On September 29th, 1976, Walter Alston, who had been the Dodgers manager since 1954, stepped down and retired. He was replaced by third base coach, Thomas Charles Lasorda. Tommy had been a part of the Dodger organization on and off since 1949 when the Dodgers drafted him from his original, and favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies.
He had quite a career at AAA, but never reached those heights in the majors. He was on the Dodger roster in 1955 when he got spiked by Wally Moon. He made only 3 appearances after that and on June 8th, he was optioned back to Montreal. He was replaced on the roster by a kid named Koufax. Lasorda would later joke that it took a Hall of Famer to replace him.
He was sold to the Athletics before the 1956 season. They traded him to the Yankees, and he pitched at their AAA team. In 1957, he was traded back to the Dodgers. But his tenure with the Denver team had a profound effect on him as he learned a lot from Bears manager, Ralph Houk.
He said that Houk taught him if you treat players like human beings, they will play like supermen. He also taught him that a pat on the back was as effective as a kick in the butt. Lasorda pitched at AAA for the Dodgers the next couple of years but was released in 1960. When he retired, he was Montreal’s winningest pitcher with a career 107-57 mark.
In 1960, he was hired by Al Campanis as a scout. Over the next 13 years, he scouted, coached and managed for the Dodgers in their minor league system. Promoted to the Dodgers third base coaching job in 1973, he was now on the big stage, and the big stage is something that never bothered Tommy.
Many of the players he had on his 1977 team had played for him in the minors. Including his entire infield. There had been a video and a short program shown on TV from when Tommy had managed these guys in the minors. He would have them get down and bow to the great Dodger in the sky as Tommy called him and chant, ” I love the Dodgers!” Tommy would reply, “and the Dodgers love you!”
His starting lineup was pretty set. All of the players were between the ages of 28-32. Yeager C, Garvey 1B, Lopes 2B, Russell SS, Cey 3B, Baker LF, Monday CF, Smith RF. Smith and Lopes were 32, Monday 31. All the players, except for the 3 outfielders, were home grown. Monday was the newest having been acquired over the winter for fan favorite and future batting champ, Bill Buckner.
The bench was a mix of some veterans, and kids. Glenn Burke, John Hale, and Joe Simpson got the most playing time of the kids. Johnny Oates, Manny Mota, called out of the coaching ranks late in the season, Vic Davalillo, Lee Lacy, Ted Martinez and Ed Goodson were some of the vets.
The pitching staff had four veteran starters, Sutton, Rau, John, Hooton, and a kid, Rick Rhoden, as starters. The bullpen was full of vets and one kid, Lance Rautzhan. Charlie Hough was the closer along with Mike Garman. Other arms down in the pen included, Elias Sosa, Stan Wall, Dennis Lewallyn and Bobby Castillo.
The team was 5-2 after 7 games and tied for first. The next day, April 16th, they beat the Giants 5-0 behind Burt Hooton and took over sole possession of first place. They would stay there the rest of the year. That win was #4 in a 7-game winning streak.
They went 17-3 in April, one of the best starts in team history. May 16-12, June 17-11, July 16-12, August 14-15, their only losing month, September 17-10 and 1-1 in October. Their largest lead was 14 games on August 2nd, and they finished 10 games in front of the Reds. Their only losing record against any team was 8-10 against the Reds.
Lasorda celebrating the Fruits of Victory.
In 1977, for the first time in baseball history, four players on the same team hit at least 30 home runs in the same year. Garvey, 33, Smith, 32, Baker, 30, Cey, 30. Baker hit # 30 on the last day of the season off of James Rodney Richard. That day also saw Manny Mota, and Glenn Burke hit their only home runs of the season. Reggie Smith led the regulars with a .307 average. Yeager, Lopes and Monday also hit homers in double figures. No one else had more than Lee Lacy’s 6. Garvey and Cey drove in 115 and 110 runs respectively.
Their pitching staff, led by 20 game winner, Tommy John, all won in double figures. Hooton, 12, Sutton, 14, Rau, 14 and Rhoden, 16. Hough had 22 saves and Mike Garman had 12. With the Division title under his belt in his first season, Tommy got the team ready for their Championship series against the Phillies.
