Ambassador for baseball. Ambassador for the
Dodgers - he bleeds
Dodger Blue. Growing up in LA, I have many fond memories of Lasorda - I'll never forget his enthusiasm for baseball and for the Dodgers. Even if he hadn't shown up at my baseball camp when I was 11 and managed to soak every camper with
spit whilst giving us a pep talk on believing in ourselves. Yet another occasion where having a
towel would have been real handy (thanks,
Douglas Adams!)
Among the other memorable things Lasorda can take credit for in his long career are a series of profanity laced tirades. Of course, among sports figures, and baseball managers in particular, this is not a unique phenomenon. None the less, Lasorda's use of colorful language surpassed his peers by a long, long way, though if anything, underscored how much he wanted his team to do well. The targets of his tirades ranged from reporters, one of whom asked Lasorda what he thought of Dave Kingman after Kingman had just slugged three home runs and drove in 8 runs against the Dodgers, to himself, after he blew a line while taping a commercial for Slim Fast, to opposing players and mangers - in particular Kurt Bavaqua who called Lasorda a Fat Little Italian, to his own players (he once accused Steve Garvey of needing a rowing oar to hit the ball).
Lasorda's numerous tirades were immortalised into Los Angeles radio lore by the late Jim Healey, who would frequently play blurbs from these tirades, shortened versions of them and occasionaly one of the tirades in its entirety. Unfortunately, in order for Healey to comply with FCC regulations, much of the tapes were bleeped out with audible tones.