The Life of Legendary Baseball Manager Tommy Lasorda
Tommy Lasorda
Thomas (Tommy) Charles Lasorda was born on September 22, 1927, in Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa. He was the second of five sons. His father was born in the community of Tollo (population 4,237 in the 2008 census) in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy. His father emigrated to the United States in 1919 after serving in the Italian army during World War I. He made a living by driving a truck in a sand quarry. Tommy’s mother was born in the United States. Her parents were Abruzzesi. He played on the varsity team as a left-handed pitcher in high school and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies after graduation in June 1945. However, in October 1945, he was drafted into the U.S.
Army and was honorably discharged after two years. After playing the 1948 season in the minors for the Phillies, he was acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers who kept him in the minors. In 1950, he married Josephine Miller. They had two children. He made his major league debut for the Dodgers on August 5, 1954, and won a World Series ring with the team in 1955. He pitched the 1956 season for the Kansas City Athletics who traded him to the New York Yankees at the end of the year. During the 1957 season, the Yankees sold him back to the Dodgers who sent him again to the minors where he finished playing in 1960 at age 33. In 1961, he became a scout for the Dodgers who had relocated to Los Angeles. In 1966, the Dodgers made him a minor league manager.
During seven seasons in the minors, he won four league championships. In 1973, the Dodgers promoted him to be the third-base coach on their major league team. For four seasons, he served under the legendary Hall of Fame manager, Walter Alston. When Alston retired, Tommy was appointed the team manager on September 29, 1976, at the age of 49. He served for almost 20 years. Only three managers, including Alston, had served longer tenures in the history of the game. During Tommy’s tenure, his teams won eight division titles, four National League pennants, and two World Series (1981 and 1988). His teams compiled a record of 1,599 wins against 1,439 losses for a winning percentage of .526. He was voted National League Manager of the Year in 1983 and again in 1988. He also managed four All-Star teams for the National League. On June 24, 1996, he suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized in mid-season. As a result, he decided to quit on July 29, 1996, two months shy of his 70th birthday.
When he recovered after the 1996 season, he was named Vice President of the Dodgers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997, during his first year of eligibility. On August 15, 1997, his uniform number 2 was retired during a ceremony at Dodgers Stadium. On June 22, 1998, he became the interim General Manager. He resigned from that position when the 1998 season ended to become Senior Vice President. After a year, he retired. Tommy came out of retirement to manage the United States baseball team to the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He then served as the third-base coach for the National League during the 2001 All-Star Game. During his retirement, he lived with his wife in their home in Fullerton, California. On June 3, 2012, at age 84, he suffered a second heart attack. Since June 7, 2018, he had been the oldest living Hall of Famer. On Thursday evening, January 7, 2021, he suffered a third and fatal heart attack in his home. He was 93 years old. Tommy always said that his motto was: “I would walk a mile to shake the hand of an Italian, but I would crawl two miles to hug an Abruzzese.”
Sources:
• “Baseball Italian Style”, by Lawrence Baldassaro, at pages 65-68 (Sports Publishing Co. 2018).
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Lasorda, accessed May 25, 2020.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollo, accessed June 7, 2020.
• www.si.com/mlb/2021/01/08/tommylasorda, Sports Illustrated website, accessed January 8, 2021. (link expired)