Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda dies at 93
LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda has died at 93 years old, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced Friday.
The Dodgers had tweeted Tuesday that Lasorda had returned to his Fullerton home after being hospitalized for nearly two months, NewsNation affiliate KTLA reported.
Born on Sept. 22, 1927, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Thomas Charles Lasorda began his baseball career with a Philadelphia Phillies minor league team, the Concord Weavers, in 1954.
After serving two years in the U.S. Army, Lasorda returned to baseball with Schenectady Blue Jays, where he pitched a record-breaking 25-strikeout game, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1954, Lasorda made his major league pitching debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Lasorda’s pitching career never took off, and in 1961, he retired from playing but never left the game.
He worked as a scout and a minor league coach for more than a decade before being hired as the third-base coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1973, according to the team’s website.
Three years later, Lasorda took over as manager.
In his two decades as the Dodgers skipper, Lasorda won 1,599 games and led his team to two World Series titles.
