Tommy Lasorda, legend of the Dodgers and manager of the Hall of Fame, died of a heart attack on Thursday night, according to the team. Lasorda, 93, was only recently discharged from the hospital after a month-long period that included time in the intensive care unit.
“Lasorda suffered a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest at her home at 10:09 pm,” said the team. “He was transported to the hospital with resuscitation in progress. He was pronounced dead at 10:57 pm.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement:
“Tommy Lasorda was one of the best coaches our game has ever known. He loved life as a Dodger. His career started as a pitcher in 1949, but he is obviously best known as the manager of two World Series champions and four flags – winning clubs, his passion, success, charisma and sense of humor turned him into an international celebrity, a stature he used to grow our sport. Tommy welcomed players from Mexico’s Dodger, Dominican Republic, Japan , South Korea and elsewhere – making baseball a stronger, more diverse and better game. He served in Major League Baseball as the Global Ambassador for the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic and managed the US team to gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Tommy loved his family, the United States, the National Passime and the Dodgers, and he made everyone proud during a memorable baseball life.
“I am extremely happy to have developed a wonderful friendship with Tommy and I will miss him. It seems fitting that in his final months, he has seen his beloved Dodgers win the World Series for the first time since his 1988 team. On behalf of Major League Baseball , I send my deepest condolences to his 70-year-old wife, Jo, and his entire family, the Dodger organization and his generations of loyal fans. “
Lasorda led the Dodgers for a period of two decades, from 1976 to 1996. Under his supervision, the Dodgers won two World Series (1981 and 1988), four National League banners and eight division titles. Lasorda himself won two Manager of the Year awards and managed four All-Star games. His 1,599 coaching victories were 22nd in Major League Baseball history (although second in Dodgers history), and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997. The Dodgers subsequently removed his number 2 shirt. Lasorda also won a gold medal as coach of the 2000 United States team at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
After retiring from management, Lasorda served in a variety of front-office roles with the Dodgers, including as a special consultant during the 2020 season. This next year would have marked its 72nd season with the Dodgers franchise, which dates back to its days. in Brooklyn. Over that time, Lasorda managed, trained, explored and launched.
Although Lasorda’s legacy is mostly about his post-game days, he made 26 appearances in major championships over a three-year period in the 1950s. He was not particularly good – he ended up with an ERA of 6.48 and a 0.66 strikeout-to-walk ratio – but he became acquainted with the then manager of the Dodgers, Walter Alston, whom he later served as the team’s third baseman. (Lasorda and Alston are the only managers to spend an entire career of more than 20 seasons with a single team.)
Under Lasorda’s supervision, the Dodgers became a player development machine. He managed nine Rookie of the Year award winners, including Rick Sutcliffe, Fernando Valenzeula, Steve Sax, Eric Karros and Mike Piazza, which the organization drafted and signed under his command.
Despite Lasorda’s success, it is important to note that he was never credited for implementing a strategic wrinkle. Bill James, in his seminal book on managers, noted that he was not sure how Lasorda changed the game, concluding: “If you are a Dodger fan and you know the answer to this question, I am interested to hear about it.”
Despite all the glory on the field in Lasorda, he was involved in a series of horrible incidents off the field. In 2014, he said during a television appearance that he expected V. Stiviano, the ex-girlfriend of the former Clippers owner and friend of Lasorda Donald Sterling, to be hit by a car after recording Sterling making racist comments. Lasorda was most recently involved in a 2018 video incident, in which he asks a fan where they are from before instructing them to “go back there”.
Lasorda also refused to accept and acknowledge that his son, Tom Lasorda Jr., was gay and that he had AIDS. Lasorda Jr. died at the age of 33, and Lasorda Senior said it was due to pneumonia. “My son was not gay. No way. I read that in a newspaper. I also read that a lady gave birth to a monkey f ——. That is not true,” he once told GQ magazine.