LOS ANGELES – Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda was commemorated during a private funeral service at Dodger Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers champions, before being buried Tuesday.
Lasorda died on January 7 after a heart attack at the age of 93.
His coffin, covered with a variety of blue and white flowers, was placed on the mound of the jug with a blue 2, which means the number of Lasorda’s shirt, on the back of the mound.
Lasorda’s wife, 70, Jo, was in a wheelchair with their daughter Laura. The mourners remained socially estranged around the mound.
Former Dodgers catcher and Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, retired Major League Baseball player and manager Bobby Valentine, first retired Dodgers member Eric Karros, retired player and coach Mickey Hatcher, former pitcher Charlie Hough of Dodgers and former NBA coach Mike Fratello were among the top 10. Each wore a Lasorda No. 2 T-shirt on his back.
Karros and Hatcher, along with Sketchers president and co-founder Michael Greenberg, and personal friends Steve Brener and Chris Leggio spoke at the stadium and served as porters, along with businessman Warren Lichtenstein. Wearing face masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they took Lasorda’s coffin to a white cart parked in front of the excavator.
“I bled blue on the Dodger and when I die, I go to the great Dodger in the sky.”
Tommy Lasorda’s friends and family gathered today at Dodger Stadium to pay tribute to the Hall of Fame manager. pic.twitter.com/cD398zwZeI
– Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 20, 2021
The national anthem was sung and the image of Lasorda was projected on the stadium’s video screens.
A caravan traveled from the stadium to Rose Hills Memorial Park near Whittier, where Lasorda was buried. The group had just arrived at the cemetery when they received the news that Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton had died at the age of 75.
Lasorda spent 71 years in the Dodgers, starting as a player when the team was still in Brooklyn. He later trained and then became his best-known manager for 21 years in Los Angeles, leading the franchise to two World Series championships. After resigning in 1996, he became ambassador for the sport he loved.