La Russa yells at catcher after Jose Abreu is hit in the head, a breakdown
What Happened
During a White Sox-Royals game in late July 2021, Kansas City reliever Kris Bubic (the broadcast-mangled 'Karen Shack') was all over the place, walking batters and sailing pitches high. With the inning unraveling and the White Sox already in control, Bubic ran a fastball up and in that caught Jose Abreu near the head as Abreu turned to protect himself. Manager Tony La Russa hustled out of the dugout, but instead of checking on his downed first baseman, he turned on his own catcher Salvador Perez and chewed him out for calling an inside pitch with a wild pitcher on the mound. Abreu, ever the tough guy, waved off the apology and stayed in the game.
Why This Matters
The optics were brutal: an 76-year-old manager scooting onto the field and skipping his hurt star to scold his catcher. But La Russa's logic actually holds up. When a pitcher has no command and keeps missing high, calling a pitch up and in turns a normal brushback into a head-hunting accident waiting to happen. That's a real pitch-sequencing and game-management point, not just an old man yelling. The moment fit the 2021 narrative around La Russa's return to the dugout after a decade away, where his decisions and instincts were constantly second-guessed. Abreu, the 2020 AL MVP, brushed it off and stayed in, which is on brand for him. Bubic got pulled shortly after because the wildness made him a genuine danger. The clip endures because it captured La Russa's old-school baseball brain and his physical limitations in one chaotic frame.
At 1.7M views this breakdown sits at #139 of 1,583 Jomboy videos, putting it in the top 9% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Jose Abreu. Teams: White Sox.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentsome ale central action over the weekend
tied
up bottom eight they're looking to bunt
the runner on first
over and that is off the catcher's glove
so the runner's just gonna go ahead
run to second on his own this one is
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to go trying to bunt it again no need
it's a ball little back pick uh oh it
doesn't catch it perez like come on you
gotta stop that
ah now the runner's on third base go
ahead runner at
third there's no outs and out scores it
third base coach says nice chain dude
karen shack flipping the ball licking
his lips now
they pinch hit they say no more bunt
let's just hit this dude home so they
pinch it collins he takes two balls
karen jack can't find the zone now it's
first and third and anderson gets the
job done
gives the white sox the lead gets the
single celebrates at first base
pumped up about it bam bam bam bam bam
next batter strike ooh hi remember that
karen shacks a little wild he walked a
guy he threw a ball high they'd have
another bunt easy out at first
they throw that one away can't handle it
yikes now Jose Abreu is up and they want
to go high and inside with the fastball
and he's been a little wild and really
wild and oh
scary scary scary karen shaq obviously
did not mean to do that
he's all nervous abreu is down entire
crowd
not having it and oh off he goes old
Tony larussa running out to help boom
boom
and he doesn't help his player he says
perez get out of here prison
me what are you mad at me and larussa
says
you called the ball in didn't you he
says yeah i called the ball in or i
didn't mean to hit him and he says well
he's wild
can't call him balls in when he's
throwing balls up high and wild all day
anyway
that's what lewis said after it says i
know it wasn't un intentional
but the oh anderson coming hopping in
little joyful little hop by anderson
there
but that's what larussa said he said i
know it's not intentional is this dude
in the top left wearing an elvis outfit
what's he all about he's dressed up
front row look at this
he just turns his head in time for it
not to hit like
flush pretty scary situation you can see
here
that it kind of ricochets off and
doesn't deaden because he turned
lady in green not watching missed it
cannot claim she had a good view of this
gentleman all the way to her right wore
his nice going out jacket
scary times now miguel cairo's trying to
hold lures back
this was kind of a sad image to me not
sad but i was like oh wow
like kyra's kind of looks like he's
holding him up more than holding him
back like don't eat the roses
he's an old man lack of better terms
he's fired up
he says you know you have to take into
account that your pitcher is wild right
now
and you can't call balls in he's wow you
got to get mad at yourself yeah we're
going to talk about it
yeah we're going to talk about it and
we're saying you got to get him out of
here he's got no control it's dangerous
he does apologize to jose bray when he
says oh it's all good
i'm sorry bro he's like ah damn
man oh what are you gonna do fran mill
also apologizes today man that's not on
purpose don't worry about it
brayer says don't care he's tough it's
just a badge of honor for him
gets hit by a pitch stays in karen check
they do take him out
because you know incredibly wild and
can't have that
and you know now its bases loaded two
runners have scored so just take him out
for the sake of it fan mail apology tour
it's all good it's got everyone's
feelings wrapped up here's here's Tony
larussa talking about it
the point was that the guy did not have
command and it's scary to call the ball
inside there was no question that it was
not
intentional no question i never said it
was intentionally just said
when a guy lacks command it's you know
it's scary to throw the ball and if
you're going to throw the ball in
get it down where you it's just a very
scary area that's what i said i already
i want to repeat myself but that's what
that was all about so the optics are a
little weird because larussa runs out
doesn't help his guy yells at the
catcher but
i think i agree with his sentiment hey
if your pitcher's wild don't be calling
balls in
because if he's missing high and you
call it in then he's going to miss high
and inside
and that's a dangerous pitch i think i
get it i think i kind of agree with it
it is a
really really funny visual to see him
run
slash scoot out there and if you're not
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