I Live for This by Bill Plaschke

Author:Bill Plaschke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mariner Books

He was just getting started. A couple of years later, he was promoted to the triple-A Spokane Indians, where he immediately made his mark by relaying the team’s spring training scores back to the Spokane newspaper. Only, they weren’t the real scores. After every game, he reported that the Indians had won, even when they had lost. When he was caught in the lie by club officials, he shrugged.

“Hey, spring training is a time for raising hopes, right?” he says. “That’s all I was doing.”

Another time, in trying to revive his Spokane team during a seven-game losing streak, he reminded them of the 1927 Yankees. “They had Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, all those guys. Maybe the greatest team that ever played, right?” Lasorda told them. “Well, guess what? That team once lost nine straight games. So you shouldn’t feel too bad about losing seven straight.”

The inspired Indians rattled out of the clubhouse onto the field, and returned with a victory and the start of a six-game winning streak. Later, during the quiet of a postgame meal at home, Jo Lasorda casually asked how the 1927 Yankees could have lost nine games in a row.

“I don’t think they did,” Lasorda said. “But it sure sounded good to those players, didn’t it?”

The same thing happened when Lasorda tried to persuade Joe Ferguson to move from the outfield to the less glamorous position of catcher. He mentioned that several great catchers—Gabby Hartnett, Mickey Cochrane, and Ernie Lombardi, among others—had started as outfielders. That was enough to convince Ferguson to put on a mask, but it was not enough to convince Lasorda’s boss, Al Campanis. When Campanis heard about the speech, instead of congratulating Lasorda, he needled him.

“Tommy, none of those catchers were ever outfielders.”

“I know that and you know that, Al, but Fergy didn’t know that,” Lasorda said. “And he’s wearing a mask now, ain’t he?”

The best part of Lasorda’s triple-A managing career were the times when he could tell players they were being promoted to the major leagues. He loved calling them into his office and giving them the good news, handing them the phone to call their family, offering them a towel to dry their tears. He would then recount the story he told them at the beginning of every season.

“There’s a kid musician playing for the first time in Carnegie Hall, and when he finishes, and everyone is standing and cheering, he can only see the old man in the back with a tear in his eye,” Lasorda would say. ”That was the guy who molded him, guided him, sacrificed for him. That was his father. It was a moment they shared forever.”

To many of the countless players he promoted to the majors, he retold the story with a twist.

“When you guys get to Dodger Stadium and do something special, look up in the stands for the spirit of a guy who helped you get there, a guy with a tear in his eye,” Lasorda would say. “Look up at old Tom.

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