Tommy Lasorda

Lasorda's first off-field assignment with the Dodgers was as a scout from 1961 to 1965. In 1966, he became the manager for the Pocatello Chiefs in the rookie leagues, then managed the Ogden Dodgers to three Pioneer League championships from 1966 to '68. He became the Dodgers' AAA Pacific Coast League manager in 1969 with the Spokane Indians (1969–1971). He remained manager of the AAA team when the Dodgers moved the farm club to the Albuquerque Dukes (1972). His 1972 Dukes team won the PCL Championship. Lasorda was also a manager for the Dominican Winter Baseball League team Tigres del Licey (Licey Tigers). He led the team to the 1973 Caribbean World Series title in Venezuela with a series record of 5 wins and 1 loss.

In 1973, Lasorda became the third-base coach on the staff of Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston, serving for almost four seasons.[6] He was widely regarded as Alston's heir apparent, and turned down several major league managing jobs elsewhere to remain in the Dodger fold. He also returned to the third-base coach's box on a temporary basis while managing the Dodgers.

1980 Los Angeles Dodgers #2 Tommy Lasorda road jersey

Tommy Lasorda's number 2 was retired by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997.

Lasorda became the Los Angeles Dodgers manager September 29, 1976, upon Alston's retirement. He compiled a 1,599–1,439 record as Dodgers manager, won two World Series championships in (1981 and 1988), four National League pennants, and eight division titles in his 20-year career as the Dodgers manager.

His 16 wins in 30 NL Championship games managed were the most of any manager at the time of his retirement. His 61 postseason games managed ranks fourth all-time behind Bobby Cox, Casey Stengel (all of whose games took place during the World Series in baseball's pre-divisional play days), and Joe Torre. He also managed in four All-Star games.

Lasorda managed nine players who won the National League Rookie of the Year award. The winners came in two strings of consecutive players. From 1979 to 1982, he managed Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Fernando Valenzuela, and Steve Sax. From 1992 to 1995, he managed Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raúl Mondesí, and Hideo Nomo. Before retiring during the 1996 season, he had also managed that year's rookie of the year, Todd Hollandsworth.

His final game was a 4–3 victory over the Houston Astros, at Dodger Stadium (att. 35,467), on June 23, 1996. The following day (June 24), he drove himself to the hospital complaining of abdominal pains, and in fact he was having a heart attack. He officially retired on July 29, 1996.[7] His 1,599 career wins ranks 20th all-time in MLB history.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997[8] as a manager in his first year of eligibility. The Dodgers retired his uniform number (2) on August 15, 1997[9] and renamed a street in Dodgertown as "Tommy Lasorda Lane". In 2014, a new restaurant named "Lasorda's Trattoria" opened at Dodger Stadium.

Lasorda came out of retirement to manage the United States team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.[10] He led the Americans to the gold medal, beating favored Cuba, which had won the gold medal at the two previous Olympics. In doing so, he became the first manager to win a World Series championship and lead a team to an Olympic gold medal.

Lasorda coached the 2001 All-Star Game as third base coach. While at the plate, Vladimir Guerrero lost his bat while swinging, and it flew towards Lasorda, causing him to fall backwards, but Tommy was unharmed.[11] As a joke, Giants outfielder Barry Bonds gave Lasorda a chest protector to wear while manning the third-base coaching box.

During spring training in 2008, the Dodgers were invited to play a series of exhibition games in Taiwan. Dodger manager Joe Torre took a group of players with him for that series. The majority of the team remained behind in Florida to finish out the Grapefruit League season. Lasorda briefly came out of retirement to manage the team that remained in Florida while Torre was away.[12]

An unnamed Dodger executive came up with the idea of having Dodger manager Don Mattingly ask Lasorda to be an honorary coach on Lasorda's 84th birthday against the San Francisco Giants.[13]

• Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year (1970)
• UPI & AP Manager of the Year (1977)
• AP Manager of the Year (1981)
• Baseball America Manager of the Year (1988)
• Sporting News Co-Manager of the Year (1988)
• Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award presented by the United States Sports Academy (2000)[14]
• Minor planet 6128 Lasorda is named in his honor.[15]

As of games played on June 25, 1996.

Lasorda was famous for his colorful personality and outspoken opinions regarding players and other personnel associated with baseball. He had a number of obscenity-filled tirades, some of which were taped and became underground classics, like his explosion over Kurt Bevacqua. [18] The most famous of these is his "Dave Kingman tirade" in 1978, in which Lasorda ranted at reporter Paul Olden, who asked him about Kingman hitting three home runs against the Dodgers that day.[19]

In 1996, he voiced the role of Lucky Lasorta, a Rough Collie commentating the baseball game in the film Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco. He made a cameo appearance in the movie Ladybugs (1992) alongside Rodney Dangerfield. Lasorda portrayed the Dugout Wizard in the syndicated children's television show The Baseball Bunch.[20] His other television credits playing himself include Silver Spoons, Who's The Boss?, CHiPs, Hart to Hart, Fantasy Island, Hee Haw, Simon & Simon, Everybody Loves Raymond and American Restoration.

Lasorda partially owned the food company Lasorda Foods, which was known primarily for pasta sauces that Lasorda stated were based on a family recipe passed down to his wife, Jo.[21] In September 1989, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Denver firm Discovery Capital Corp, of which Lasorda continued to own 10%.[22] The parent company through which Lasorda maintained his stake in the Lasorda Foods, Lasorda Foods Holding Corp Inc., was initially based in Fountain Valley, California, before moving to Irvine and then Paramount. A Boca Raton, Florida-based company, Modami Services, acquired Lasorda Foods Holding Corp Inc. in August 1993. Lasorda and Lasorda Foods President Steven Fox, who together owned a majority of Lasorda Foods' stock, were paid in Modami shares.[21]

In June 2005, President George W. Bush asked Lasorda to serve as a delegate to the U.S. National Day at the World Exposition in Aichi, Japan.[23] In 2008, the government of Japan conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, which represents the fourth-highest of eight classes associated with the award. The decoration was presented in acknowledgment of his contributions to Japanese baseball.[24]

Lasorda became a local celebrity in the Dominican Republic due to his many visits in search of young baseball talents in this land of many famous players in the major leagues, especially after becoming a devoted fan of the "chicharrones" (deep fried pork skins) commonly sold on the streets of the Villa Mella neighborhood of Santo Domingo.

With the death of Red Schoendienst on June 6, 2018, Lasorda is the oldest living Hall-of-Famer.