The Phillies had won 101 games under manager, Danny Ozark. Ozark had been a coach under Alston from 1965 to 1972 when he was hired as the manager of the Phillies. The Phillies had won 101 games in 1976 too, but they got bounced by the Big Red Machine.
Ozark’s team was led by two future Hall of Famers, Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton. They also had another power hitting slugger in outfielder, Greg Luzinski, who hit 39 homers to Schmidt’s 38 and hit over .300. Every member of their starting lineup hit .280 or better. Plus, they had outfielder Bake McBride who hit .339 as a reserve. Tim McCarver, Tommy Hutton and Davey Johnson all hit over .300 in reserve roles. The Phillies hit .279 as a team and scored 847 runs. The Dodgers by comparison hit .266 as a team and scored 769 runs.
Carlton had 23 wins. Christenson won 19, Lonborg 11, Lerch 10, and Jim Kaat won 6. Gene Garber won 8 and saved 19, and Ron Reed won 7 and saved 15. Their team ERA was 3.71. The Dodgers team ERA was 3.22. The five game Championship series opened in Los Angeles on October 4th.
Ace vs Ace, John against Carlton. The Phils drew first blood when Luzinski took John deep for a two-run shot in the first. John would last 4.2 innings and give up 4 runs. Carlton hung around for 6.2 innings giving up 5 runs, the big blow, a grand slam by Cey in the 7th. The Phils scored 2 in the 5th and one in the sixth for 5 runs. Cey’s blast tied the game and it was in the hands of the bullpens. Elias Sosa came in in the 8th and pitched a scoreless frame. Garber meanwhile got the last out in the 7th and pitched a scoreless 8th.
The Phils scored two in the top of the 9th off of Sosa, Davey Johnson hit a two-run single. Tug McGraw pitched a scoreless ninth for the 7-5 Phillies win. Don Sutton would start game two in LA against Jim Lonborg, the former Red Sox star.
Both teams scored a run in the third, McBride homered off of Sutton. Yeager drove in the Dodgers run in the bottom of the third. After shutting the Phils down in the top of the fourth, Lopes led off in the bottom half and made an out. Russell and Smith singled, and Garvey walked. Up came Dusty Baker. Baker hit a Lonborg pitch into the left field pavilion for the Dodgers second slam of the series. The Phillies never really threatened again, and Sutton threw a complete game 7-1 win.
The series shifted to Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Vet was one of those cookie cutter stadiums they built in the 70’s as multi-purpose stadiums. Three Rivers in Pittsburgh and Riverfront in Cincinnati were the same type of fields. Artificial turf and it played very fast.
Game three featured Hooton against Christenson. The Dodgers got two off of Christenson in the second, and the Phillies responded with 3 off of Happy Hooton, and he was gone after 1.2 innings. Rhoden came in and quieted the Phillies’ bats through 4.1 innings. Meanwhile the Dodgers tied the game in the fourth and it remained that way until the bottom of the 8th inning.
Sosa came in and allowed 2 hits, and 2 runs, one was unearned because of an error by Reggie Smith. It was the Dodgers fifth error in three games. Garber came in to try and close the game out in the 9th. Garber retired the first two hitters and had pinch hitter Vic Davalillo in an 0-1 hole. But Davalillo, noticing how deep Sizemore was playing at second, dropped a drag bunt for a single. Lasorda then had the 39 year old Manny Mota hit for the pitcher, Rautzhan. Mota hit an 0-2 pitch deep to left field and Luzinski had it go off of his glove, he tried to nail Mota at second but the throw went wild and Davalillo scored with Mota going to second.
Ozark would later come under fire for not having replaced Luzinski with the speedy Jerry Martin, who probably would have caught Mota’s drive. Lopes hit a shot that caromed off of Schmidt’s knee. Bowa recovered the ball and fired to first, but Lopes was ruled safe, and Mota scored tying the game. Garber tried to pick Lopes off but threw wildly to first and Lopes moved to second. Russell then singled to center scoring Lopes. Garman threw a spotless 9th, and the Dodgers had a 6-5 win.
