One Last Strike: Fifty Years in Baseball, Ten and Half Games Back, and One Final Championship Season

Foreword by John Grisham

One Last Strike by legendary baseball manager Tony La Russa is a thrilling sports comeback story. La Russa, the winner of four Manager of the Year awards—who led his teams to six Pennant wins and three World Series crowns—chronicles one of the most exciting end-of-season runs in baseball history, revealing with fascinating behind-the-scenes details how, under his expert management, the St. Louis Cardinals emerged victorious in the 2011 World Series despite countless injuries, mishaps, and roadblocks along the way. Talking candidly about the remarkable season—and his All-Star players like Albert Pujols and David Freese—the recently retired La Russa celebrates his fifty years in baseball, his team's amazing recovery from ten 1⁄2 games back, and one final, unforgettable championship in a book that no true baseball fan will want to miss.

"I saw it. I remember it, but I'm still not sure I believe it! Tony La Russa explains it all while helping us relive it in these pages." —Bob Costas

"Tony La Russa has always inspired me because his leadership is about so much more than winning in baseball." —Howard Schultz, former chairman, president, and CEO of Starbucks

"This is the fiery baseball guru's pitch-by-pitch account of that final season and how he successfully convinced an underachieving squad that they could climb back in the standings and win it all . . . A baseball exposé that keeps the focus squarely inside the ballpark." — Kirkus Reviews