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Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa sues Twitter for impostor account

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St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa after the Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series. Credit: Jamie Squire / Getty Images

The sports world may have welcomed Twitter with open arms, as athletes, team owners and sports news giant ESPN post tweets with practically every game detail.

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But Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, isn’t on Twitter, despite appearances. In fact, he’s suing the social networking company for hosting an impostor account.

The lawsuit, filed last month in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco (where Twitter Inc. is based), seeks unspecified damages, the Associated Press reports:

La Russa’s lawsuit said the page bearing his name was hurtful to the 64-year-old manager, who has led the Cardinals since 1996 and also managed the Chicago White Sox and Oakland A’s during a 30-year managerial career.

The lawsuit includes a screenshot of tweets with the heading ‘Hey there! Tony La Russa is using Twitter,’ with a picture of the manager. Among other things, the lawsuit claims the page includes distasteful references to two Cardinals pitchers who have died in recent years.

The fake account has since been deactivated. Another user called NotTonyLaRussa, with a scant seven followers, still appears in a Twitter person search for the Cardinals manager, but the page cannot be accessed.

The bio listed on NotTonyLaRussa, as well as the one highlighted in the suit, reads, ‘Parodies are fun for everyone.’ The real La Russa is apparently excluded from that party.

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-- Mark Milian [follow]

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