I blindly thought the young Lasorda just got tragically sick, but rumors abounded after he died about the real cause of his death, and about his sexuality. Learn how your comment data is processed. To be remembered like this. Tommy, Jr. ("Spunky", d. 3-Jun-1991 reportedly AIDS . PENELOPE: O.K., but you understand, when somebody looks at a picture of you, they're going to say, this guy's awfully feminine. First, the obvious answer to the obvious question: Yes, Tommy was livid when it was published. His friend also remembers how well Tommy and his father got along. The Dodgers official statement on Lasordas death included moving tributes by Hall of Fam broadcaster Viny Scully, Mark Walter, the teams owner and chairman, and Stan Kasten, whos president and CEO of the franchise. Both strutted an impossibly simplistic view of the worldthe father with his gospel of fierce optimism and blind obeisance to a baseball mythology, and the son with a slavery to fashion that he carried to the point of religion. The facility was renamed the Thomas Lasorda Jr. Field House. She called him a sweet, gentle and loving person with an impeccable sense of style. Theater. And it's better having comments, be it GOOD, BAD or WHATEVER. We may earn a commission from links on this page. That he was ten, taking batting practice in Ogden, Utah, with his dad, and Garvey, and the rest of them? EDITORS NOTE: An unverified published commentary in Fridays Los Angeles Blade claims what no one else has ever reported: that the late Tommy Lasorda not only admitted his son Spunky was gay, that he died of AIDS, but that he apologized for being a homophobe. Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 8, 2021. Tommy had four toes on his right foot, the fifth lost in a childhood accident. You'd figure it'd be [the father saying] 'Please don't let people know you're my son,' but it was the opposite. Unlike practitioners of Crystal Cathedral pulpitry, Lasorda the tent-preacher believes in what he says, which, of course, makes all the difference in the world. I couldn't help wondering what Tommy Sr. thought when heard about how Magic was so supportive of his son. Despite current events, ultimately, no. His managing style was by instinct, not by the book, and his instincts were good enough to pay off more often than not. Few in his locker room saw any evidence of sadness as his son's illness grew worse, but this should come as no surprise: Tom Lasorda has spent most of four decades in the same baseball uniform. Lasorda's son, Tom Jr., died in 1991. I don't think he appreciated what he had.". Which I have.". He played for the Dodgers, so I was at first filled with disbelief, and then with excitement. He was the second of five sons born, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a crowded little city-town a half-hour north of Philadelphia, to Sabatino Lasorda, a truckdriver who'd emigrated from Italy, and Carmella Lasorda. Buthere was a chance wasted. He'd just suddenly take his shoe and sock off at dinner and say 'Did you know I was missing my toe?'". He was a good man. He turns away and starts to brush his hair in the mirror of his dressing room. We send our condolences to Lasordas family and the Dodgers family upon the passing of this baseball idol. His clubhouse became a haunt for show-business personalities, usually of distinctly outsized demeanorSinatra, Ricklesand he himself became the beacon of a new mythology, leader of the team that played in a ballpark on a hill on a road called Elysian, perched above the downtown, high and imperious. "He was a teammate, we always got along well, he gave me one hundred percent effort, played right next to me. That would have been too much. Tom Lasorda Jr.'s, death certificate reads: IMMEDIATE CAUSE: A) PNEUMONITIS 2 WEEKS DUE TO: B) DEHYDRATION 6 WEEKS DUE TO: C) PROBABLE ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME 1 YEAR. "I think he wanted to make his father happy," says his Oscar Wilde. The city has long been her home, and it is also where Lasorda became a baseball icon, leading the Dodgers to two World Series titles during his Hall of Fame career. Lasorda was enraged when it was widely reported that his son had died . He was a very, very memorable person.. That's not the truth.". Los Angeles Dodgers' legend Tommy Lasorda died Thursday night after spending seven decades with the MLB organization. The Australian beach volleyball gold medalist reflects on how legalizing gay marriage changed her life and outlook. In 1997, Lasorda and his wife donated $500,000 through the Thomas Lasorda Jr. Memorial Foundation to maintain a public gym in Yorba Linda, California, not far from where they lived. Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers Height 5 10 (1.78 m) Born September 22, 1927 Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA Died January 7, 2021 Fullerton, California, USA (cardiopulmonary arrest) Spouse Jo Lasorda April 14, 1950 - January 7, 2021 (his death, 2 children) Other works TV commercial for Slim-Fast (1991, 1992) Publicity listings He was cool in that. I didn't think it'd be like that. Was I simply in denial? memorial page for Thomas Charles "Spunky" Lasorda Jr. (6 May 1958-3 Jun 1991), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6929, citing Rose Hills Memorial Park, . AKA Thomas Charles Lasorda. He loved the players. He was on the field during BP. So, I believed his father, because at that time a manly, combative man like Lasorda could not have possibly had a gay son, and one who died of AIDS. "Tommy used to tell us incredible stuff about how he used to beeverything he'd donedrugs, sleeping with women, sleeping with men," says Magno. These 300 men did. King's death comes five months after the deaths of his children Andy and . As for Lasorda's cause of death, he suffered sudden cardiopulmonary arrest at home at 10:09 p.m. PT on Thursday. Sometimes Tommy had Pinkowski take pictures of them. Lasorda denied his son was gay and insisted Tom Jr. instead died of pneumonia. "If his father has to accept his son's death right now in that way, let him do it," she says. "He was a character," Pinkowski says at breakfast in a Pasadena coffee shop. ; the fund for the former major leaguer with cancer in Pensacola: Tom showed up, talked Dodger Blue, raised the money. In the hallway between the lounge and the locker room hang photographs of Brooklyn Dodgers games. But I didn't cry in the clubhouse. He could never be what his father wasTommy Lasorda's own inner orientation made that impossiblebut he could fantasize, couldn't he? . Australian Olympian Natalie Cook details her two pre and post gay marriage ban wedding ceremonies. To friends who were curious about his relationship with his father's teamand all of them werehe said it was great. Pallone, 69, said this in a phone interview on Friday evening, the day after Lasorda died of sudden cardiopulmonary arrest. His father regularly called him from the road. He wearied of it. Well let you know what we can confirm. No cause of death was given. I remember when he died. You just cant close doors, period, because you never know how its going to hurt you. Her husband of 70 years. Tommy and his foot were a regular subject of conversation, often led by Tommy. Lived For 93 Years. Henry Siegel, the Voight's proprietor, was impressed by Tommy's self-assurance and generosity. I was his Marne. But Spheeriss mind quickly turned to someone else in the Lasorda family that she had known and missed: his son, Tommy Jr., known as Spunky, who was gay and died in 1991 at 33 from complications from AIDS. Then he posed it next to a red shoe on the gray carpet. There was a long, very well-written article in GQ in October of 1992 about their son, Tommy Jr. Based on . He rang doorbells up and down the street, trying to find the owner. "I became interested inthe blatant contrast in lifestyles. Lasorda had a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest while home . Official reports in the media of the time said Spunky died of pneumonia and severe dehydration, and focus more on how his father would deal with managing his baseball team than with the fact that his only son was gay. He'd be in heaven.". Issuing from the son, a man so attractive that men tended to assume he was a woman, it was the most jarring of notes. Tommy was invariably dressed impeccably. "Everybody'd like him. The first time I saw Tommy Jr. was a decade earlier. While Tommy was leading the Dodgers, Jo, a Southerner in southern California, was an active member of the community and led the fundraising for the Thomas Lasorda Jr. Field House in Yorba Linda . It's a plague town now, there's no way around it. Burke, who was Black, turned down the offer. His father had taught him that. It's going to take loud voices and even louder fury. Tommy Lasorda, Dodgers legend and Hall of Fame manager, died of a heart attack on Thursday night, according to the team.Lasorda, 93, had only recently been released from the hospital after a month . Does it change it?" In recent days, others have also been discussing and learning about another part of Lasordas story his relationship with his son and what it said about society and baseball culture at the time. There was no question that he had a difficult time with it, Pallone said about Lasorda. Lasorda has pored over them a thousand times, with a thousand writers, a thousand campers, a