Tommy Lasorda has died.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

93 years old. Growing up in the 80s as a Reds fan and Dodgers hater, there aren't more memorable faces from baseball in my childhood that Tommy.

Rest in peace.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Lasorda spent 48 years of his 50 years in baseball with the Dodgers organization. He started out playing for Phillies-affiliated farm teams before being drafted into the minors by the Dodgers in 1949. Pitched around their minor league clubs until being called up to Brooklyn late in the 1954 season. Brooklyn sold him to Kansas City after the 1955 season, and in mid-1956 he was traded to the Yankees and spent the remainder of the year with a Yankees minor league club before returning to finish the final 3-1/2 years of his playing career with a Dodgers minor league team in Montreal.

The Dodgers hired him as a coach in their minor league organization in 1960. He moved up to the Major League club in 1973, and took over as manager late in the 1976 season. Retired from baseball after managing his final year with the Dodgers in 1996. The Dodgers retired his #2 uniform in 1997, and the HOF Veterans Committee had him inducted into The Hall in 1997, his first year eligible on the ballot.

He coached the Dodgers to World Series wins in 1981 and 1988, and was two-time National League manager of the year in 1983 and 1988. Lasorda was also the manager of the USA Olympic baseball team that brought home the gold medal from the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.

[MJAlltheWay24]

RIP Tommy!