Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has passed away at the age of 93, the team announced.
He suffered sudden cardiac arrest at his home on Thursday night and was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
Lasorda was hospitalized on November 8 with heart problems and didn’t come home until Tuesday.
He led the Dodgers from 1976 to 1996, winning two World Series titles, four National League pennants and eight division crowns. He was twice named NL Manager of the Year and won 1,599 career games.
– Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 8, 2021
Lasorda was born on September 22, 1927, and grew up in the working-class town of Norristown, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. In 1945, at the age of 18, the lefthanded pitcher got his big break by signing with the hometown Phillies organization.
“I didn’t have much ability, but I guarantee you one thing: when I stood on that hill of excitement, I didn’t believe there was a man alive who could hit me,” said Lasorda in 1997. “And if they hit me what they did, I thought it was an accident. ‘
Lasorda’s baseball career was interrupted in 1946 and 1947 due to military service in the United States Army. Lasorda returned in 1948 and never missed a beat; on May 31 of that year, he struckout 25 batters in Schenectady’s 15-inning win against Amsterdam and singled in the deciding run. After that season, Lasorda was selected by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the minor league draft, starting a long-term relationship with the franchise.
Lasorda reached the majors in 1954 and played with the Dodgers in 1954 and 1955. He also pitched for the Kansas City Athletics in 1956, but never played in the big league again. He retired in 1960.
When his playing career ended, Lasorda stayed with the Dodgers. He was a scout for the team until he became minor league manager from 1965 to 1972. Seventy-five players who Lasorda managed in the minors went on to play in the major leagues.
In 1973 Lasorda was the third base coach for the Dodgers under Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston. When Alston retired in 1976, Lasorda was named his replacement.
Lasorda quickly found success in Los Angeles. In 1977 and 1978, he led the Dodgers to the National League pennant, but lost both seasons to the Yankees in the World Series. In 1981, Lasorda finally took his first World Series title when the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in six games. The Dodgers also won the 1988 World Series under Lasorda. He attended the team’s Game 6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in October, which sealed the Dodgers’ first World Series championship since Lasorda’s 1988 team.
After 20 seasons, Lasorda retired as manager of Dodgers in 1996 due to health issues. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1997, but Lasorda remained active in the sport. He held various roles with the Dodgers and was manager of the US team that won the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics against Cuba. Lasorda was also the official ambassador for the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009.
“His passion, success, charisma and sense of humor made him an international celebrity, a stature he used to grow our sport,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Friday. “Tommy welcomed Dodger players from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere – making baseball a stronger, more diverse and better game.”
Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, who was the voice of the Dodgers for 67 years, remembered Lasorda’s energy and effort.
“There are two things about Tommy that I will always remember,” Scully said in a statement. The first is his boundless enthusiasm. Tommy got up full of beans in the morning and kept it up as long as he was with someone else.
“The other was his determination. He was a guy with limited scope and he put pressure on himself to be a very good Triple-A pitcher. He never really had that extra that stands a big chance, but that was. not because he didn’t Try it. Those are some of the things: his competitive spirit, his determination and most importantly this boundless energy and confidence. His heart was bigger than his talent, and there were no dirty lines to his enthusiasm. ”
A distant relative of Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza, and godfather to Piazza’s brother Tommy, Lasorda was instrumental in influencing the Dodgers to select Piazza in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft. Piazza went 12- time All-Star with a .308 career batting average, one of nine NL Rookies of the Year to play for the Dodgers under Lasorda. Piazza finished with 427 home runs, including a record of 396 as a catcher.
In 2009 Lasorda had his portrait hung at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. Lasorda’s No. 2 was retired by the Dodgers in 1997 and the main street leading to the entrance of the Dodgers complex in Vero Beach, Florida was renamed Tommy Lasorda Lane that year.
“In 50 years, we will still know Tommy Lasorda as a great ambassador of baseball,” said former Dodgers-pitcher Orel Hershiser, who played 14 of his 18 seasons under Lasorda. “And I think that will be number 1 on his resume.”