Tony La Russa becoming only the third manager to attain that win level after Mack and McGraw. After the retirement of Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox in 2010, La Russa was the longest tenured manager in Major League Baseball, and with the resignation of longtime NBA head coach Jerry Sloan from the Utah Jazz on February 10, 2011, La Russa had been the longest tenured bench boss among all the Big Four sports leagues, until his retirement following his 2011 World Series victory with the Cardinals. La Russa became eligible as a candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013 through voting
Professional baseball in Japan ambassador before and after World War II. In 1934, the was established, reviving professional baseball. A second team, the was established in the following year. The former became the Yomiuri Giants (O'Doul dubbed the team the "Tokyo Giants") and the latter became the Hanshin Tigers. In 1936, five other teams also formed, and the Japanese Baseball League was started. Briefly forced to stop playing for a year beginning in 1944, it restarted on November 6, 1945, and a full season was played the next year. A rival four-team league, known as the , played a 30-game summer season in 1947.