The Phillies were stunned, but they had their Ace set to pitch in game four, so they were not worried yet. But game four was anything but routine. The game was delayed two hours by rain. Even after it started, it was played in a drizzle or at times, a steady rain. Baker provided all the runs John would need with a 2 run homer off of Carlton in the second. John gave up one run on a Hebner double in the fourth. Baker scored on a Carlton wild pitch and Yeager scored on a Russell suicide squeeze in the 5th. The umps were seen consulting with NL president, Chub Feeney, but the game went on under nearly unplayable conditions. John allowed 7 hits, struck out 8 and walked two in his complete game win. Lasorda had won his first ever NL pennant.
His opponent? The Dodgers longtime nemesis, the New York Yankees. The Yankees were managed by Billy Martin. How he managed to make it through the season without being fired by George Steinbrenner is anyone’s guess. His Yankees won 100 games and then beat the Royals in a 5 game ALCS.
The team was led by its Captain, and heart of the team, Thurman Munson. Munson hit .308 and drove in 100 runs. Only outfielder Mickey Rivers had a higher average among the starters, .326. Jackson and Nettles drove in 110 and 107 respectively. The team was loaded with talented players. Lou Pinella hit .330 in a reserve role.
The pitching staff was led by Ron Guidry and Ed Figuroa, both had 16 wins. Mike Torrez, former Red Sox star and Don Gullett, the former Red 14 apiece. Catfish Hunter won 9 and lost 9 in 22 starts. The bullpen was anchored by Sparky Lyle and Dick Tidrow who had 26 and 5 saves.
Game one was played in Yankee Stadium. It featured Sutton against Gullett. The Dodger scored 2 in the top of the first and the Yankees responded with 1 in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the sixth inning, Garvey tried to score on a hit by Glenn Burke, the replay showed he beat River’s throw, but he was called out. Randolph homered off of Sutton in the bottom of the inning to tie the score.
The Yankees went ahead in the 8th on a Munson single, and the Dodgers tied it in the 9th when Yeager walked and Lacy drove Dusty Baker home. The game remained tied until the 12th inning. Randolph doubled to lead off the inning. They walked Munson. After two failed bunt attempts, Paul Blair singled in Randoph for the win. Lyle got the win, and Rhoden took the loss.
Game two featured Burt Hooton against a sore armed Catfish Hunter. The Yankees were never really in the game as the Dodgers would hit four homers in the game. Cey hit a two-run shot in the 1st. Yeager a solo shot in the second, and Smith another 2-run blast in the third. Hooton cruised to a 5 hit 1 run complete game. Garvey ended the scoring with a solo homer off of Lyle in the 9th. The teams moved to LA tied at one game apiece.
Game three at Dodger Stadium featured Tommy John and Mike Torrez. The Yankees scored 3 in the top of the first off of John, the 3rd coming when Dusty Baker over ran a hit to left. He atoned for the error with a three-run shot off of Torrez in the third. But the Dodgers never threatened after that and Torrez threw a complete game 7 hitter for the win. The Yankees scored single runs off of John in the 4th and 5th innings and he was gone after six. Charlie Hough finished the game with three scoreless innings.
Game four was a duel between Ron Guidry and Doug Rau. Rau was pretty rusty having not pitched since game one of the NLCS. After a clean first, Rau ran into trouble in the second. Jackson doubled, was singled home by Pinella, and Chambliss doubled sending Pinella to third. Now came one of Tommy’s all time classic tirades. He came out to get Rau and bring in Rhoden.
They got into a heated argument that kept going in the dugout, in no uncertain terms, Tommy let Rau have it in a profanity laced tirade that was caught on video and audio. The Yankees scored 2 more runs in the inning on a groundout by Nettles and a single by Dent. The Dodgers got 2 back in the third when Rhoden doubled, and Lopes homered. But they got nothing else off of Guidry. They almost tied it in the fourth when Cey hit a deep drive to left that Pinella leaped and caught. Jackson ended the scoring with an opposite field homer in the sixth. The Dodgers were a game away from elimination.
