Dodgers Hall of Fame great Tommy Lasorda has died, the team announced. He was 93.
The Dodgers in a statement confirmed that Lasorda passed away Thursday night after suffering a heart attack.
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The 93-year-old was known for his enthusiasm for baseball and especially the Dodgers. Lasorda found his calling as a manager after an unsuccessful 14-year stint in the minors as a pitcher.
In three major league stints, Lasorda went 0-4 in nearly a 6.50 ERA with Kansas City and the Brooklyn Dodgers who released him to make room for Sandy Koufax.
A true student of the game, Lasorda moved onto coaching after his playing days were over. In 1972, he would become the manager of the Dodgers Triple-A farm club, the Albuquerque Dukes.
There, he would win a Pacific Coast Championship in his long season, and that led Lasorda to the big leagues, joining Walter Alston’s staff, before replacing the long-time manager in 1979.
Lasorda became a leader and voice of the team. Under Lasorda, the Dodgers went to the World Series for his first two seasons, but they failed to beat the New York Yankees in both 1977 and 1978.
But things really came together in the 1981 Fall Classic when the Dodgers beat the Bronx in six games. Then, there was that magical season in 1988 – Lasorda’s greatest achievement despite most considered that his team was ill-equipped for the post-season.
After upsetting the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers were heavy underdogs against Oakland so in Game One, Olympian Kirk Gibson stepped to the plate, and history was made.
Lasorda would continue to the helm until the middle of the 1996 season when heart problems forced him out of the job he cherished.
