tommy lasorda would have been 94 today had he not passed away this past january. as he was the manager of the team of my youth, i have an interest in his cards, and i've been targeting them specifically in these days where it is more and more difficult to be a complete team collector. as a result, i've added a couple of lasorda cards to my collection this year.
first up is a relic card from 2018 panini national treasures
here's another card of tommy in dodger stadium that i added earlier this year - a 2020 bowman heritage cavan biggio card
you can see tommy in the background sitting in his seat next to the camera well on the home plate side of the dodger dugout. tommy was a mainstay in that seat for many years now - i believe since the current ownership group took over. i don't think he sat down there during the mccourt years. anyway, he has shown up on a few cards as a result which is always a treat.
i also added this 2017 panini donruss mike trout card
to my dodger stadium collection. you can see that lasorda is not in his seat, and you will also notice that there were further renovations done after 2016 to convert those seats to blue.
after tommy's death, the team placed flowers in his seat
tommy will continue to be missed - he definitely had a great run, and i am sure he is hanging out with the big dodger in the sky!
Met Tommy at a Jacksonville Suns game when they were Double-A affiliates of the Dodgers. Such a terrific baseball ambassador.
ReplyDeletei never met the guy but did get his attention a couple of times when i was a kid. he was passionate and enthusiastic about baseball - that's for sure.
DeleteA very “polarizing” figure among San Francisco Giants fans. Would have loved to have had him as our manager in the 70s and 80s for sure.
ReplyDeletewasn't there a rumor that he was heading to san fran at one point? thought i recalled reading about that after the fact. at any rate, glad he stayed put.
DeleteThat's cool that the Dodgers placed flowers in his seat after he passed away. Shame they're away in Colorado. I wonder if they put some balloons in his seat yesterday for his birthday.
ReplyDeletetommy's wife jo passed away a couple days before this post and there were a lot of tributes from the dodgers on social media. not sure if they did anything at the stadium though.
DeleteI bought that Bowman Heritage Biggio recently and completely missed Tommy in the background! What an excellent cameo.
ReplyDeletehe's on a few cards as a result of his seat. much better than seeing frank mccourt on a card (like jim thome's 2010 topps card)
DeleteFor an unlicensed relic, those Lasorda's actually look pretty good.
ReplyDelete