Don Sutton started game five against Don Gullett. A packed Dodger Stadium crowd had a lot to cheer about as the Dodgers pounded Yankee pitching for 10 runs. They had 13 hits, with two homers, Smith and Yeager. Yeager’s was a three-run shot in the 4th and Smith’s a two-run shot in the 6th. 5 Dodgers had multi-hit games with Baker’s 3 being the most. Russell, Baker and Lacy drove in the other runs. Yeager drove in his 4th run with a sac fly. Sutton pitched a complete game marred only by homers off of the bats of Munson and Jackson, as they cruised to a 10-4 win. Now it was back to New York to try and even the series in game six.
Game six is perhaps one of the most famous Series games ever. The reason? Reggie Jackson. Jackson had already hit two homers in the series up until this game. The Dodgers struck first with a 2 run triple by Garvey in the first inning. In the bottom of the second, Chambliss tied it with a 2-run shot off of Hooton. Reggie Smith hit his 3rd homer of the Series in the 3rd putting the Dodgers up, 3-2.
After that, it became the Reggie Jackson show. On the first pitch Hooton threw him in the fourth, he hit a two-run homer. Hooton was replaced by Sosa. The Yanks scored another run making it 5-3. With two outs and Randolph on base in the bottom of the fifth, Jackson hit the first pitch from Sosa into the RF stands giving the Yanks a 7-3 lead.
Leading off the bottom of the 8th, with chants of Reg-gie, Reg-gie ringing through the stands, Jackson connected with a first pitch knuckleball from Charlie Hough the went 475 feet to center field towards the batter’s eye. It was his fifth homer of the series. The first time it happened in baseball history. Chase Utley, for the Phillies and George Springer, against LA in the 17 series, have since matched it. All of his homers were hit on the first pitch.
The Dodgers pushed across a run in the 9th, but Torrez got his second complete game win of the series. And the Yankees were the Champions. They would meet again in 78, with the same result. But Tommy accomplished something few have done winning pennants in his first two years as manager.
There would be two more pennant winning seasons, 81 and 88. And the results of those would be much better for Lasorda and all Dodger fans. But it was 1977 that started his journey to what would become a Hall of Fame managerial career for one of the most colorful baseball characters ever. Tommy Lasorda was one of a kind.
As we all know, Tommy had a heart attack and was forced to resign as Dodger manager in 1996 and replaced by Bill Russell. Tommy continued to work for the Dodgers as a special assistant to the president, GM and all-around good will ambassador up until he passed away in 2021. Tommy could be seen almost every home game in his seat in the lower level at Dodger Stadium.
Lasorda was if nothing else, his own man. He was gregarious and outgoing and never afraid to jump into the fray and protect his players. Lasorda would be livid with the way umpires insert themselves into game situations, and the quick hooks they seem to have acquired over the last few years. And he definitely would have argued some calls.
The year VIN died.
The LAT’s Houston Mitchell placed Lasorda at No. 8 on his list of the 50 Greatest Dodgers.
For 1-2-3-, Mitchell placed Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Vin and Kershaw.
The rankings are highly subjective, obviously, but I would quibble with just a few of Mitchell’s decisions.
He had Lasorda as his top-rated manager, sandwiched between Campanella at 7 and PeeWee at 9.
That seems about right to me.
For executives, he had Branch Rickey at 16 (too low), Walter O’Malley at 17, Peter O’Malley at 44, and –drum roll, please–AF at 47.
Sure hope AF can do something to move up the board.
Those results were determined by about 15000 of his newsletter reading Dodger fans voting on it and not by Mitchell himself let’s not forget. I really like Mitchell’s insight sometimes. It’s a good newsletter to get if don’t already.
Problem with that is they are not polling the people who saw the team in Brooklyn. I never saw the list, but I would guess some of the Brooklyn guys are a lot lower than they should be.
