Tommy Lasorda, ‘lovable villain’ in Giants-Dodgers rivalry, dies at 93
The Giants-Dodgers rivalry wouldn’t be as legendary, intense or celebrated without Tommy Lasorda.
For Giants fans who date to the Candlestick Park years, Lasorda’s walks from the tunnel in the right-field corner to the visitors’ dugout off the third-base line were epic, and when he blew kisses and waved his cap, he gladly incited the crowd to boo him like no other opponent in the Giants’ West Coast history.
“He got such a kick out of it, and it was a great show,” former Giants marketing director Pat Gallagher said. “He made people boo him harder. He waited until close to game time for the full effect. He certainly wasn’t going out there early.
“I think he got a bigger response than Crazy Crab.”
Lasorda, the Hall of Fame manager who guided the Dodgers to four pennants and two World Series titles, including a stunning upset of the 1988 A’s, died Thursday night, Jan. 7, at 93. He suffered a heart attack at his Fullerton home and was pronounced dead after arriving at a nearby hospital.
Part of the Brooklyn-Los Angeles organization for seven decades, Lasorda often spoke of “bleeding Dodger blue” and going to the “big Dodger in the sky.” He left a long-lasting legacy in baseball and his fingerprints all over the game’s most notorious rivalry.
“It’s a sad day in baseball,” said former Giant John Montefusco, a colorful pitcher who made brash predictions, some correctly. “I know he hated me as a player and a former Giant. I ticked him off. He wanted to beat me as bad as I wanted to beat him. We were both showmen, but he was a better showman than I was.
“After baseball was over, we became pretty good friends.”
Lasorda’s Dodgers usually got the best of the Giants during his managing career from 1976 to 1996. The Giants reached the playoffs just twice in that span, appearing in the 1989 World Series.
A third-place finish in 1982 spurred one of the memorable moments in the rivalry’s history — at least for Giants fans.
On the season’s final day at Candlestick Park, a day after the Dodgers eliminated the Giants from contention, the Giants returned the favor on Joe Morgan’s three-run home run onto the facing of the right-field football seats, securing a 5-3 win.
That clinched the division title for the Braves and prompted many of the 47,457 delirious fans to rush the field. If their team couldn’t reach the playoffs, the best consolation was ruining the Dodgers’ season.
Lasorda was crushed, and in ensuing years he expressed shock over how Giants fans could be so overjoyed to see the Dodgers fail. But he knew the reason. He grew up in the rivalry as a pitcher, appearing in just eight games for the 1954 and 1955 Dodgers (before being replaced by Sandy Koufax) but helping to create a lifetime of memories.
“When we knocked them out in ‘82, they had to walk through our locker room to get to theirs,” recalled former pitcher Bill Laskey, who started the game opposite Fernando Valenzuela and retired 15 straight batters before exiting in the seventh inning.
“Fans came down on the field and were jumping around like we won the World Series, so the Dodgers couldn’t get to their tunnel (in right field), and they had to walk through ours. Their whole team. That was an intense game, intense weekend. We were all screaming at Tommy and them. ‘Go eat pasta for free.’ One-liner after another.”
The Braves clinched despite losing their finale at San Diego. On the season’s penultimate day, they beat the Padres, whose starting pitcher was a former Giant two years removed from wearing black and orange: Montefusco.
“A couple of starts earlier, I beat the Dodgers 3-0,” Montefusco said. “I came out and said, ‘I’d rather see the Braves win the pennant than the Dodgers.’ Well, I didn’t know my next start would be against the Braves. I got my ass kicked, and Lasorda thought I threw the game.
“He went to the commissioner’s office and everything. I never did tell him that I just got my ass kicked.”
Giants broadcaster and former pitcher Mike Krukow was traded to San Francisco after the 1982 season and was extra motivated to beat Lasorda’s Dodgers, thanks to what Krukow calls the “other end of a motivational speech.”
Early in his career with the Cubs, Krukow was finishing a workout with teammate Bill Buckner when Lasorda approached with his entourage, and Buckner, an ex-Dodger, gave him a heads-up: Lasorda was going to make a scene.
As Krukow recalls Lasorda telling the group, “Look at this guy right here, he could be one of best pitchers in the league, but he doesn’t know how to work, he doesn’t know how to take advantage of his tools. This guy could really be something.”
“He embarrassed me. I didn’t say a word. I just nodded. But that moment was something I never forgot. Every time I took the field against one of his teams, I was on a mission from God to try to shut that guy up.”
Krukow came to respect Lasorda, especially after the 1981 players strike that put a big dent in the season. Krukow now calls him “an incredible ambassador. We were getting abused, and he stood tall. I think he had a lot to do with bringing people back.”
Both Lasorda episodes inspired Krukow, as did the fact the Dodgers’ skipper constantly called him a derogatory name whenever Krukow pitched.
“When I called him on it years later as a broadcaster, I said, ‘You’re the guy calling me a (bleep),’ and he goes, ‘I thought your name was (bleep),’” Krukow said. “Hysterical stuff. He was so good for the game because he was a guy that was relentless. He just did not give into the moment. He always looked to inspire those around him.
“Nobody enhanced the rivalry more than he did. He did more to fuel the flames for Giants fans and light up a crowd at Candlestick than anybody. He would piss us off. We were highly motivated to beat him, not just the Dodgers, because you know he wore it. He tore up the clubhouse if he’d lose. It was great if you could make the guy lose.
“It saddens me to see him leave. He was a lovable villain, and I hope that’s the way Giants fans can see him. I think every Giants fan who ever went to a Giants-Dodgers game has a Tommy Lasorda story. That’s how impactful he was.”