Tommy Lasorda

Tommy Lasorda, born in 1927, American baseball manager, who led the Los Angeles Dodgers to World Series titles in 1981 and 1988. He is one of only four managers in major league history to have piloted the same team for at least 20 years. (The other three are John McGraw of the New York Giants, Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics, and Lasorda’s predecessor, Walter Alston of the Dodgers.)

Lasorda was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1948 as a pitcher. He was drafted into the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers farm system and pitched in the minor leagues from 1949 to 1960. During this time he made brief major league appearances with the Dodgers in 1954 and 1955 and with the Kansas City Athletics in 1956. He then became a scout and managed Dodgers minor league teams from 1960 to 1973. He was promoted to Los Angeles as third-base coach in 1973 and in 1976 was named manager of the Dodgers—a position he held for the next 20 years. He led the team to National League (NL) pennants in 1977 and 1978 and to a World Series championship in 1981. His team won two NL West titles (1983, 1985) before the Dodgers again won the World Series in 1988. That year Lasorda was named manager of the year.

Lasorda became known as a player’s manager, one who is able to communicate with and relate to the players. His outgoing, charismatic personality made him a favorite of the fans and media as well. Through his long tenure with the Dodgers franchise, Lasorda became strongly identified with the team, and he is said to bleed “Dodger blue,” in reference to the team’s uniform color. After he retired as manager in July 1996, Lasorda became the vice president of the Dodgers organization. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2000 Lasorda managed the United States to a surprise gold medal in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. His team of mostly minor league players defeated powerful Cuba in the final, 4-0.