Tommy Lasorda

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Tommy Lasorda bigraphy, stories - American baseball player and coach

Tommy Lasorda : biography

September 22, 1927 –

Thomas Charles "Tommy" Lasorda (born September 22, 1927) is a former Major League baseball player who has had a lengthy career in sports management. In 2009, he marked his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuous (he played one season with the Kansas City Athletics) tenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully by a single season. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997.

He was played by actor Arthur J. Nascarella in the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning.

Coaching career

Minor leagues

Lasorda’s first off-field assignment with the Dodgers was as a scout from 1961–65. In 1966, he became the manager for the Pocatello Chiefs in the rookie leagues, then managed the Ogden Dodgers to three Pioneer League championships from 1966–68. He became the Dodgers AAA Pacific Coast League manager in 1969 with the Spokane Indians (1969–71) and remained in the position when the Dodgers switched their AAA farm club to the Albuquerque Dukes (1972). His 1972 Dukes team won the PCL Championship. Lasorda was also a manager for the Dominican Winter Baseball League team Tigres del Licey (Licey Tigers). He led the team to the 1973 Caribbean World Series Title in Venezuela with a series record of 5 wins and 1 loss.

Dodgers’ third base coach

In , Lasorda became the third-base coach on the staff of Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston, serving for almost four seasons. He was widely regarded as Alston’s heir apparent, and turned down several major league managing jobs elsewhere to remain in the Dodger fold.

Manager of the Dodgers

Lasorda became the Los Angeles Dodgers manager September 29, 1976 upon Alston’s retirement. He compiled a 1,599-1,439 record as Dodgers manager, won two World Series championships in ( and ), four National League pennants and eight division titles in his 20 year career as the Dodgers manager.

His 16 wins in 30 NL Championship games managed were the most of any manager at the time of his retirement. His 61 post-season games managed ranks fourth all-time behind Bobby Cox, Casey Stengel and Joe Torre. He also managed in four All-Star games.

Lasorda managed nine players who won the National League Rookie of the Year award. The winners came in two strings of consecutive players. From to , he managed Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Sax. From to , he managed Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raúl Mondesí and Hideo Nomo. Before retiring during the season, he had also managed that year’s rookie of the year, Todd Hollandsworth.

His final game was a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros, at Dodger Stadium (att. 35,467), on June 23, 1996. The following day (June 24) he drove himself to the hospital complaining of abdominal pains, and in fact he was having a heart attack. He officially retired on July 29, 1996. His 1,599 career wins ranks 16th all-time in MLB history.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in as a manager in his first year of eligibility. The Dodgers retired his uniform number (2) on August 15, 1997 and renamed a street in Dodgertown as "Tommy Lasorda Lane".

2000 Summer Olympics

Lasorda came out of retirement to manage the United States team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He led the Americans to the gold medal, beating heavily favored Cuba, which had won the gold medals at the two previous Olympics. In doing so, he became the first manager to win a World Series Championship and lead a team to Olympic Gold Medal.

2001 All-Star Game

Lasorda coached the 2001 All-Star Game as third base coach. While at the plate, Vladimir Guerrero lost his bat while swinging, and it flew towards Lasorda, causing him to fall backwards, but Tommy was unharmed. As a joke, Giants outfielder Barry Bonds gave Lasorda a chest protector to wear while manning the third base coaching box.

2008 Spring Training