Tony La Russa uncertain about when he’ll return to White Sox

Tony La Russa walked through the visitors’ clubhouse, shaking hands with his players. It was the first time with them since he was abruptly told by doctors not to manage the White Sox before a game Aug. 30 against the Royals at Guaranteed Rate Field.

“I had [a heart] issue in spring training, so they had some information they needed to address, and it was serious enough to where [they said], ‘Get out of uniform; you can’t watch the game,’ ’’ La Russa said.

The Sox lost that night but since then have enjoyed their best stretch of the season. With bench coach Miguel Cairo as skipper, they’re 9-4, including the 10-3 loss Sunday. La Russa had a pacemaker inserted, it was revealed Sunday, and was cleared by doctors to attend Dave Stewart’s number-retirement ceremony and to fly to Chicago with the team Sunday night.

But he hasn’t received the OK to manage.

“Health is nothing to mess with,” said La Russa, who turns 78 in October.

“They fixed it; now it’s a question of regaining strength. So don’t mess with health. I’m mending.”

If and when La Russa returns to managing “will depend on the experts,” he said.

“Reading the situation, they ask me how I feel because I do a little more, and how you respond to a little more affects it, so I think it’s uncertain,” he said.

La Russa said “don’t mess with health,” but he often says “don’t mess with the baseball gods” and trends and jinxes and knows the team has played well in his absence.