All about the wins: La Russa keeps stacking them up with Chicago White Sox

With his plaque in the Hall of Fame, three World Series rings on his fingers and the third-most wins in history on the resume, Tony La Russa had nothing left to prove as a manager.

At age 76, he could have unplugged from the game for good after working for MLB and in the front office with the Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Angels following his retirement as manager in 2011.

Instead, La Russa is back in the dugout with the White Sox and the subject of frequent criticism, even though he's guiding a first-place team that had the third-best record (36-23) in baseball through Sunday's play.

Has all the grief been worth it?

"I've told some friends, Day 1 from spring training to today I've never had the first regret," La Russa said in late May. "I'm very fortunate to get this opportunity with this team. I'm really enjoying coming to the park just to watch them compete and watch them grow."

At the end of the day for La Russa, winning is all that matters. It trumps being questioned about failed strategy, most recently his decision to bunt during a key sequence in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Tigers.

Social media wasn't a factor when La Russa last managed in 2011, but it is now. That only adds more fuel to unfriendly fire.

La Russa doesn't necessarily welcome all of the second guessing, but he can take the heat.

"The beautiful part about this game, there's no sport where fans and media can be more interactive than baseball," La Russa said. "There are more options about strategy. I never get bothered by it, I think it's a beautiful part about our game. You make your decision, if someone disagrees, I'm just glad that someone is interested enough to pay attention."

Getting back to winning, which is what La Russa has always done best, the White Sox's manager now ranks second all time after Sunday's 3-0 decision over Detroit at Guaranteed Rate Field.

With 2,764 wins, La Russa moved past John McGraw.

His first win was also with the Sox, on Aug. 3, 1979. While beating the Blue Jays 8-5 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Jim Morrison and Kevin Bell each had 3 RBI, starting pitcher Steve Trout got the win and Ed Farmer picked up the save.

Talk about coming full circle.

"It's real emotional for me that it started here and it's ended up here," La Russa said. "It's hard for me to imagine that."

As he has done throughout a season that is going very well for the White Sox, the Hall of Fame manager deflected the success to others after passing McGraw.

"(Sunday) was a perfect example," La Russa said. "Wrote the lineup up, watch the pitching coaches get the starters and the relievers ready, watch the hitting coach, watch the defensive coaches get (Adam) Engel back. There really wasn't anything except cheerleading."

In his 34th season as a major-league manager, La Russa has a 2,764-2,388 record and .536 win percentage.

He's understandably content at being No. 2 all time, considering Connie Mack won 3,731 games (and lost 3,948) over a 53-year run.

"I didn't even think this was attainable, actually," La Russa said of being ranked second. "I'm talking about the last four, five years of my career. I didn't think this was ever going to happen. Even the year I retired, my family was very upset because they wanted this to happen. But you go out when you think you're done."

He's back now, and La Russa is back to winning games like there's no tomorrow.

"I think we are blessed to be managed by a guy like him," said reigning American League MVP Jose Abreu. "I think sometimes people are unfair with him, people like to criticize. It's not an easy job; if being a manager of a major-league team would be an easy job everybody could do it. But it's not, and I think he deserves a little more faith and respect.

"He's a guy with a plan; he always tries to put us in a good spot to create a good atmosphere and support us."

All-time win list

1. Connie Mack, 3,731

2. Tony La Russa, 2,764

3. John McGraw, 2,763

4. Bobby Cox, 2,504

5. Joe Torre, 2,326

6. Sparky Anderson, 2,194

7. Bucky Harris, 2,158

8. Joe McCarthy, 2,125

9. Walter Alston, 2,040

10. Leo Durocher, 2,008