The Sportspedia
Tom Lasorda, aged 93, was the oldest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame -which is located in his native state of Pennsylvania-, until he passed away last night.
Tommy Lasorda played with the Dodgers when they were still in Brooklyn but he only played for less than an inning because he, a pitcher, tied a non-enviable Major League record: throwing three wild pitches in a single inning.
He would be taken out in that inning and demoted. He would never play for the Dodgers again. Who would say that he could be one the Dodgers’ biggest stars?
We can fast forward a few decades and Lasorda indeed did not have a great career as a ball player but he won his place in Cooperstown after winning two World Series: 1981 and 1988.
In his career as a manager, from 1976 until 1996 -when he retired after heart problems- he became the 20th manager with more wins in Major League history and was the manager of nine “Rookie of the Year” laureates. That talks a lot about his quality as a mentor. It only took one year after his retirement for his name to be added to the Hall of Fame.
Lasorda came out of retirement in 2000 to manage the United States at the Sidney Olympic Games and he led them to the gold medal with a team that did not count with active Major League players.
Rest in peace, Tom Lasorda.
