The Grave Of Tommy Lasorda Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers

If Vin Scully is the eternal voice of the Dodgers, then Tommy LaSorda is the team's soul. Thomas Charles LaSorda was born in 1927 in the small town of Norristown, Pennsylvania. LaSorda began his pitching career with the Philadelphia Phillies when he was 18. Later he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. And after piling up wins in the minors, LaSorda was called up to the big leagues in 1954. But Tommy's major league career never took off. In 1956, LaSorda was sent back down to the minors to make room for another young left-handed pitcher by the name of Sandy Koufax. When Walter Alston retired in 1976, LaSorda became the fourth skipper in team history. For the next 20 years, LaSorda would define Dodger baseball. Players love LaSorda's positive, upbeat style. But make no mistake, Tommy hated to lose. What's going on everybody? Welcome back to 909 Adventures. Today we're in Rose Hills at the Rose Hills Cemetery. We're here to visit a very, very famous person in baseball. Probably very important as well from the 70s all the way up through the 90s and even the 2000s. Talking about baseball legend Tommy LaSorda, coach of the Dodgers. He's just right over there. Let's go check it out together guys. All right guys, here he is right here. Tommy LaSorda. All right, so Tommy LaSorda, of course we all know him for being the manager of the Dodgers. He was also a player. He actually signed up as a free agent for Philadelphia, and it was nine years later before he's seen his actual first major league play, or his major league game. Let's get a little closer. So the Dodgers drafted him from the the Philadelphia's farm system in 1949, and I was just looking up his stats and just realized he only played for a total of three seasons and only has 26 games played under his belt. So you know, not a crazy career for a baseball player, but as a coach he did very well. In his 20 years, he led the team to two World Series victories, which is pretty good. There's a lot of coaches out there that just at least will chase one World Series, but never ever gets to that success. This is Tommy LaSorda. I mean if you guys were a fan of baseball anytime, 70s, 80s, or 90s, even if the Dodgers weren't your team, you guys knew who Tommy LaSorda was. All right, just really quick guys, I want to, I don't normally promote you guys to leave comments like I should, so leave me a comment. Let me know, you know, your memories of Tommy LaSorda. I mean, I know a lot of you were alive during his time, especially if you were a baseball fan. Like I said again, you didn't necessarily have to be a Dodgers fan to know about, hear about, or even enjoy Tommy LaSorda, because I'll be honest guys, I'm not that big of a Dodgers fan. I am an Angels fan, but you know, I still grew up in that era. I grew up at the time that Tommy was at the height of his career coaching the Dodgers, and even I knew about him. You gotta, you know, put things aside and give recognition where recognition is due. So right here is his wife, Jo. They called her Jo, he called her Jo, and she died not long after him. Only a short nine months, nine months and a few weeks. They were married for over, over 70 years. You know, what's funny too is when I was doing more research on Tommy LaSorda, I knew his wife was here, and we actually found out that Tommy had to borrow $500 for their wedding. So that's, uh, to think about a, you know, a legend before he was a rich and famous legend having to borrow money for, you know, something as simple as a wedding. That's, uh, it's pretty crazy. Also, I'm sure you guys have been seeing this. This is his son, Tommy LaSorda Jr., and, uh, they called him Spunky. Um, no, he, he died of AIDS. All right, so from, uh, 1973 to 76, he was just a coach. Obviously not just a coach, but good enough to be the manager from 1976 until 1996. 20 years, guys. That is an, that is an awesome career. Like, like I said earlier, that's unheard of these days. If you can't produce numbers, you can't produce players that play, that can hit, that can throw, that can pitch. The manager's gone. Um, it is not uncommon these days to see multiple managers or coaches come and go throughout a single season. So, again, guys, you didn't have to be a Dodgers fan to be a fan of Tommy LaSorda. Because let's face it, guys, if it was your team in need of a manager, of course, you would have welcomed Tommy LaSorda with open arms. Now, there's something that's kind of funny I want to share with you guys. Again, guys, if you guys were a fan of baseball, you know, in the 70s, 80s, 90s, you guys probably