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Tommy Lasorda dies at 93
Sadly, growing more and more frail, Tommy Lasorda looked on from a suite at Globe Life Field in Texas, watching as the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the World Series in Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Surrounded by family and friends, Lasorda celebrated the team’s first championship in 32 years that October evening amid the coronavirus pandemic. While his mobility was slowed, his mind was still sharp.
Fittingly, it was the last game he ever attended.
“He always said he wanted 2 things, to live to be 100 and to see another championship brought to the city of LA,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner tweeted. “Although he fought like hell to hit triple digits, I couldn’t be more proud to know he got to see the Dodgers on top again, where he knew we belonged”
The Hall of Fame manager who was true blue to the Dodgers for more than seven decades died Thursday night after having a heart attack at his home in Fullerton, California, the team said Friday. Lasorda was 93. He had just returned home Tuesday after being hospitalized since Nov. 8 with heart issues.
Lasorda had been the oldest living baseball Hall of Famer — that distinction now belongs to Willie Mays, who turns 90 in May.
Flags at Dodger Stadium were being lowered to half-staff and Lasorda’s No. 2 was painted in the outfield. A jersey with his number hung in the dugout and fans showed up with flowers, candles and Dodgers memorabilia at the ballpark.
Lasorda had a history of heart problems, including a heart attack in 1996 that hastened the end of his managerial career and another in 2012 that required him to have a pacemaker.
“It feels appropriate that in his final months, he saw his beloved Dodgers win the World Series for the first time since his 1988 team,” commissioner Rob Manfred said.
Lasorda spent 71 years in the Dodgers organization, starting as a player when the team was still based in Brooklyn. He later coached and then became its best-known manager for 21 years in Los Angeles, leading the franchise to two World Series championships. After stepping down in 1996, he became an ambassador for the sport he loved.
Alternately fiery, comforting, profane and full of flair, Lasorda used to say, “I bleed Dodger blue.”
Lasorda was a master motivator among his players, always knowing just the right amount of confidence or candor required to induce stellar performances.
“He believed all that stuff that he said, he really did,” said former Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax, who played on both of Lasorda’s championship teams and was a five-time All-Star. “He really believed that you were better if you wore a Dodger uniform. He was all in. And because he believed it, we did, too.”
Lasorda served as special adviser to team owner and chairman Mark Walter for the last 14 years, and maintained a frequent presence at games sitting in Walter’s box.
“In a franchise that has celebrated such great legends of the game, no one who wore the uniform embodied the Dodger spirit as much as Tommy Lasorda,” said Stan Kasten, team president and CEO.
Lasorda compiled a 1,599-1,439 record as manager from 1977-96. He won World Series titles in 1981 and ’88, four National League pennants and eight division titles as the skipper.
Lasorda kept a bronze plaque on his desk reading: “Dodger Stadium was his address, but every ballpark was his home.″
He was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1997 as a manager. He guided the U.S. to a baseball gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Lasorda was the franchise’s longest-tenured active employee since Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully retired in 2016 after 67 years.
“There are two things about Tommy I will always remember,” Scully said. “The first is his boundless enthusiasm. Tommy would get up in the morning full of beans and maintain that as long as he was with anybody else. The other was his determination. He was a fellow with limited ability and he pushed himself to be a very good Triple-A pitcher. He never quite had that something extra that makes a major leaguer, but it wasn’t because he didn’t try.”
As a pitcher, Lasorda had a limited career at the major league level, going 0-4 with a 6.48 ERA and 13
strikeouts from 1954-56.
He made only one start for the Dodgers — in 1955, the only year they won the crown while in Brooklyn, he threw three wild pitches against the Cardinals and was pulled after the first inning.
Overall, he pitched eight games for the Dodgers and compiled a 7.62 ERA.
Who would’ve ever guessed then that he would wind up meaning so much to the franchise?
Born Thomas Charles Lasorda on Sept. 22, 1927, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, his pro career began when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an undrafted free agent in 1945. He missed the 1946 and ’47 seasons while serving in the Army.
Lasorda returned in 1948 and once struck out 25 in a 15-inning game. In his next two starts, he struck out 15 and 13, gaining the attention of the Dodgers, who drafted him from the Phillies. He played in Panama and Cuba before making his major league debut on Aug. 5, 1954, for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Although he didn’t play in the 1955 World Series, he won a ring as a member of the team.
Lasorda pitched for the Dodgers for two seasons but lost his roster spot when Brooklyn had to make room for another lefty — young Sandy Koufax.
