FUR IS FLYING

Baseball’s Tony La Russa Quits Animal Rescue He Founded Amid Controversy

The leadership of the foundation has been accused of creating a toxic environment and the baseball legend is jumping ship.

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa has quit the animal rescue he founded three decades ago amid a bruising power struggle. Leaders of the Animal Rescue Foundation—based in the Bay Area, where La Russa once managed the Oakland A’s—have been accused of running a “toxic” workplace marked by bullying and retaliation, The Mercury News reports. The board said La Russa was stepping back to concentrate on baseball, but a statement from his wife and daughter made clear the controversy surrounding the organization was the impetus. “We hope that our withdrawal from the board and organization will prompt renewed focus on careful stewardship of the foundation and its mission,” it said. “Until we see significant change, we are stepping away from ARF and will dedicate our passion, time and resources to aid other animal welfare organizations. We remain hopeful that with meaningful changes, ARF can return to the mission and ideas upon which our family founded it 30 years ago.”