knew Tommy was a, was a hothead. He was, uh, always cussing somebody out, getting angry at somebody. And, uh, there's one interview that he did that, uh, it, it cracks me up just to hear it. I mean, I don't think there's any actual footage of it, but there's audio. I'm going to share that with you guys right now. And then we'll come back and talk a little bit about it. And then we'll get out of here because we're losing sunlight. Very bad for that man to make an accusation like that. That is terrible. I have never ever, since I've managed, ever told a pitcher to throw at anybody, nor will I ever. And if I ever did, I certainly wouldn't make him throw at a ******* 130 hitter like LeFay or ******* Bavacqua who could hit water if he fell out of a ******* boat. And I guarantee you this, when I pitched and I was going to pitch against a ******* team that had guys on it, like Bavacqua, I sent a ******* limousine to get the cocksucker to make sure he was in the motherfucking lineup because I kicked that cocksucker's ass every ******* day in a week. He's a ******* motherfucking big mouth. I'll tell you that. All right, guys, I'm sorry. I should have warned you about, uh, all the foul language, but, uh, yeah, that cracks me up every time I hear that, man. That's, uh, that's crazy. That was Tommy Lasorda almost on a daily basis, but it's Tommy Lasorda getting upset about getting accused of, uh, having a ball thrown at Kurt Bavacqua. It was, uh, oh my goodness, it was just funny, but that was, uh, that was Tommy Lasorda on a daily basis. All right, guys, so, uh, we're getting ready to wrap it up here. Tommy Lasorda Jr., Tommy's son, passed away from AIDS complications. It was, uh, a combination of the AIDS, pneumonia, and, uh, being dehydrated. Tommy Lasorda lived a long life, a very long life, well into his 90s. He died of a heart attack. He died of a heart attack, and his wife, again, only a short nine months later, she, uh, she was 91, and, uh, no, uh, no cause of death has been given on her. I'm just assuming old age. I think it's that safe to assume. Man, that's crazy, because, you know what, not only, obviously, they're with their son, but he died 30 years before his dad or his mom, so you could only imagine how many times Tommy Lasorda stood right here to visit his son. Now, obviously, when, you know, this plot was paid for for his son, you know, these had to be bought with it because these would have been filled by now if they didn't. So, Tommy Lasorda coming here, I'm sure he knew, realized that this is where he's also going to spend, you know, well, you know, his body will be for all eternity, and it is Christmas time. If you guys can't tell, it is Christmas time. We're just, uh, right on the, uh, the cusp of Christmas. It's coming up. Tommy Lasorda, guys. All right, guys, before the sun goes down, I just want to let you guys know that I do have a Patreon. I've uploaded a couple of things on there recently, and I'm looking forward to uploading a lot more on there coming up. So, if you guys want to join that, that'll help out the channel so much, you guys. I don't really promote this very often, but if you guys can do me a favor, check out the link. If you guys can do it, then I would appreciate it. There's also other things, other links down there as well. If you guys can contribute somehow, everything that is donated to the channel goes right back into it somehow, some way. If that's gas in our vehicles to get out to locations like this, um, or, you know, the reoccurring fees that, uh, come along with a YouTube channel. Yes, YouTube channels are free to, to post videos, but behind the scenes there's other small reoccurring costs, and, um, because of viewers like you, I'm able to continue doing what I do, and the more we get, the more often I can post. So, uh, thank you guys very much, everybody that's donated. Just a quick shout out to Zeb, Desert Deb, David Piotrowski, Michelle Sterling, Nikki in Florida. Guys, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm probably missing some right off the top of my head. Uh, Joshua Hall, Texas Adventures with Brexton. Thank you guys so much for all your contributions to the channel. Again, guys, it's your contributions that allow me to get out and make videos for you guys. Thank you guys so much for watching. For two years, we suffered a great deal, and now the Dodgers are back on top. We are the world champs of baseball, and I'll tell you something, it is a great, great ball club. They never quit believing in themselves. They have to be an influence on everybody in the world because it shows you what someone can do when they really want something bad enough.