LOS ANGELES – Tommy Lasorda, the son of Italian immigrants and a professional pitcher who became a legendary Dodgers manager, global baseball and national treasure ambassador, died Thursday. He was 93 years old.
Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement:
“Tommy Lasorda was one of the best managers our game has ever known. He loved life like a Dodger. His career as a pitcher began in 1949, but he is, of course, best known as the manager of two World Series champions and four flagship clubs. His passion, success, charisma and sense of humor turned him into an international celebrity, a stature he used to develop 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 served as Major League Baseball as a global ambassador for the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic and managed to win gold at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Tommy loved family, the United States, National Pastime and the Dodgers and made them all proud during a memorable baseball life.
“I am extremely lucky to have developed a wonderful friendship with Tommy and I will miss him. It seems fitting that, in his last months, he would have 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 sympathy 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 Major League Player, Lasorda took 0-4 and reminded no one of Sandy Koufax, who replaced him on the Brooklyn roster. But as Dodgers manager for two decades, Lasorda created a body of work that brought him a seat with Koufax in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Before his death, Lasorda was the oldest Hall of Famer, a distinction now given to 89-year-old Willie Mays.
He died after serving in his 71st season with the Dodgers, an extraordinary show of loyalty. He spent the last two decades as special adviser to the president (now Mark Walter), after being rescued by former president Frank McCourt from an exile imposed when News Corp. he bought the club from Peter O’Malley and his sister, Terry Seidler.
“My family, my partners and I 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 for players and coaches, he always had time for an autograph and a story for his many fans and he was a good friend. She will miss him very much. “
– Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 8, 2021
Lasorda’s career began as a clumsy pitcher with a big heart and fighting spirit. When the dream ended, he went on to research, then built a resume as a minor league manager, a third-base Major League coach, a Hall of Fame Major League manager, an interim general manager and a senior vice president.
He earned eight honorary doctorates, had an asteroid named after him by Cal Tech, had a 70-year-old wife (Jo), and still makes annual appearances on behalf of the Dodgers and MLB. He is in 17 famous halls and, if he had one for food, he would be there too. He enjoyed the “fruits of victory”, not to mention portions of lingini and shells of industrial size.
Lasorda was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, following more than 20 seasons leading the Dodgers (1976-96). He is one of four managers in the history of the major leagues who have led 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 game legends, no one wearing the uniform embodied the Dodger spirit as much as Tommy Lasorda,” said Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten. “A tireless baseball spokesman, his devotion to the sport and the team he loved was unmatched. He was a champion who, in critical moments, apparently wanted his teams to win.” unforgettable “.
Lasorda retired as a 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 All-Star manager. His 1,599 victories are ranked 22nd of all time.
The undisputed goodwill ambassador of baseball won the American Olympic baseball team a gold medal in 2000. In 2009, his portrait was hung in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. In 2008, he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Rays with Rosette from the Emperor of Japan, just one of many heads of state Lasorda considered friends.
Lasorda is one of two managers in the history of baseball who won the flagships in his first two years of leadership, joining Gabby Street, who did so with the Cardinals in 1930 and ’31. Lasorda managed nine Rookies of the Year in the National League, a record in the Major League. And he served as the official ambassador of the World Baseball Rankings in 2006 and ’09.
As a pitcher, he was best known for his fights. He was never able to take the final step from Triple-A dominance to major league success as a pitcher, compiling a 0-4 record in short trials with the Dodgers and Kansas City A.
Alston managed Lasorda at Triple-A Montreal and Brooklyn and considered her a better cheerleader than the pitcher on the left. When the Dodgers sent Lasorda back to Triple-A in 1955, he had to make room for the list of a newly signed child – Koufax.
Lasorda, however, would reach the fame and fortune of baseball that no one could have predicted, not even him. Al Campanis, the mentor and research director at the time, told Lasorda in 1960 that his playing days were over, dampening the news by hiring him as a scout. When Campanis became general manager, he made Lasorda the manager of the Rookie League, first in Pocatello, Idaho, then Ogden, Utah.
He was there even later at Triple-A Spokane, where Lasorda formed the connection to what would become the core of the 1970s Dodgers – Steve Garvey, Bobby Valentine, Bill Russell, Willie Crawford, Charlie Hough, Tom Paciorek, Bill Buckner, Tommy Hutton, Ron Cey and others.
Lasorda, who credited Ralph Houk as his managerial role model, polished his motivational skills by teaching these raw talents how to play and win. He dropped out as a manager who approached his players, and Joe Torre said Lasorda brought the managerial hug into play. Lasorda would socialize with his players, usually at dinner, but still respect them.
Lasorda was profane, sometimes profound, always funny. He was efficient enough as a teacher that 75 players he managed in the minor leagues reached the major leagues.
Lasorda is survived by his wife, Jo; daughter, Laura and niece, Emily. Lasorda’s son, Tom Jr., died in 1991.