Rich Dubroff

Tommy Lasorda remembered fondly by some with Oriole ties

Tommy Lasorda, the Hall of Fame Los Angeles Dodgers manager who died last week at 93, had few direct experiences with the Orioles.

He sat in the stands in September 2019 when the Dodgers clinched the National League West at Camden Yards. In 1956, when he was attempting to stay in the major leagues with the Kansas City Athletics, he pitched at Memorial Stadium twice.

But his impact was felt greatly by people associated with the Orioles who knew him well.

Many fans consider Rick Dempsey the best catcher in team history. Near the end of his career, Dempsey played three seasons with the Dodgers and caught the final out of the 1988 World Series.

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Dempsey came to the Dodgers to back up Mike Sciosia. He played for Billy Martin with the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees and for Earl Weaver during his time with the Orioles.

“Tommy was a lot more fun to play for than any of them,” Dempsey said.

He knew that Lasorda was loyal to his veterans but proved himself to his new manager and enjoyed how positive he could be, something that Weaver was not.

“Orel Hershiser, at first, did not have a lot of confidence, and Tommy kept reinforcing how much he believed in Orel,” Dempsey said. “That he could be a good pitcher, and I think after a while, Orel started to believe it, and he became not only a good pitcher, but a great pitcher. I’ve caught 16 Cy Young Award winners, and I’ve never seen anyone have a season like Orel Hershiser did that year, 1988.” Hershiser threw a record 59 consecutive scoreless innings.

Dempsey, a longtime MASN broadcaster, is something of an expert on playing for accomplished managers.

“It was always fun playing for Billy and for Earl Weaver because we won so much, but I’d have to give Tommy an edge for encouraging the players a lot more,” Dempsey said. “Late in my career, that’s what a player like myself needed … that we still had enough ability to help ballclubs win. It worked perfectly for me.”

Dave Anderson, who’s been an instructor and minor league manager in the Orioles’ farm system in recent years, wasn’t a big name player on a team that had tons of them, but that didn’t matter to Lasorda.

The two lived near each other, and Lasorda would often call him in the offseason to invite him to events because the manager didn’t like going places alone.

“Someone asked me one time what pressure was,” Anderson said. “Pressure was knowing that you’re taking Tommy home after the game, so you’re praying for a win tonight.”

When Anderson was a young player attempting to make the Dodgers, Lasorda would see him on the bus after games.

“We’d go on walks late at night in cities all over this country,” Anderson said. “He was just venting about the game.”

Once on a trip to San Francisco, Anderson ate lunch with his skipper and then marveled how Lasorda played bocce ball with the natives, speaking Italian.

Anderson played in a career-high 116 games in 1988, the year the Dodgers won the World Series. He played that many because Alfredo Griffin, the team’s intended starting shortstop, broke his hand. Afterward, Lasorda called Anderson in for a chat.

“You’re going to be our shortstop, and you’re going to play well,” Anderson said. “He had the confidence in me to go out there and play when there was some talk about going out and getting someone else to play.”

Both Anderson and Dempsey spoke about Lasorda’s work ethic. While the public and players saw his energy and enthusiasm, only the ones who knew him best watched him spend hours in spring training working with new players trying to master a position.

Though Lasorda enjoyed his relationship with celebrities like Don Rickles and Frank Sinatra, he always had time for minor leaguers and the ordinary people.

Janet Marie Smith, who is the Dodgers’ executive vice President for planning and development, is best known for helping design Oriole Park at Camden Yards during her time with the team.

In recent years, Smith’s office was next to Lasorda’s. She mentioned that she had a seriously ill friend who was going into the hospital and asked Lasorda if he would sign a card for her.

“’Yeah, I’ll sign it, but why don’t we call her?’” Lasorda said. “’Let’s call her. That’s better than a card.”

He called her and they talked about the Dodgers for some 15 minutes. At the end of the call, he said, “‘When you get out of the hospital, come sit with me for a game. Can you come sit with me for a game?’ And he meant that.

“We all could learn something about how giving he was of his time.”

Lasorda was supportive of Smith’s work, which included adding more memorabilia to Dodger Stadium. When she found something interesting, she’d consult him.

“’Tommy, who’s in this picture?’ she asked. “And, you’d get a 30-minute story. He just knew this stuff, and he knew what we were doing.”

In 2014, the Dodgers opened Tommy’s Trattoria featuring pizza and chicken parmigiana.

“Tommy wanted to go into the kitchen,” Smith said. “He wanted to taste the sauce. He had some ideas for the chef. Once he started hanging up  photos, he kept coming up with more and more and more favorites.”

Finally, Smith had to stop him. “’Tommy, we’re out of walls,” she said.

Many of the stories he told, players had heard before, but they were convincing.

“He told us, over and over again, how lucky we were to be Dodgers,” Anderson said. “Coming up through the organization, you heard that.  It got to the point where you actually believed that if you put on the Dodgers’ uniform, guys played better, and we all believed that we were the best. We were the best organization. We had the best owner. We had the best managers, coaches and players.”

Dempsey, who’s a great storyteller, too, knew Lasorda was king.

“He was a great talker, the best motivator I’ve ever seen in the game. Like I’ve said many times before, he could talk the devil out of hell.”

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

View Comments

  • That was an awesome piece Mr. Dubroff. Some of you best stuff over the past several years anyway. Very enjoyable read.
    I've never been a big fan, or believer in Lasorda's Hollywood schtick, but after reading what Dempsey had to say and felt about him, I may have to check that cynical monster that lies within.
    .
    RIP Tommy Lasorda.

  • What a great folk hero! I once was at Vero Beach watching Dodgers and Orioles during spring games. I went to the toilets and lo and behold who walks in but Tommy ranting about everyone bugging him for autographs (Tommy was retired but doing the ambassador thing at games). "I can't even take a leak without someone asking me for one, he yelled!" I stood there next to him as we both relieved ourselves. I said something to him but he just continued his rant. I had earlier asked him for an autograph when he was doing his ambassadorial duties and I sheepishly demurred. I will always remember taking a pee next to Tommy Lasorda. His autograph still hangs in my garage near Cal's.

  • Thanks for sharing this Rich! I loved the part of him playing bocce in SF with the natives and for his relationship with Dave Anderson. He was so real like Dicky V! Also, does this sentence above have something left out like scoreless innings? ("Hershiser threw a record 59 consecutive innings.")

  • Still no word if he sent that limousine to pick up Kurt Bevacqua, arguably the greatest quote in the history of baseball. So long to one of the characters of the game, even if the Phillie Phanatic probably won't be attending the service. Here's hoping with the rise of running teams from the front office laptop, the superstar manager a la Weaver, Lasorda and Martin don't go extinct. Baseball is far more interesting with them in it.

    • Steve, my wife and I happened to be at Veterans Stadium the day Lasorda and the Phillie Phanatic tangled, and by all accounts, it was an outlier. They had a good relationship before--and after--the incident.

    • BM I’m afraid we’ve seen the last of managers like those you mentioned. Analytics have taken all the instinct out of the game. No way in hell any old time manager would have ever even THOUGHT about taking Snell out of game 6 in last years World Series. The game is slipping away. I’m just glad I’m old enough to have seen it at its best.

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