Happy Birthday Tommy!

Today is the Birthday of the legendary Tommy Lasorda, our site mentor, Namesake, and hero. Tommy is turning 85 years old today, and has been in the Dodger’s organization since 1949. He was a player, a pitcher, scout, coach, and manager. He is now an ambassador for the game, and currently works in the Dodger front office as a special advisor to the chairman.

Happy Birthday Tommy!-Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

While Tommy’s pitching career was short lived, his coaching and managing career was one of the longest tenured in Baseball. (Tommy did whiff 25 Amsterdam Rugmaker batters in a 15 inning game once) Tommy first began managing in 1966. As manager of the Dodgers from 1977-1996, Tommy won two world series championships, four NL Pennants, seven division titles, and his 16 NLCS wins ranked number one at the time of his retirement. His 61 postseason games ranked fourth, and he also managed four all-star games. Tommy finished with a 1,599-1,439 record as Dodger manager. His 1,599 managerial wins ranks him 16 all time. In 1997, Tommy was not only inducted into Baseball’s hall of fame, he also had his number 2 retired by the Dodgers.

We want to wish Tommy Lasorda, our site’s namesake, a very happy birthday today. Tommy’s passion for the Dodgers and Baseball is one of a kind. There will never ever be another Tommy Lasorda. Just don’t ask him about his opinion of Dave Kingman’s performance.