The Kansas City Athletics bought Lasorda’s contract and was traded to the Yankees in during the 1956 season. Sent down to the Triple-A Denver Bears, he was sold back to the Dodgers in 1957.
Lasorda stayed on with the Dodgers as a scout after they released him in 1960. That was the beginning of a steady climb through the Dodgers’ system that culminated in his 1973 promotion to the big league staff under longtime Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston.
Lasorda spent four seasons as third base coach while considered to be the heir apparent to Alston, who retired in September 1976. Lasorda’s 21 years as manager was second-only to Alston.
Lasorda’s gregarious personality was in stark contrast to his restrained predecessor. He was known for his enthusiasm and outspoken opinions about players. He would jump around and pump his arms in the air after Dodgers victories and embrace players in the dugout after home runs or other good plays.
In L.A., Lasorda found many of the players he had managed in the minors, including Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Bobby Valentine and Bill Buckner.
As beloved as Lasorda was publicly, behind the scenes he was known for cussing a blue streak with reporters, rendering many of his quotes unusable.
Some of his most memorable rants live on via the internet, notably one from July 1982 involving Kurt Bevacqua of the San Diego Padres, who called Lasorda “that fat little Italian″ after Dodgers pitcher Tom Niedenfuer was fined $500 for beaning Joe Lefebvre, Bevacqua’s teammate.
Lasorda denied ordering Niedenfuer to hit Lefebvre while unleashing a series of F-bombs.
“If I ever did,″ Lasorda said, his voice rising, “I certainly wouldn’t make him throw at a (expletive) .130 hitter like Lefebvre or (expletive) Bevacqua who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a (expletive) boat.″
In 1978, Dave Kingman of the Chicago Cubs hit three homers and drove in eight runs in a 10-7, extra-inning victory over the Dodgers and a reporter asked Lasorda what he thought of Kingman’s performance.
“I think it was (expletive) (expletive). Put that in,″ Lasorda said. “He beat us with three (expletive) home runs. How could you ask me a question like that?”
Or just read his lips in a clip where has Youppi!, the furry mascot of the old Montreal Expos, tossed from pranking around atop the Dodgers dugout at Olympic Stadium.
Lasorda was known for his friendship with Frank Sinatra and other Hollywood stars. Sinatra sang the national anthem on opening day of the 1977 season to mark Lasorda’s debut as manager. The faux-wood paneled walls of Lasorda’s office were crowded with black-and-white autographed photos of his celebrity friends, the framed glass stained by red sauce from the pasta served in large foil trays after games.
Lasorda’s appetite for winning and eating was equally voracious. His weight ballooned throughout his years as manager, and he explained, “When we won games, I’d eat to celebrate. And when we lost games, I’d eat to forget.″
Lasorda managed nine National League Rookie of the Year winners, including Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Sax, Steve Howe, Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Hideo Nomo.
“You have to know who to pat on the back, when to pat him on the back, when you have to kick them in the butt and when you have to stroke them a little bit,” said Mike Scioscia, former Dodgers catcher and major league manager. “And Tommy had that gift, to know what players needed what.”
Lasorda managed in four All-Star games. He was serving as third base coach in the 2001 game when he tumbled backward while trying to avoid the shattered barrel of Vladimir Guerrero’s bat in a comical scene.
In 1998, Lasorda became interim general manager after Fred Claire was fired in the middle of the season. He resigned from that job after the season and was appointed senior vice president. After the team was sold in 2004 to Frank McCourt, Lasorda became special adviser to the chairman.
He is survived by Jo, his wife of 70 years. The couple lived in the same modest home in Fullerton for 68 years. They have a daughter Laura and a granddaughter Emily. The couple’s son, Tom Jr., died in 1991 of AIDS-related complications.
TINUBU IS THE WISEST MAN EARTH -PROPHET IKURU.
by Collins Nkwocha
Nigerian prophet, prophet Godwin Ikuru of Jehovah Eye Salvation Ministry, Lagos magnetized everyone’s attention when he referred to the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the wisest man on earth regarding the appointment of Daniel Bwala as special Adviser on policy communications.
Speaking to reporters today in Lagos,
Prophet Ikuru applauded the president for choosing him and enunciated that he’s capable of delivering effectively and marketing the Renewed Hope Agenda of the president and urged Nigerians to stop the criticism because of what he said in the past “I’m personally happy with his appointment and I urge Nigerians to forget about the past, forget about what he must have said about the president some years ago which people are now disseminating on the social and taunting him a betrayal that lacks integrity, Nigerians should forget his past because he’s the best choice”.
