LOS ANGELES – Tommy Lasorda, the son of Italian immigrants and a professional pitcher who became a legendary Dodgers manager, global baseball ambassador and national treasure, passed away on Thursday. He was 93.
Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement:
‘Tommy Lasorda was one of the best drivers we’ve ever known. He loved life as a Dodger. His career began as a pitcher in 1949, but of course he is best known as the manager of two World Series champions and four pennant winners. His passion, success, charisma and sense of humor made him an international celebrity, which he used to grow our sport. Tommy welcomed Dodger players from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere – making baseball a stronger, more diverse and better game. He serves Major League Baseball as the Global Ambassador for the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic and won Team USA gold at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Tommy loved family, the United States, the National Pastime and the Dodgers, and he made them all proud during an unforgettable baseball life.
‘I’m very happy that I developed a wonderful friendship with Tommy and will miss him. It feels fitting that in his final months he has seen his beloved Dodgers win the World Series for the first time since his 1988 team. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest sympathies to his 70-year-old wife, Jo, and their entire family, the Dodger organization, and their generations of loyal fans. ”
In three seasons as a worker in the Major League, Lasorda won 0-4 and no one remembered Sandy Koufax, who replaced him in the Brooklyn series. But as Dodgers manager for two decades, Lasorda created a job that earned him a spot next to Koufax in the Hall of Fame of baseball. Before his death, Lasorda was the oldest living Hall of Famer, a distinction now passed on to Willie Mays, 89.
He dies after serving in the Dodgers in his 71st season, an extraordinary loyalty. He has spent the past two decades as a special adviser to the chairman (currently Mark Walter), after being rescued from exile by former chairman Frank McCourt when News Corp took over the club from Peter O’Malley and his sister, Terry. Seidler, bought it.
“My family, me and my spouses were blessed to spend a lot of time with Tommy,” Walter said in a statement. ‘He was a great ambassador for the team and baseball, a mentor to players and coaches, he always had time for a signature and a story for his many fans and he was a good friend. He will be greatly missed. ”
– Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) 8 January 2021
Lasorda’s career began as a petty left-handed pitcher with a big heart and fighting spirit. When the dream ended, he went on to explore, and then compiled a resume as a minor league manager, third league coach of the Major League, a Hall of Fame manager of the Major League, acting general manager and senior vice -president.
He earned eight honorary doctorates, an asteroid named after him by Cal Tech, had a wife (Jo) of 70 years and still appeared every year on behalf of the Dodgers and MLB. He’s in 17 Halls of Fame, and if they had one to eat, he’d be there too. He feasted on the ‘fruits of victory’, not to mention industrial-sized portions of linguini and mussels.
Lasorda was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 on strength of more than 20 seasons managing the Dodgers (1976-96). He is one of only four managers in major league history to have managed the same team for 20 years or more – the others being Connie Mack, John McGraw and Lasorda’s predecessor, Walter Alston.
“In a franchise that celebrated such great legends of the game, no one wearing the uniform embodied the Dodger spirit as much as Tommy Lasorda,” said Stan Kasten, president and CEO of Dodger. “A tireless baseball spokesman, his dedication to the sport and the team he loved was unmatched. He was a champion who apparently wanted to win his teams at critical moments. The Dodgers and their fans will miss him terribly. and memorable. ‘
Lasorda retired as manager after suffering a heart attack in 1996, after winning the World Series in 1981 and ’88, plus four National League pennants and eight division titles. He was 3-1 as an All-Star manager. His 1,599 victories are in 22nd place.
Baseball’s undisputed goodwill ambassador led the U.S. Olympic baseball team to a gold medal in 2000. In 2009, his portrait was hung in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute. In 2008, he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosettes from the Emperor of Japan, just one of the many heads of state that Lasorda considers his friends.
Lasorda is one of only two managers in the history of baseball to have won pennants in his first two years of management, joining Gabby Street, which he did with the Cardinals in 1930 and ’31. Lasorda managed nine National Newcomers of the Year, a Major League record. And in 2006 and ’09 he served as the official ambassador of the World Baseball Classic.
As a pitcher, he was best known for his fights. He could never take the final step of Triple-A’s dominance in Major League success as a pitcher, and he set an 0-4 record in short trials with the Dodgers and Kansas City A’s.
Alston managed Lasorda in Triple-A Montreal and Brooklyn and regarded the left as a better cheerleader than pitcher. When the Dodgers sent Lasorda back to Triple-A in 1955, it was to clear a roster for a newly signed bonus baby – Koufax.
However, Lasorda would continue with baseball fame and happiness that no one could predict, not even him. It was the mentor and then-reconnaissance director Al Campanis who told Lasorda in 1960 that his playing days were over, and dampened the news by appointing him as a scout. When Campanis became general manager, he made Lasorda a Rookie League manager, first in Pocatello, Idaho, then Ogden, Utah.
It was there, and later at Triple-A Spokane, where Lasorda formed the band with the core of the Dodgers of the 1970s – Steve Garvey, Bobby Valentine, Bill Russell, Willie Crawford, Charlie Hough, Tom Paciorek, Bill Buckner, Tommy Hutton, Ron Cey and others.
Lasorda, who attributed Ralph Houk as his management role model, trained his motivational skills to learn to play and win these raw talents. He hit the track as a manager who got close to his players, and Joe Torre said it was Lasorda who brought the management pressure into the game. Lasorda hung out with his players, usually at dinner, but still commanded their respect.
Lasorda was ominous, sometimes profound, always entertaining. He was effective enough as a teacher that 75 players he handled in the smaller leagues reached the major leagues.
Lasorda is survived by his wife, Jo; daughter, Laura, and granddaughter, Emily. Lasorda’s son, Tom Jr., died in 1991.