Any list of ‘all time greatest’ in any sport is always going to be skewed toward modern players. I wonder where Duke Snider came in.
Same here. I would split them into Brooklyn and LA teams. Makes more sense, they spent about the same time in both cities.
Thank you, Bear Lasorda was, something special. I miss those days. I can’t help but when I think of him always go back to him and the Philly mascot. How classic was that and gotta be one of the most fun moments in the history of baseball.
I have watched that video on YouTube several times, maybe Mark can find it and post it on here. Another classic Lasorda moment caught on video was the Rau confrontation in the 77 series. I have never heard the word eff said so many times in such a short period of time.
Met Tommy at Dodger Stadium on my birthday trip to Los Angeles. I told him that the job he did in 88 was incredible! he was in his wheelchair with Ron Cey pushing him. He looked up at me and I quote “that’s what they f-ing tell me ”and was all he said.
Shook his hand the night I sang the Anthem. Being in the dugout with the guys on that 81 team was just awesome.
Great piece Michael
Great memories
Thanks Watford. How’s the weather in the motherland???
One of the pitching targets many of the Dodger fans thought they should try to trade for is out for the 2024 season. Brandon Woodruf had surgery and is done for next year. Michael Fulmer is also out for 24 as he had surgery Wednesday on his elbow. MLBTR posted it’s offseason outlook for the Dodgers. Good reading.
Thank you for that Bear. Brings back a lot of vivid memories.
And correct me if I’m wrong, Tommy, won The 81 series without a single Hall of Famer on the team. In 88 Sutton was on the team but he was 43 years old and was released in August with a record of 3 -6.
Tommy won with a bunch of solid guys who played as a team.
Alston had a bunch of Hall of Famer‘s on his teams. and as far as Doc Is concerned he’s had at least 3 Kershaw, Betts, and Freeman
You are right, none of those guys are in the hall and none has come close to election. Garvey might get in someday if the golden age committee thinks he is worthy. He is running for Feinstein’s senate seat. Ken Landreaux was on that team. One of my favorite backups was there too, Jay Johnstone. Johnstone had a uniform made up with Tommy’s #2 and instead of Lasorda, it read Lasagna. He would put a pillow under the shirt and parade in front of the dugout like he was Tommy. He pulled a lot of pranks on Lasorda. They used a rope at Vero and made it so he could not open his door. And he famously pulled down his pants and sat in Lasorda’s birthday cake. I remember a statement by Fred Claire who said the craziest thing he ever saw was Johnstone, in full uni with his spikes on, in line at the concession stand during a game buying hot dogs! Alston had several HOF players. Reese, Robinson, Campy, Duke, Koufax, Big D and Hodges.
Great on Tommy, Bear.
Tommy lived in my condo community, in the building next to me in Glendale, during spring training until he passed. His presence at spring games was a highlight for the fans. He sat by the dugout and a long line always formed for Autographs. He was better isolated sitting in the dugout but he appeared to enjoy interacting with the fans.
Maury Wills live in my unit. Mitch Poole lived across from me in 2022 and I enjoyed our chats about Jason Repko.
I always wanted to tap on Tommy’s door, or catch his driver, to see if he wanted to reminisce about the 1970 Spokane Indians, the best minor league team I ever saw. They were loaded. But I wasn’t sure I should bother him so I never had the courage to tap on the door.
Tommy was a teammate with an old friend of mine in 1958-60, in Montreal, Billy Harris. In his last couple of years Billy coached and played for our local A team. Billy still mopped up on the bump and could pinch hit. I watched him as a kid and later became a good friend. Billy owned a bar later and he quietly hosted some visitors like Koufax and others, and maybe Tommy. Billy had 15 minor league seasons and some great stories.
I actually remember Bill Harris. I also have his 1960 rookie card. I saw the 73 El Paso Sun Dodgers play. Their best player was Lee Lacy. Best time of my life was when I was living in that home for kids in Highland Park. The Sherry Brothers lived on our block in brand new homes. Larry would drive his Corvette he won as the MVP of the 59 series and sometimes give kids a ride in it. Cool stuff. Shagging balls for those guys before they left for Vero, priceless.
