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Lasorda shoots from the hip
The former skipper and current Los Angeles Dodgers special advisor to the chairman of the board offered guidance tips to soontobe seniors at a Youth Citizenship Seminar. Lasorda touched on many subjects during his speech and strongly urged the students to take their education seriously. "There are three types of people in this world," Lasorda said. "The person that makes it happen, the person that watches it happen and the person that wonders what's happening. "I hope that by talking to you today, you will all become the people that want to make it happen, or else it was a waste of time for me to battle the last hours of traffic to see you today." Lasorda went on to say that his advice was like a continental breakfast at a hotel: It's there if you want it, but if you don't want it, then don't even bother with it. "I love coming back to Pepperdine to talk with these students because it gives me the opportunity to talk about their life and get the students to believe in themselves," Lasorda said. During his speech, Lasorda told the kids how, as a manager, he did whatever he could do succeed, which sometimes included going to church. "We were once in Cincinnati, and I went to a church to pray for the Dodgers to pull out a win that night," Lasorda said. "While I was there I saw Mac (former big league manager John McNamara) at the same church. He told me to wait outside, and he would meet me. "Well, I saw him out of the corner of my eye going to light a candle. I knew why he was there lighting that candle, so I snuck in to the other side of the church and waited until he left. Then I blew out that candle. We won that night, 13-2, and I kept shouting from the dugout, 'Hey Mac, it's not going to work! I blew the candle out!'" Although Lasorda told the young crowd that he would do anything to win, he strongly urged the students not to ever take illegal drugs, including steroids. "People ask me why the government is getting involved with baseball and steroids," Lasorda said. "I tell them it's because 500,000 high school students in this nation were reported to be using steroids last year. These kids need to be educated in what (drugs) will do to you. Lyle Alzado took steroids, and he is dead. Chris Benoit took steroids, and he is dead. "I don't know why kids take drugs," he said. "They don't make you smarter or prettier. Darryl Strawberry could have been one of the best players ever in this game, but he let drugs take over his life." After the seminar, Lasorda talked about the current state of the Dodgers. For the coach, it's been great getting to watch young Dodger players like Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley and James Loney develop in the organization. "This team really reminds me of a lot of my old teams," Lasorda said. "When I coached, I had nine rookies of the year. Guys like Martin are hardworking players. They don't just get great overnight." Some of the players Lasorda coached now are leading teams themselves, such as Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Sciocsia, who caught for Lasorda throughout the 1980s and early '90s. "Oh, Mike is an absolute great manager," Lasorda said. "He was one of the players I had where I told him someday he would make a great coach. He never disrespected me, and he always played hard." Lasorda said he still misses coaching a little bit, saying it was like commanding a platoon of welltrained soldiers into battle. Although he doesn't loom in the dugout, he's still making a difference with this year's Dodger squad. "I went into the clubhouse the other day, and sitting there hanging his head was Nomar (Garciaparra)," Lasorda said. "He has been struggling a little bit lately, and I just went over to him, put my arm around him and told him there was no reason to hang his head." The next three days Garciaparra went 5-for-12 and hit his first home run in 232 at-bats. Although Lasorda has contributed to the Dodger organization by guiding the team to seven division titles, four pennants and two World Series titles, the skipper said his greatest coaching thrill came in the 2000 Olympics, when he guided the United States to an unexpected gold medal. "The biggest thing I ever wanted was to take the gold medal back from the Cubans who had been winning for years," Lasorda said. "The first day I met the team I told them that I didn't know who they were or where they came from. However, I told them that once the Olympics were over, everyone would know who they were." As a coach, Lasorda didn't receive a gold medal. Still, he was overjoyed at the ceremony. "I cried when I watched the players get their medals because I knew I truly did something great for this country." |
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