Hall of Fame Dodgers manager
Tommy Lasorda dies at 93



The Dodgers announced Friday that Lasorda suffered a
sudden cardiopulmonary arrest at his home.








Jan. 8, 2021,
11:03 AM CST
By David K. Li


Pugnacious Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, who skippered the
Los Angeles Dodgers to four league pennants and two world titles,
has died.

He was 93.

The Dodgers announced Friday that Lasorda suffered a sudden cardiac
arrest at his home and was transported to a hospital, where he died.

"Regarded by many as baseball's most popular ambassador, Lasorda
spent 71 seasons in the Dodger organization with Dodger Blue running
through his veins," the team said in a statement. "He spent the last 14
as special adviser to the chairman."

"Lasorda's wish to see another Dodgers World Championship was fulfilled
last October, when he traveled to Arlington, Texas to witness the
Dodgers 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 of the World Series,"
the statement continued.

Lasorda was last seen in public on Oct. 27 at Game 6 of the World Series in
Arlington, Texas, as he witnessed his beloved Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays,
capturing the organization's seventh world title.

It was Los Angeles' first World Series championship since 1988, when Lasorda
was at the helm of the Brooklyn-rooted franchise.

Lasorda managed the Dodgers for more than 20 seasons, overseeing 1,599
Los Angeles victories and 1,439 defeats, a 52.6-percent winning percentage.
He died holding the title "special advisor to the chairman" in the Dodgers front office.

His Dodgers captured the pennant in his first two full seasons in charge, 1977
and 1978, falling to the New York Yankees in the World Series both years.

Lasorda led L.A. to the world title in the shortened, strike-marred 1981
campaign, vanquishing the nemesis Yankees.

Arguably, Lasorda's greatest work came in 1988 when underdog L.A. toppled
the powerful New York Mets for the pennant before stunning the mighty
Oakland A's to win it all.







In Game 1 of that Fall Classic, Oakland led, 4-3, with two outs and no one
on base, in the bottom of the ninth inning in L.A. That's when Lasorda
pushed buttons, leading to one of the most memorable World Series endings
in the sport's history.

First, he sent Mike Davis to pinch hit against Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley,
and the veteran outfielder rewarded Lasorda's faith with a walk.

Then Lasorda, called on another pinch hitter, hobbling star Kirk Gibson,
who struggled to even reach home plate due to various leg injures.

The ensuing at-bat will live forever in baseball lore.

Gibson's game-winning blast into the right field bleachers prompted play-by-play
man Vin Scully to famously tell NBC viewers that Saturday night:
"In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!"

Lasorda won the National League Manager of the Year Award in 1983 and 1988.
He also managed division-winning teams in 1983, 1985, 1994 and 1995 in
addition to those four World Series appearances.




Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, left, shares one of the
Los Angeles Dodgers' World Championship trophies with
former President Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, and
Dodgers executive vice-president Fred Claire, right, before
home opener at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on
April 13, 1989.

Reed Saxon / AP file



Lasorda was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 and
had been the oldest living member of that exclusive club.

Thomas Charles Lasorda was born Sept. 22, 1927 in Norristown, Pennsylvania,
to mother Carmella Cavatto Lasorda and father Sabatino Lasorda, who
came to U.S. shores from Abruzzo, Italy, via Ellis Island.

"He came here because his brothers were here and he couldn't get any
work over there," Lasorda told L.A. PBS affiliate KCET in 2012.
"He started working here on the railroad and getting different jobs. And
then he began to work for Bethlehem Steel, which had a quarry over in
Norristown, Pennsylvania. That's what he did for years."

That immigrant's love for America was never far beneath Lasorda's surface.
After retiring from the Dodgers, he managed Team USA to gold in the
2000 Sydney Olympics.

Lasorda has long maintained that unlikely gold-medal run, with a team
of has-beens and unknown minor leaguers, meant as much to him as any
pennant or World Series title. Even though Lasorda didn't receive a medal,
as the head coach, he reveled in the red, white and blue glory of victory.

"People said, 'You know, you don't get a gold medal,' " Lasorda said in the
Bud Greenspan movie, “Sydney 2000: Stories of Olympic Glory."

"I said, 'I got my gold medal when I saw them putting the medal around
their necks (of American players). I got my gold medal when I saw them
raise that (U.S.) flag. I got my gold medal when they played the
(U.S.) national anthem.' "










****

Another Great one has left the building...
R.I.P. Tommy