Background and career
Thomas Charles Lasorda (September 22, 1927 – January 7, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher and manager. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 through 1996. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997. Lasorda played in MLB for the Dodgers in 1954 and 1955 and for the Kansas City Athletics in 1956. He coached for the Dodgers from 1973 through 1976 before taking over as manager. Lasorda won two World Series championships as manager of the Dodgers and was named the Manager of the Year of the National League (NL) twice. His uniform number 2 was retired by the Dodgers.
Thomas Charles Lasorda was born on September 22, 1927, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He graduated from Norristown High School in 1944, where he excelled in baseball.
Lasorda signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1945 and began his professional career that season with the Concord Weavers of the Class D North Carolina State League. He missed the 1946 and 1947 seasons because of a stint in the United States Army. He served on active duty from October 1945 until spring 1947. Lasorda returned to baseball in 1948 with the Schenectady Blue Jays of the Canadian–American League. On May 31, 1948, he struck out 25 Amsterdam Rugmakers in a 15-inning game, setting a professional record, and drove in the winning run with a single. He played with Schenectady from 1948 through 1950. Lasorda then played for Almendares of the Cuban League in Havana, Cuba in 1950–52 and again in 1958–60, compiling a 16–13 record in four seasons, including 8–3 with a 1.89 ERA in 1958–59. Lasorda also pitched for Marianao, a league rival of Almendares also in the Havana area.
The Brooklyn Dodgers drafted Lasorda from the Phillies organization in 1949. The Dodgers sent him to the Greenville Spinners in 1949, and to the Montreal Royals of the International League in 1950. He pitched for Montreal in 1950 through 1954.
Lasorda made his Major League debut on August 5, 1954, for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He made his only start for the Dodgers on May 5, 1955, but was removed after the first inning after tying a major-league record with three wild pitches in one inning and being spiked by Wally Moon of the St. Louis Cardinals when Moon scored on the third wild pitch. Lasorda made only three more appearances for the Dodgers, was optioned back to Montreal on June 8, and was replaced on the major league roster by Sandy Koufax.
Before the 1956 season, Lasorda was sold to the Kansas City Athletics, Kansas City traded him to the New York Yankees for Wally Burnette in July 1956. He appeared in 22 games for the Yankees' affiliate Triple-A Denver Bears in 1956–1957, and then was sold back to the Dodgers in 1957. During his tenure with the Bears, Lasorda was profoundly influenced by Denver manager Ralph Houk, who became Lasorda's role model for a major league manager. "Ralph taught me that if you treat players like human beings, they will play like Superman," he told Bill Plaschke in the biography I Live for This: Baseball's Last True Believer. "He taught me how a pat on a shoulder can be just as important as a kick in the butt." Lasorda returned to Montreal for the 1958 through 1960 seasons, but was released in July 1960. He was the winningest pitcher in the history of the team (107–57). On June 24, 2006, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He ended his major league career with a 0–4 record and a 6.52 ERA in 26 games.
