Remembering Tommy Lasorda



No one ever enjoyed being a Dodger more than Tommy Lasorda. The onetime Brooklyn pitcher and effervescent manager of two LA World Championship clubs in the '80s, passed away late Thursday night at age 93.

A successful pitcher in the Dodgers farm system, where he won 66 games for Triple A Montreal between 1950 and '54, things didn't go as well with the big club. Tommy never won a game in eight Brooklyn appearances -- and was sent back to the minors in June 1955 to make room on the roster for Sandy Koufax, a move that he often joked about. Tommy later appeared with the Kansas City A's, but in his heart, he never left the Dodger organization. After his playing days, he worked his way up the L.A. system as a scout, then manager, before joining Walter Alston's coaching staff and succeeding him in 1977.

All told, Lasorda spent 71 years with the Dodgers and was even able to travel to Texas to attend last fall's World Series -- where he watched the franchise win its first title in 32 years.

When he passed, Tommy was the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. But to quote a classic song by his pal Frank Sinatra, he remained "Young at Heart."

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