[teejers1]

So we wired Lasorda for the Sunday game. Two fantastic items. In the middle of the game Tommy and Garvey got into a heated argument in the dugout. Lots of cursing for Lasorda, much non-swearing yelling from Mr. Perfect hair. I thought about that incident during the free agent period in Winter ‘83 when Garvey signed with San Diego. Of course the argument never made air as we were shooting for MLBP’s pennant race show and kids should never hear their heroes cuss.

Lasorda brought in Terry Forster to face Morgan and we heard him tell the pitcher and catcher Steve Yeager to toss all fastballs and, “No &$#*@*& breaking balls!” Of course Forster shakes off Yeager and throws Joe a hanging slider. Lasorda goes batshit in the dugout and it is the best non-aired baseball sound ever. Lasorda waddles to the mound and if he had a gun in his hand he might have shot the pitcher. He starts yelling at Yeager who just shrugs in a “Not me” pose. Of course the Dodgers are knocked out of the race and our soundman had to retrieve the mic and transmitter after the game. He found it in the garbage can of the small visiting manager’s office at Candlestick. I’m sure the original 3/4” tape resides in a back room in Seacacus.

Too funny! I miss Lasorda. I'll take him anytime over the bland, homogenized stiffs out there today.

The descriptor of Lasorda "waddling" out to the mound is perfect!  And I remember watching the Dodgers in the playoffs (maybe even WS) on TV.  And the Dodger pitcher on the hill (big tall guy . . . did a guy named Reuss pitch for the Dodgers?) was struggling to find the zone.  Anyway, Lasorda waddles out and the TV guys say Lasorda is going out there to give his guy a pep talk.  Well, the TV audio couldn't pick up exactly what was being said, but that's probably a good thing.  If you could read lips at all, you could see that Lasorda was ripping his pitcher a new one, questioning his manhood, using all kinds of swear words, etc., and I actually felt a bit sorry for this big guy getting reamed by squat Lasorda.

But I'll be damned if it didn't work.  The guy just started pumping the zone and got out of the inning unscathed (or relatively unscathed, IIRC).

As a Giants fan, I never liked Lasorda or his teams.  But as an adult, looking back, I can appreciate his passion and his love for The Boys in Blue.  As gail notes, we could use some more characters like Tommy these days.

P.S.  How about the characters back in the day?  Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, The Pittsburgh/Detroit manager who used to beat weeds in the dugout.  Completely different era.  And btw, I like video replay in MLB, but it sure has eliminated the manager-umpire confrontations that were legendary.

[teejers1]

So we wired Lasorda for the Sunday game. Two fantastic items. In the middle of the game Tommy and Garvey got into a heated argument in the dugout. Lots of cursing for Lasorda, much non-swearing yelling from Mr. Perfect hair. I thought about that incident during the free agent period in Winter ‘83 when Garvey signed with San Diego. Of course the argument never made air as we were shooting for MLBP’s pennant race show and kids should never hear their heroes cuss.

Lasorda brought in Terry Forster to face Morgan and we heard him tell the pitcher and catcher Steve Yeager to toss all fastballs and, “No &$#*@*& breaking balls!” Of course Forster shakes off Yeager and throws Joe a hanging slider. Lasorda goes batshit in the dugout and it is the best non-aired baseball sound ever. Lasorda waddles to the mound and if he had a gun in his hand he might have shot the pitcher. He starts yelling at Yeager who just shrugs in a “Not me” pose. Of course the Dodgers are knocked out of the race and our soundman had to retrieve the mic and transmitter after the game. He found it in the garbage can of the small visiting manager’s office at Candlestick. I’m sure the original 3/4” tape resides in a back room in Seacacus.

Too funny! I miss Lasorda. I'll take him anytime over the bland, homogenized stiffs out there today.

The descriptor of Lasorda "waddling" out to the mound is perfect!  And I remember watching the Dodgers in the playoffs (maybe even WS) on TV.  And the Dodger pitcher on the hill (big tall guy . . . did a guy named Reuss pitch for the Dodgers?) was struggling to find the zone.  Anyway, Lasorda waddles out and the TV guys say Lasorda is going out there to give his guy a pep talk.  Well, the TV audio couldn't pick up exactly what was being said, but that's probably a good thing.  If you could read lips at all, you could see that Lasorda was ripping his pitcher a new one, questioning his manhood, using all kinds of swear words, etc., and I actually felt a bit sorry for this big guy getting reamed by squat Lasorda.

But I'll be damned if it didn't work.  The guy just started pumping the zone and got out of the inning unscathed (or relatively unscathed, IIRC).

As a Giants fan, I never liked Lasorda or his teams.  But as an adult, looking back, I can appreciate his passion and his love for The Boys in Blue.  As gail notes, we could use some more characters like Tommy these days.

P.S.  How about the characters back in the day?  Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, Tommy Lasorda, The Pittsburgh/Detroit manager who used to beat weeds in the dugout.  Completely different era.  And btw, I like video replay in MLB, but it sure has eliminated the manager-umpire confrontations that were legendary.