This week, pitchers and catchers officially report to the Dodgers’ spring training camp in Phoenix. Other than two years in the late 1950s, a Dodgers spring had since 1949, in one capacity or another, included Tommy Lasorda, the truest, bluest Dodger of them all.
With Lasorda’s passing last month, at age 93, this spring will mark the first Dodgers camp in 64 years without the presence of Lasorda.
The story of that remarkable Dodgers life is told in a special commemorative issue produced by the Los Angeles Times editors and writers. Included in the 80-page bookazine, “Tommy Lasorda: A Baseball Life, a Dodger’s Heart,” are stories and photos that span a career not restricted to Los Angeles, but which extended to Brooklyn, Idaho, Utah and New Mexico, over the course of more than seven decades.
That Hall of Fame journey is chronicled in the issue by a Hall of Fame collection of Times writers, including Jim Murray, Ross Newhan, Bill Dwyre, Bill Plaschke and Helene Elliott. It tells the story of triumph (two World Series titles) and loss (that of a son and numerous fellow Dodgers). It tells a story of a baseball life in full.
The special issue — in addition to the commemorative issue that tells the story of the Dodgers 2020 championship season — can be purchased in the L.A. Times Store here.
