Tommy Lasorda
Tommy Lasorda
Thomas Charles "Tommy" Lasordais a former Major League baseball player who has had a lengthy career in sports management. In 2009, he marked his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuoustenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully by a single season. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth22 September 1927
CityNorristown, PA
CountryUnited States of America
My God, look at the words people use today. They use profanity like it's nothing. Christ almighty.
I managed the Dodgers for 20 years. It's hard to believe that there are only four guys in the history of baseball who managed the same team for 20 years or more. One was owner of the team, Connie Mack. Another was part owner of the team, John McGraw. Then there was my predecessor, Walter Alston, and me. It's amazing. In the 20 years I managed the Dodgers, 210 managers were fired.
It is a great honor to be inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame. When you honor me with this distinction, you really honor the players who put me there. All of the honors I receive became a reality only through the contributions of my players. In addition to myself, you also honor my family and the Dodger organization. I accept this recognition with pride and gratitude.
I was told to stay away from pasta and bread for two weeks. Not eating pasta? That'll kill me. Anything else, but why pasta?
Everybody wants to win, but everybody doesn't win.
You give loyalty, you'll get it back.
Nothing succeeds like - failure.
Bruce Benedict is so slow he'd finish third in a race with a pregnant woman.
When we win, I'm so happy I eat a lot. When we lose, I'm so depressed, I eat a lot. When we're rained out, I'm so disappointed I eat a lot.
No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference.
Managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it; not hard enough and it flies away.
When you're not playing up to your capability, you gotta try everything, to motivate, to get them going. All of them have to be on the same end of the rope to pull together. It's playing for the name on the front of the shirt, not the back. Individualism gets you trophies and plaques. Play for the front, that wins championships. I try to remind them of that.
All last year we tried to teach him (Fernando Valenzuela) English, and the only word he learned was million.
My theory of hitting was just to watch the ball as it came in and hit it.