Dodgers Honor Two Legends On Wednesday
Long time Dodgers icon, Tommy Lasorda celebrated his 83rd birthday on Wednesday.
He’s been with the Dodgers for 61 years with 20 of these as manager – from 1977-96. He is currently Special Advisor to the Chairman. In 1997, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His No. 2 was retired the same year.
His ML playing career lasted between 1954 – 1956 and he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Kansas City Athletics.
As a manager, he was World Series champion in 1981 and 1988 and NL Manager of the year in 1983 and 1988.
In ML history, only John McGraw, Walter Alston and Connie Mack have spent 20 seasons or more as managers at the same club.
Fans sang happy birthday just before they played the Padres in a night game.
“Sweet” Lou Johnson, another Dodgers legend, also celebrated his 76th birthday at the game. He had the honor of starting the game announcing, “It’s time for Dodger baseball.”
He played 387 games for the Dodgers between 1965 – 1967. In a carreer lasting between 1960 and 1969, he played for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Cleveland Indians, California Angels and, of course, the Dodgers. He also had a brief spell in the minor leagues between 1963 – 1964.
