LOS ANGELES – Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda was commemorated at a private funeral service at Dodger Stadium, home of champions Los Angeles Dodgers, before his burial on Tuesday.
Lasorda died on January 7 of a heart attack at the age of 93.
His casket, covered with a variety of blue and white flowers, was placed on the hill of the jug with a blue 2, indicating Lasorda’s jersey number, on the back of the hill.
Lasorda’s wife of 70, Jo, was wheelchair bound, along with their daughter, Laura. The mourners remained socially alienated around the hill.
Former Dodgers catcher and Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, retired player and Major League Baseball manager Bobby Valentine, retired Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros, retired player and coach Mickey Hatcher, former Dodgers pitcher Charlie Hough and former NBA coach Mike Fratello were among the 10 carriers. They all wore a T-shirt with the Lasorda number 2 on the 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. They wore face masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic and carried Lasorda’s coffin to a white hearse parked in front of the dugout.
“I’m bleeding Dodger blue and when I die I’ll go to the big Dodger in the sky.”
Friends and family of Tommy Lasorda gathered today at Dodger Stadium to pay their respects 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 onto the stadium’s video screens.
A caravan traveled from the stadium to Rose Hills Memorial Park in nearby Whittier, where Lasorda was buried. The group had just arrived at the cemetery when they were told that Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton had passed away at the age of 75.
Lasorda spent 71 years in the Dodgers organization, starting as a player when the team was still based in Brooklyn. He later trained and went on to become the best-known manager in Los Angeles for 21 years, leading the franchise to two World Series championships. After his resignation in 1996, he became an ambassador for the sport he loved.