Tommy Lasorda, arguably the biggest villain in Deep South sports a generation ago, was inducted Friday night into the AT&T Field Hall of Fame.
Lasorda was recognized for his commitment to the player development partnership between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chattanooga Lookouts that began last year and has been extended through the 2014 season. When Lasorda managed the Dodgers, starting late in the 1976 season until his retirement during the 1996 season, he often was the chief nemesis of the Atlanta Braves.
“The only time their fans honored me was when we beat the Giants on the last day of the (1993) season,” Lasorda said. “Had we not beat them, Atlanta would have had to go to San Francisco for a playoff game. After we won that game – and we beat them bad – the people of Atlanta set up a chef for me and did everything.
“It was amazing, because those were the people who used to boo me all the time. All of a sudden, there was this love for Tommy.”
Lasorda, 82, was inducted Friday along with Cal Ermer, who managed the Lookouts from 1952 to ’57 and the Minnesota Twins in 1967-68. Ermer died last August at the age of 85.
The ceremony was held before the series finale between Chattanooga and West Tenn, which went to 14 innings before the visiting Diamond Jaxx pulled out a 3-2 victory.
“Going in with Cal makes it that much nicer,” Lasorda said. “He was a class guy who represented that Washington and Minnesota organization in the highest degree of class and character.”
The Dodgers and Braves were in thrilling National League West Division races in 1982-83, which came on the heels of Los Angeles winning the ’81 World Series in six games over the New York Yankees. Atlanta jumped out to a 13-0 start in ’82 and led Los Angeles by more than 10 games at one point, but a 2-19 swoon put the Braves four games back of the Dodgers.
Atlanta recovered to win the West by one game with an 89-73 record, but the Dodgers returned the favor in ’83, going 91-71 and outdistancing the Braves by three games.
The teams were at opposite ends of the sport by 1988 – the Dodgers won a second World Series under Lasorda, while the Braves went 54-106 – but vied again in 1991. In a worst-to-first tale, Atlanta won the division in ’91 over Los Angeles on the next-to-last day of the season.
Atlanta and Los Angeles were division rivals for the final time in 1993, as baseball’s realignment resulted in the Braves heading to the NL East in ’94.
“When I first took over the club, we beat them pretty good, but then they came up with some really good young players and developed a real good pitching staff,” Lasorda said. “They had that third baseman (Bob Horner) from Arizona State who went right from college into major league baseball. Dale Murphy was always tough. Then they had all those great pitchers in the ’90s.
“There is a locker waiting for Bobby Cox in the Hall of Fame for what he’s done in baseball.”
Cox is the fifth manager in big-league history to guide the same team for more than 20 years, joining Walter Alston, Connie Mack, John McGraw and Lasorda, who now has been inducted into 17 halls of fame.
“You get in 16 or 17, and you’re thinking they’re not that many around,” Lasorda said. “Any time you get in a hall of fame, no matter where it is, it’s an honor. You’re looking at the luckiest, most appreciative person you will ever meet.”