RIP - Jo Lasorda
 

Tommy's wife Jo passed away at age 91, eight months after he passed away. They were married in 1950. That's an outstanding career.

Wow married young and stayed together so long

RIP

She can be with her Tommy again. May she rest in peace.

And with their son also.

My dad was friends with Tommy, we went to the 77 WS game 4 vs the Yankees and sat with Jo and her son...what a great experience. RIP

Tommy was a class act. My son with Tommy during the 2005 spring training in Vero Beach and got a baseball autographed by Tommy and the Dodgers along with a Dodgers Hat autographed by Eric Gagne

Lasorda
 

When I was a wee lad, running around Wrigley Field, there was a spot that a few kids knew about, where you could squeeze in under the stands, to the tunnel, leading to the field from the clubhouse. It was on the visitor’s side, and maybe about three or four kids could squeeze in there. The chicken wire had a few gaps in it, so you could slip your scorecard through there, and hope the players would sign it as they walked down the tunnel. Most of them pretty much ignored you, or didn’t have a pen, which of course, we’d forgotten also. Who brings a pen to the game? Anyway, I remember the Dodgers being in town, and going to a double header, because my dad was a Brooklyn Dodger fan, so we always tried to get to those games. I squeezed under there with my brothers, and waited for the Dodgers to come down the tunnel. Sure enough, here comes Lasorda, and he stops to talk to us. Now this is a dark tunnel, no press anywhere, and a few kids that he could easily ignore. But he doesn’t. And he has a pen. This was during Garvey’s consecutive game streak, because I remember him pulling Steve Yeager over to sign our cards. He says “Hey Steve, these kids think I should sit Garvey today, what do you think?” Yeager thinks it’s a bad idea, but La SOrda pretends like he’s thinking about. FInally he just laughs and tells us to have fun, and walks down the tunnel. But he spent probably five minutes with us, debating over Garvey in the lineup or not. That was fun then, but looking back, it just tells you the kind of guy he was. A guy who loved the game, a guy who loved the kids, and a guy who carried a pen. Lasorda will always be a favorite for me, even as a Cubs fan.

Cheers,
Geno

That’s a great story Geno. I’m glad you had that experience.

Went to spring training at Vero, circa 1990. Was sitting behind Mrs. Lasorda, although I didn't know it until he came over and talked to her right before the game. She told him "Now remember, we're supposed to meet the so-and-so's for dinner tonight" at a time that seemed sort of early to me. So along about the 6th inning, a play happens and he comes firing out of the dugout, yelling at the umps. Right away they toss him, she says goodbye to her friends, and off to dinner they go. I always thought that was cool.

Ken

PS: Same game, right in the middle of it, Eddie Murray hits a home run. He circles the bases, walks into the dugout and grabs his golf clubs, and walked straight down the right field line and out into the parking lot while the next guy was batting. Gotta love Spring Training!

What a great story, thank you for sharing.

Awesome, Geno. Love stories like that.