Tommy Lasorda Grave Site (1927-2021)
Tommy Lasorda Grave Site (1927-2021)
Tommy Lasorda
ORIGINAL NAME Thomas Charles Lasorda
BIRTH 22 Sep 1927
Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA
DEATH 7 Jan 2021 (aged 93)
Fullerton, Orange County, California, USA
BURIAL
Rose Hills Memorial Park
Whittier, Los Angeles County, California, USA Show Map
Tommy Lasorda Full Name Thomas Charles Lasorda
Major League Baseball Player, Coach and Manager. Born Thomas Charles Lasorda, he was an American former Major League Baseball pitcher, coach, and Manager, who will best be remembered for his two decades managing the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading them to two World Series Titles in 1981 and 1988.
The son of Italian immigrants, in 1946, Lasorda, a left-handed pitcher, signed a $500.00 contract with the Philadelphia Phillies when he was 17 years old.
Tommy Lasorda Birth 22 Sep 1927
Two years later, he was acquired by the Dodgers in the minor league draft and spent 14 years in the minors with only three brief stints in the majors, with the Dodgers in 1954 and ’55 and the Kansas City Athletics in 1956 in which he compiled an 0-4 record and 6.52 ERA.
Tommy Lasorda Death 7 Jan 2021 (aged 93)
After managing seven years in the Dodger system, with five pennants and two second-place finishes, Lasorda was named to succeed Walter Alston as their manager in 1976.
Under Lasorda’s leadership, the Dodgers won the National League pennant in his first two years as manager, in 1977 and ’78, losing to the Yankees in the World Series both times. Three years later, after losing the first two games of the ’81 World Series, the Dodgers reeled off four straight wins to complete an upset world championship. The Dodgers’ triumph over Tony La Russa’s 104-win Oakland A’s in the 1988 World Series was not expected.
After previously upsetting the 100-win Mets, the Dodgers, boosted by Kirk Gibson’s Game 1-winning home run off Oakland’s vaunted closer Dennis Eckersley, swept the A’s for a second unlikely world championship for Lasorda.
Tommy Lasorda Birth and death
In all, Lasorda’s managerial record was 1,599–1,439, winning eight pennants for the Dodgers, his last two coming in 1994 and 1995. He came out of retirement to manage the United States team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, leading the Americans to the gold medal, beating favored Cuba, which had won the gold medal at the two previous Olympics.
Tommy Lasorda Find a Grave
In doing so, he became the first manager to win a World Series championship and lead a team to an Olympic gold medal. In 1997, Lasorda, who was considered one of baseball’s greatest ambassadors, was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.
