Tommy Lasorda
Tommy Lasorda
Thomas Charles "Tommy" Lasordais a former Major League baseball player who has had a lengthy career in sports management. In 2009, he marked his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuoustenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully by a single season. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth22 September 1927
CityNorristown, PA
CountryUnited States of America
We met with him for two hours, and we talked about everything. He seldom laughed, that was one thing I noticed. He did not have much of a sense of humor. But he was a good fan of baseball, and he loved to talk about it.
This is something that we needed so desperately in this game. And to see the reaction of the fans all over the country is really and truly amazing, and to see the excitement at that ballpark today was stimulating. All of us in baseball should really say to those guys congratulations for what they've done for the game.
Do you know how many countries are represented in the Olympics, and how many sports, and how many athletes? ... A lot. A lot. But no Americans in baseball? Why? Why? It's sad. Very sad.
He was to people all over the world what a baseball player was supposed to be like,
If you said to God, 'Create someone who was what a baseball player should be,' God would have created Joe DiMaggio ... And he did.
I managed the Dodgers for 20 years. It's hard to believe that there are only four guys in the history of baseball who managed the same team for 20 years or more. One was owner of the team, Connie Mack. Another was part owner of the team, John McGraw. Then there was my predecessor, Walter Alston, and me. It's amazing. In the 20 years I managed the Dodgers, 210 managers were fired.
Bruce Benedict is so slow he'd finish third in a race with a pregnant woman.
My wife tells me one day, 'I think you love baseball more than me.' I say, 'Well, I guess that's true, but hey, I love you more than football and hockey.'
Ernie Banks was a great great player and when he no longer could play, he became a great ambassador for the game. He represented the game with the highest of class and dignity. Everybody loved Ernie Banks. He enjoyed baseball, life and people. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. We have truly lost a baseball giant.
You can have the best team in baseball, and if nobody goes through the turnstiles, you've got to shut the doors down.
Everything I have, I owe to baseball and the Dodgers.
It's still the best game in town because you don't have to be big to play, and everybody plays. Even your grandmother probably played baseball.
When I took the job as the manager of the Olympic team, I didn't take it because I was a Dodger. I did it because I was an American, and I wanted to bring that gold medal where it belongs in baseball, the United States. And that's exactly what our team did.
Say 'Dodgers' and people know you're talking about baseball. Say 'Braves' and they ask, 'What reservation?' Say 'Reds' and they think of communism. Say 'Padres' and they look around for a priest.