As a Free Bonus for subscribing, you’ll get instant access to my two Special Reports: Memorable World Series Moments and Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide!

Tommy Lasorda Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:

Tommy Lasorda’s “Wild” First Major League Inning (And I Do Mean Wild!)

“I bleed Dodger Blue…and when I die I’m going to the Big Dodger in the sky!” –Tommy Lasorda

“Managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it; not hard enough and it flies away.” -Tommy Lasorda

Not many fans realize that Tommy Lasorda was a great minor league pitcher, but on the major league level…well, not so hot. I guess we could say the first inning of Tommy’s very first game was an omen of things to come. Unfortunately, it proved to be a bad omen…

Rookie Tommy Lasorda took the mound at Ebbets Field almost sixty-seven years ago, May 5, 1955, for his first major league start. Maybe we can just write it off as “first innings jitters,” or something like that. For whatever reason, Tommy proceeded to tie a record, but I’m sure it’s not one he was proud of: Tommy threw not one…not two…but three (!) wild pitches in his very first inning!

And then just to add insult to injury (or perhaps better, “injury to insult”), Tommy got spiked by the Cardinals’ Wally Moon covering the plate after uncorking one of his three wild pitches! He was in the showers after one inning. All in all, a rather inauspicious start for the future Hall-of-Fame manager.

However, there were some bright spots: Tommy recorded two strikeouts in the inning, including whiffing the great Stan Musial as his first major league K. And even though Tommy was long-gone from the game, the Dodgers prevailed 4-3. “The Bums” went on to win the pennant and World Series in 1955. Tommy got a ring even though he didn’t play in the series.

Tommy’s Major League Career

Tommy spent parts of 14 seasons in the minors and posted a 136-104 record (.567) over 406 games, and 2166.2 innings, with100 complete games. In the majors, he played three years (1954-’56) with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1954-’55), and the Kansas City Athletics (1956). Tommy went 0-4 with a 6.48 ERA over 58.3 innings in 26 games.

Of course, it’s as a highly successful manager where Tommy earned his Hall-of-Fame credentials. Tommy was at the Dodger helm for 20 seasons, with 3,041 games under his ample belt. He compiled a 1599-1439 record (.526). His 1599 wins rank 20th all-time. Tommy’s Dodger teams won four pennants, eight divisional titles, and two World Series championships (1981 and ’88).

He was a two-time Manager of the Year (1983 and ’88), and his #2 has been retired by the Dodgers. In 2009, he marked his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuous (he played one season with the Kansas City Athletics) tenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully by a single season. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 1997.

Tommy Lasorda, one of the most beloved figures in the game and a wonderful baseball ambassador, sadly passed away on January 7, 2021. His wife of 71 years, Jo, passed away eight months later on September 21. Here’s a link to a tribute to Tommy I wrote at the time of his passing.

Gary Livacari 

Subscribe to our website, “Baseball History Comes Alive!” with over 1200 fully categorized baseball essays and photo galleries, now surpassing the 700K hits mark at 758K hits: www.baseballhistorycomesalive.com

Information: Excerpts edited from Tommy Lasorda Wikipedia page

Take a guess at this week’s Mystery Player