It has been nearly five months since Tony La Russa retired after leading the St. Louis Cardinals to one of the most memorable World Series victories in recent memory.

But when he addressed the MU community Wednesday night at Jesse Hall, La Russa talked as if he never left the Cardinals at all.

Referring to the 2011 Major League Baseball champions as “we” and “our team,” La Russa told anecdotes of his career managing the Cardinals, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics to a red-dominated crowd in Jesse Auditorium. The event, hosted by the Missouri Students Association, ran under the theme, “How to manage winning baseball teams,” La Russa said.

“A lot of those happened here in St. Louis,” La Russa said. “We have a great example that we should take advantage of and that was the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.”

La Russa was able to glean insight into his managerial career, which stands as one of the most successful in MLB history. La Russa is a four-time league manager of the year and ranks third all-time in MLB victories with 2,728 wins in his 33 years at the pro level. He has also led three teams to World Series championships, two of which came with the Cardinals.

With a wealth of St. Louis natives and Cardinals fans in the audience, La Russa described the most recent World Series title, when his team grabbed a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season and proceeded to come back from a 3-2 series deficit to defeat the Texas Rangers in a best-of-seven series for the championship.

“The only way we had gotten there was we had the guts that you needed,” La Russa said of the postseason run. “Plus, we had more talent than people thought.”

La Russa paced the speech with stories and jokes from throughout his career while translating the lessons he taught in baseball into teachable points for a collegiate audience. He talked of his managerial key of “personalization,” or of reaching out to players as individuals to create team chemistry.

“We try to get the players to believe that they want this, whatever it is, and then you try to get them to understand how important it is to want it,” La Russa said.

One story La Russa told that received laughter from the crowd was of Cardinals All-Star ace Chris Carpenter. Carpenter had been getting hit consistently in an outing, and La Russa had gone to the mound to take him out.

“I went over to talk to him, and I’d seen enough,” La Russa said. “I said, ‘Carp, give me the ball.’ ‘What are you talking about, man?’ he says. ‘I’m not tired.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but our outfielders are.’”

The two-hour event included a lengthy question-and-answer session. La Russa tackled questions about the recent departures of star slugger Albert Pujols and outfielder Colby Rasmus, topics La Russa earlier joked that he would save until question time.

The event offered a good opportunity to discover the method behind La Russa’s questionable managerial calls, sophomore Casey Reichart said.

“Personally, as a Cardinals fan, I really liked it, and for more than just the fact that I am a fan,” Reichart said. “We got to hear about the game of baseball and kind of how he’s done along the way to be a successful manager.”

MSA Speakers Committee chairwoman Amanda Gastler was unable to be reached for comment.