Lest We Forget: Tommy Lasorda

January 9, 2021

The Hall of Fame manager who “bled Dodger Blue” passed away yesterday at the age of 93.

Lasorda spent his entire major league career with the Dodgers. A middling pitcher, he was sent down by Brooklyn in 1955 to make room for a teenaged Sandy Koufax. Here’s Richard Goldstein’s obituary in The New York Times and J.P. Hoornstra in the LA Daily News.

Frank Sinatra and baseball, a match made in Hoboken | Lucas - nj.com

It was once he took over the managerial reins from Walter Alston — who had held that title from 1954-1976 (all with one-year contracts) — that he began to shine, winning five pennants (out of eight first-place finished) and three World Series over a 21-year career.

He published two memoirs — The Artful Dodger, written with David Fisher in 1985, and I Live for This: Baseball’s Last True Believer, with Bill Plaschke (who got top billing) in 2007. He was also the subject Tommy Lasorda: My Way by Colin Gunderson in 2015.

Tommy Lasorda The Artful Dodger hc book Los Angeles Dodgers 1985. Amazon.com: Tommy Lasorda: My Way (9781629370712): Gunderson, Colin, Torre, Joe: Books. Amazon.com: I Live for This!: Baseball's Last True Believer eBook: Plaschke, Bill, Lasorda, Tommy, Lasorda, Tommy: Kindle Store

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