Former player and Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda died Thursday night of a heart attack.
A friend to presidents and Little Leaguers, a devout Catholic with a talent for rapid-fire profanity, a self-promoter who tirelessly raised funds for convents and disaster victims through banquets and speeches, Lasorda spanned several eras in baseball and — along with Vin Scully and Sandy Koufax — achieved near-mythical status among loyal Dodger fans.
“My family, my partners and I were blessed to have spent a lot of time with Tommy,” said Mark Walter, Dodgers owner and Chairman. “He was a great ambassador for the team and baseball, a mentor to players and coaches, he always had time for an autograph and a story for his many fans and he was a good friend. He will be dearly missed.”
LATimes.com
My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
Lasorda put together an impressive career as a manager, going 1599-1439, a .526 winning percentage, all with the Dodgers. Look at the records of managers sometime, and you’ll find that very few own a winning percentage that far above .500. It seems almost all of them will manage a set of poor teams at some time that pulls their record toward .500. Baesball Reference now shows some managerial tendencies. Lasorda liked to steal third base and use the sacrifice bunt. As the story notes, he was less a tactician and more a motivator.
Bobby Valentine tells a great story about Lasorda. Valentine played at a high level of the minors at a young age, managed by Lasorda. Valentine had a poor game at shortstop and cost the team a win. The older players in the clubhouse were griping about the kid. Lasorda came out and told them all to go get a pencil. Then he had them line up to get Valentine’s autograph, because Valentine was going to be a star, unlike the rest of them. Needless to say, Valentine and Lasorda were close friends forever.
Lasorda had a very short major league career, posting a .648 ERA in 58 1/3 innings. He was wild, walking 56 batters and and striking out 37.
He did work his way into show business, too. My favorite scene from Fletch.
And a great bit from Police Squad.
The shoe shine guy knows his stuff!