Prophet Ikuru insisted that Bwala saw the sincerity and genuity of the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda and he decided to partake in it “even if he criticized the president, it was in the past, he saw the sincerity in the Renewed Hope Agenda and decided to join in nation building ,the president is ready to unite everyone in order to build Nigeria,that’s why someone like Wike is in his government,Bwala has what it’s required to be successful under Mr.president, as a wise man, the president saw it and decided to harness it ”
Finally, he praised Tinubu and referred to him as a great leader who is ready to involve everyone in his government, he maintained that his wisdom is magnanimous ,Baba is truly the wisest man on earth.
U.S. Courtroom Shock: Funke Ashekun, Husband Collapse as MFM Wins
Had FFK Faced Mehdi Hassan, Nigeria Would Have Spoken With Fire
By Mohammed Bello Doka
In politics, timing is everything. In diplomacy, character is everything. And in moments of national importance, leadership must be entrusted to individuals who possess not only experience but courage, intellect and an unshakable commitment to the nation they represent.
It is for this reason that the appointment of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode as Nigeria’s Ambassador to a foreign nation stands out as one of the most consequential diplomatic decisions in recent years.
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, better known in the South as “FFK” and in the North as “Sadauki”, is one of the most brilliant, experienced, accomplished, vocal, respected, educated, profound, intellectual, patriotic, disciplined, well-read, historically literate, versatile, forceful, persuasive, sophisticated, cosmopolitan, charming, eloquent, courageous and resilient men in Nigerian politics and he has paid his dues and proved his worth over the last 35 years in politics and political discourse.
In each role he has played he has excelled and succeeded even when he was in opposition.
His friends value him as a great and loyal defender and his traducers and political adversaries fear and respect him because when he goes to war he is utterly relentless, takes no prisoners and literally spits fire.
How I wish it was him that was interviewed by Mehdi Hassan of Al Jazeera and not the young and inexperienced Daniel Bwala because he would have not only humbled Hassan but also done Nigeria proud.
He played Bwala’s present role in the Presidential Villa 23 years ago as President Olusegun Obasanjo’s spokesman and not only brought the then President’s domestic enemies to their knees but also had a series of very hot exchanges with foreign Government officials like America’s Under-Secreatary of State for Africa Jendaye Fraser and the White House over the Charles Taylor issue and Liberia.
Tinubu decision to appoint him as an Ambassador for our nation was a wise one because he will fight for and protect the interests of Nigeria and the Nigerian community whetever he goes and will never sell his soul or bow to foreign imperialist interests.
His appointment is not about just rewarding loyalty for the key role he played in Tinubu’s presidentiel campaign organisation as Director of New Media and Special Operations in 2023 and the staunch support he has given the President over the last three years but also about putting a square peg in a square hole.
If you want to put Nigeria first Sadauki is the one to do it.
If he runs the Nigerian Mission in the country that he is sent to in the same way he ran the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Aviation when he was Minister to each of them one after the other twenty years ago he will do very well and both our nation and whichever nation he is posted to itself will benefit from his efforts.
History teaches that diplomacy is most effective when nations deploy individuals who possess both intellect and courage.
As the American statesman Henry Kissinger once noted, “Diplomacy is the art of restraining power.”
To do so successfully requires deep historical awareness and strategic clarity—qualities that have long defined Fani-Kayode’s political career.
Sending a politically seasoned voice like FFK to any nation that is a key partner to Nigeria signals that Bola Ahmed Tinubu intends to strengthen Nigeria’s diplomatic posture with confidence.
Throughout more than three decades in the political arena, Fani-Kayode has remained one of the most resilient and outspoken figures in Nigerian public life despite numerous challenges which would have broken and destroyed lesser men.
Regardless of all that was thrown at him he continues to pull through and come out victorious which is why many refer to him as the “Akanda Eledumare” and the “Ayanfe Oluwa” which mean “the strange one of God” and “the beloved of the Lord”.
There appears to be a divine dimension to his life that makes him unstoppable and irrepressible even though his enemies are legion.
One wonders what sets him apart and makes him so different.
There is no doubt that his education played a part in it and this set him apart from most.
He never went to school in Nigeria but was educated from the age of eight in England starting off at Holmewood House School in Kent, one of the UK’s best and most famous Preparatory schools, after which he attended the famous Harrow School just outside London which is, together with Eton College, an institution that is the exclusive preserve of high society in the UK, one of the two best private schools in that country where only the ruling elite, the rich, the well-to-do, the famous and only a tiny proportion of those in British high society can afford or even qualify to attend.
