| NEWS Tommy Lasorda dies

rammerjammer

Gump 4ever
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Sad day for Dodger fans

My favorite Tommy Lasorda story is condensed here:


Tom Lasorda has probably signed more autographs than any Dodger in history. That might have something to do with his years in the organization. Also his outgoing personality. He told the story in his book The Artful Dodger of when he was a boy, he worked for the Nuns at his Parochial School as a crossing guard, knowing that the reward of working all those hours on those cold, snowy days would be a ticket to attend a Phillies game and see major league ballplayers up close for the first time. The day arrived and he waited at a portal where the players entered and exited. He approached a player for an autograph, some scrub by the name of Buster Maynard, (a New York Giant), blew him off and told him to take a hike. The young Lasorda was crushed.

He wrote about how he got his revenge against him when Maynard’s career was winding down to a close and he was demoted to the minors. Lasorda was pitching in Greenville, South Carolina in the South Atlantic League. “I couldn’t believe my luck” he wrote. Up came Maynard to bat against him in the first inning. Lasorda proceeded to deliver him chin music and eventually plunked him, starting a bench-clearing brawl. All over getting stiffed for an autograph when he was 12 years old.

Lasorda said then and there that if he ever was in a position to sign for kids, he would never turn them down.



Paul Harvey did this piece as a "Rest of the Story". No one could tell a story like Paul Harvey.
 
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