardinals and remains there to the present day. In his time with the Cardinals, the team won the National League’s Central Division title eight times! Not to mention the National League Pennant twice and winning the World Series in 1996!

These statistics are the envy of coaches all around the world and LaRussa made it look so easy during his career.

Another statistic that he boasts is that he was named Major League's "Manager of the Year" in 1983, 1988, 1992, and 2002. Under his belt is also the fact that he is only the second coach ever to win both the World Series title in the National and American Leagues.

Even after all this time, Tony LaRussa is still powering his way through to keep his candidacy to being the best baseball manager of all time. He has managed over 4,000 games and only comes second to Connie Mack (during 1894-1950 with over 7,500 games).

Still not many coaches have come close to LaRussa these days. His talent is feared by opponents and respected by all.

Great things are still to come from him and he may just be the best manager this game has ever seen.