One of my favorite all-time Tommy moments was the well viewed confrontation with the Phillie Fanatic and the 3 wheeler. The Fanatic shaking that big gut he had mocking Tommy was priceless. I’m not sure Tommy wasn’t really pissed about the dummy.
An absolute classic and one of the reasons the Phanatic is the best mascot in all of sports.
The Phanatic and the Famous Chicken, none other comes close. As a matter of fact, most of them are really annoying.
I loved it when he got the Expos mascot, Yupi, ejected from the game. Awesome.
I have a suggestion (in jest). Doc platoons players due to their ability or inability to hit certain pitching. He seems to manage quite well in the regular season, but not in the post season. Perhaps AF needs to platoon his manager and let someone like Chase Utley manage in the post season. This may have been suggested before, if so, I apologize for the appearance of plagiarism.
haha, brilliant!
I actually love that idea, a pinch-hitting manager. Lets get someone who has won multiple championships. Wait, none of those guys are in the Dodger organization. Not sure Ol Chase wants to leave Jolly Old England yet.
This is good
I have no idea if this rookie pitcher of AZ, Brandon Pfaadt, is any good or not.
But he shut us down in Game 3, and he just pitched 5 2/3 great innings here vs Philly.
Drafted in the 5th round in 2020. 3-9 this season with a 5.71 ERA.
The guy who does the online chats had one about the Dodgers today. He say’s that they have about 100 mil to spend before they hit the Lux tax. He also thinks they are going to trade for Glyeber Torres. I doubt that.
well, Bums would be happy
Yes he would.
My opinion of Tommy is skewed by his short term as GM. In my opinion it was a disaster.
6 months as GM. He made two major trades. In the first one, he traded Paul Konerko, who at the time had all of 75 at bats as a major leaguer and was hitting .217, and Dennys Reyes, a part time starter who was 0-4 at the time, to the Reds for their closer, Jeff Shaw, who at the time of the trade was 2-4 with 23 saves. He finished the year with 48 saves, 25 for the Dodgers. That was a trade made out of need and it was a very good baseball trade. Konerko was traded that winter by the Reds to the White Sox where he became a star in 2002. Which is when he made his first all-star team. It was in his sixth year with the White Sox when he hit 40 homers. He averaged closer to 22 a year prior to that. Unfortunately, no GM has a crystal ball to look into the future. You could argue that the Reds GM at the time, Jim Bowden made a worse trade than Lasorda. He traded Konerko straight up for Mike Cameron. A nice player, but nowhere near the player Konerko would develop into. He was gone from the Reds after one season. Blaming Lasorda for trading a guy who turned into a 400-home run guy is somewhat extreme. Same thing for those who gripe about trading Alvarez to the Astros for Fields. At the time of the trade, Alvarez had not played a single game in the Dodger system. Fields pitched three years for LA and did a good job. Shaw pitched for LA for 4 seasons and had 129 saves as a Dodger. That is good for third on the all-time Dodger saves list. Trailing only Jansen and Gagne. His other trade sent four players to the Expos, Bergeron, Guerrero, (Wilton), Lilly and a minor leaguer for Grudzielanek, Bocachica, and Calros Perez.
Wasn’t Tommy the GM when Pedro was traded for Delino Shields?
No, that was Fred Claire. Tommy was the manager. He thought Pedro was too small to be effective as a starter. But that was another trade made out of need. Jody Reed had elected free agency and turned down a multi-year deal the Dodgers offered. He ended up getting less money.
D-Backs get in the win column with a 2-1 win over Philly. Houston leading the Rangers 3-0. Houston got the win, 10-3.
Wander Suero elected free agency. Opening on the 40-man now.
ERA committee announced the eight candidates for election to the Hall of Fame, four managers, two umpires and two executives. Managers, Pinella, Leyland, Davey Johnson, Cito Gaston, Umpires, Joe West, Ed Montague, Execs, Hank Peters and Bill White. Nominees need 12 of 16 votes for election. The voting will take place at the winter meetings.