Which baseball manager sued Twitter over an impersonation account in 2009?

Tony La Russa sued Twitter over an impersonation account in 2009.

Tony La Russa, then manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, filed a complaint against Twitter in June 2009 over a fake profile using his name and photograph. The account presented itself as La Russa’s official presence, encouraged people to follow it, and posted vulgar or derogatory material. La Russa argued that the account harmed his reputation and misused his identity.

The case was framed largely as a cybersquatting and trademark dispute, rather than simply a complaint about an unpleasant parody. It became an early high-profile test of how social-media platforms handled accounts impersonating public figures. Twitter already had rules against misleading impersonation, but enforcement and platform responsibility were still developing.

La Russa later filed a voluntary dismissal after the dispute was resolved. The episode is often linked to Twitter’s later efforts to make authentic public-figure accounts easier to identify, including the development of account-verification practices. The other listed managers were not the baseball figure associated with this landmark Twitter lawsuit.