Tommy Lasorda, Dodgers icon and Hall of Fame manager, dies at 93 https://www.abc15.com/sports/longtime-dodgers-manager-tommy-lasorda-dies-at-93 The Los Angeles Dodgers have announced the death of Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda passed away Thursday night at the age of 93 after suffering a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest at his home, according to the Major League Baseball team. Baseball’s “most popular ambassador” spent seven decades with the Dodgers, which included 71 seasons, according to the team. He spent the last 14 as special advisor to the chairman.
No matter how much fame and wealth Tommy had, he and his wife, Jo, stayed in their small 50’s era house in Fullerton. Which was only a couple of miles from my parents’ house, so I saw him often. His wife was someone I knew as a supermarket friend, (we seemed to shop at the same time) so I got to know Tommy when he shopped with her. Once in a while he’d say to me, “Hey! Blondie! What bread does Jo buy?” I saw him here in AZ at training camp a few years ago and he stopped and said, “What in the hell are you doing here?” Then “Who in the hell moves to AZ for &$?&/@? sake!!” Tommy never talked... he yelled. I told him, “I miss you too Tommy!” And I will miss him. What a force of nature.
I remember when the Dodgers called up Tommy in 1954. A slim 5'10"-175. I was 13 and in my third year as a red-hot Dodger fan living in New Jersey. Decades later, on a trip from Phoenix to L.A. to visit my employer's parent company, they asked if I want the best Chinese food in L.A. I said, "Sure!" They brought me to a tiny hole-in-the ground Chinese restaurant (not what I expected), which surprised me. Sure enough, their food was superb! And who was sitting at the next table? The food connoisseur (everything from Italian to Chinese), Tommy LaSorda. If he ate there, it had to be good. I looked over and said I didn't want to bother him, but I remember the day he was called up to the Dodgers (for his 3-year Major League stint). He said, "Those were the days." And I said, "Thanks for what you mean to baseball, not just bleeding Dodger blue, but Major League baseball. And I think of those words today with his passing.
I’ve never liked the Dodgers, but happy now that The Bums won last year’s WS knowing that it’s the last he’d witness. Sometimes the universe just makes sense.
Yup. Especially considering that Tommy was also on the '55 Dodgers, their first and only World Series Champlonship in Brooklyn. Johnny Podres pitched a shutout and Gil Hodges drove in both runs in the 7th game victory against the Yankees. The Dodgers beat the Yankees after being down 3 games to 2. And the following season, the Yankees did the same to the Dodgers. With last year, Tommy was on both championships. One of the few remaining bookends.