No less than eight British Prime Ministers, including the great Sir Winston Churchill, and countless British cabinet ministers attended Harrow and so did many leaders, diplomats and top politicians from many foreign countries.
After finishing at Harrow he attended some of the top universities in the world, including London University (SOAS) and Cambridge University (Pembroke College) where he did so well.
As a matter of fact his great grandfather, Rev. Emmanuel Adelabi Kayode, attended Furrough Bay College which at that time was part of Durham University and graduated with an MA (Hons.) in Theology in 1893. His grandfather Justice Adedapo Kayode attended Cambridge University (Selwyn College) where he studied law and graduated in 1922. His father Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode attended Cambridge University (Downing College) where he studied law and graduated in 1943. Sadauki himself graduated in law at Cambridge University (Pembroke College) in 1984 whilst his daughter Folake Fani-Kayode graduated from Durham University in 2009.
No African family has an uninterrupted streak of 116 years of Oxbridge-level university graduates except for the Fani-Kayode’s which is something that both his family and every patriotic Nigerian should be proud of.
It therefore makes perfect sense that a man from such a distinguished pedigree and intimidating lineage and that has such an extraordinary intellectual heritage should represent Nigeria on the international stage.
There is also his role in the debate on Gaza which made him a hero in the eyes of millions of people in the Global South both amongst Christians and Muslims.
He spoke out consistently about what he described as the genocide being committed against the Palestinians and he was prepared to put his life and career on the line for this cause even though most Nigerian leaders and politicians refused to say what he was saying publicly out of fear of the Zionist lobby and the Jewish state.
His sense of patriotism is unquestionable and nothing reflects this better than his series of essays written against Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the British Opposition Conservative Party and his write up against one Ben Llewelyn-Jones, who at that time was the Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, when the former consistently sought to insult and denigrate Nigeria and the Nigerian people and the latter attempted to interfere in our internal affairs by making statements in support of Peter Obi and his Obidients in the 2023 presidential elections.
Sadauki successfully put them both in their place and when American Senator Ted Cruz, President Donald Trump, Congressman Tim Riley and other American politicians began to peddle the false narrative and fake gospel of Christian genocide and persecution in Nigeria Sadauki, a devout Christian himself, rose to the challenge and more than any other Nigerian wrote about the issue in a series of essays pointing out the fact that as many Muslims were being killed as Christians by the terrorists in our country and that Christians were not being persecuted by our Government and are in fact faring better when it comes to positions in the security apparatus and governance under Tinubu than they did in the previous administration.
He also spoke out boldly against President Trump and his administration when they accused the Government of South Africa of indulging in genocide against the white minority population in their country and pointed out the fact that South Africa, like Brazil, was a shining example of a successful multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation that was treating its white minority population with the greatest respect. Few Africans said a word to defend South Africa at the time even though they knew that Trump was wrong but Sadauki did so without thinking twice.
He is clearly a strong Pan-Africanist and a believer in the importance of the African Union, African solidarity, the BRICS coalition and the Global South alliance comprising of China, Russia, South Africa, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other emerging world powers.
This is commendable and it reflects his courage and disdain for those that display ignorance, disdain and contempt for our nation and people and that seek to denigrate and misrepresent us.
Sadauki is not the type that bows and quivers before Westerners like so many other Nigerian leaders and politicians but rather takes pride in his Nigerian culture, race, heritage and identity and is prepared to defend us and speak for us no matter whose ox is gored and who is involved.
In an increasingly competitive global environment, Nigeria requires diplomats capable not only of negotiation but also of defending national interests with conviction.
If the energy, eloquence and intellectual fire that have defined Fani-Kayode’s political life accompany him to the country to which he has been posted, his tenure may well become one of the most consequential chapters in Nigeria’s modern diplomatic engagements.
I wish him well and I thank God that he is back in the saddle of public office after so many years.
What more could any of us ask of this great and noble son of Nigeria?
This is undoubtedly the quality of personnel and leaders that we need on the international stage.
I hope and pray that in his endeavours and during the course of his work he meets with Mehdi Hassan in a debate and prove to him and the rest of the world that Nigeria still has men that can not only match them but that can also remove their trousers in any verbal encounter. Bwala put us to shame but FFK can redeem us before the eyes of the world.
(Mohammed Bello Doka, the author of this essay, is the publisher of Abuja Network News and can be reached via [email protected])
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