thousand Dodgers prospectsidentifying each player, re-creating each smoky moment. Tom Lasorda Jr.'s, death certificate reads: IMMEDIATE CAUSE: A) PNEUMONITIS 2 WEEKS. Once, after a short stay in Brooklyn, he was sent back to the minors so the Dodgers could keep a left-handed pitcher with a good fastball named Sandy Koufax, and to this day Lasorda will look you in the eye and say "I still think they made a mistake" and believe it. Then his eyes look away and he sets his face in a flat, angry look of defiance. Everything was organized perfectly. Two World Series Rings. Of the father. The closet was as big as my living room. But now the voice shifts tone and the words become more weighted; he frames each one with a new meaning. He's dead. To mention one of her many job titles, Jo was a . There was a plague, and it was gutting the arts world in my city, and it needed to be cured, and quickly. "He didn't have his father's curveball, but he was the better hitter.". He was young, and because his father was his father, I did not connect the cause of death with AIDS. That's America. His pitching is vague, at best. She'd ask him where the money came from. In this judgmental, narrow-minded high school, he strutted his stuff.". Sitting in a grocery cart. I remember walking into the closet. He was the second of five sons born to Sabatino and Carmella Lasorda. He's dead. Tommy Lasorda, a baseball Hall of Famer who spent seven decades in the Dodgers organization, died on Thursday, January 7, at the age of 93. "Tommy Lasorda was always in my corner," Piazza said. Because, really, aren't there too many theme parks to compete with in Los Angeles to manage your baseball team as anything other than another one? He was preceded in death by Tommy Lasorda, Jr. who died in 1991, and the cause of his death was attributed to pneumonia. He was 93. Tommy would tell her about the latest material he'd bought to have made into a suit. If there were others who were young and lithe and handsome and androgynous, none were as outre as Tommy. I dont want to be mad at somebody who just passed away and somebody that everybody loves. And thats what happened with Tommy., Tommy Lasordas Death Starts a Conversation About His Son, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/sports/baseball/tommy-lasorda-son.html. "There are a lot of opinions about Tom junior, about how [his father] handled his relationship with his son," says Steve Garvey, who more than anyone was the onfield embodiment of Dodger Blue. She and Tommy Lasorda were married 70 years until the legendary Dodgers manager died in January. Tommy Lasorda managed the Dodgers for 20 years, from 1976 to 1996, leading the team to two World Series championships. And he stops looking around the room and looks me in the eye. She said one reason she related so much to him was because her own brother, who was killed by a drunken driver in 1984, was gay, and many of his friends died of AIDS complications because the medical treatments were not as advanced as they are now. I had new respect for his father. The details of Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda's death have been revealed. "There's that old saying that we all have something that's hurting us.". died of complications from AIDS on June 3, 1991. in a review of a documentary about another baseball icon: Glenn Burke. I would really hate to state anything like that. Tommy studied portraits of Dietrich and Garbo to see how the makeup was done. He was gay.". Lasorda was absent from the team for three days. His spirit has flagged considerably, but his days, in season and out, are as full of Dodger Blue banquet appearances as ever, with impromptu Dodgers pep rallies in airport concourses from Nashville to Seattle. Thats what I dont like. It appears there was one person in strong denial all his life and that was Lasorda. "Nobody in their right mind is going to say it's not difficultI know how difficult it is for them to try and understand their son," Dave Pallone says. And so, on the odd night. "He was sad.". By the age of twenty-two, Tom Lasorda was a successful minor league pitcher by trade, a left-hander with a curveball and not a lot more. Burke was as good as gone. His gaze skips about the roomhe always seems to be looking around for someone to greet, a hand to shake, another camper to slap another anecdote on. "He was typical Tommy. He was 93 years old. One night, he made an entrance into Ragethinner, not the old Tommy, but acting every bit the part. Meanwhile, Jo's death of birth, birthday, and zodiac remained a private record. "He'd come a long waydenying what he used to be, so happy with what he'd become.". They became friends. No way. Tommy Lasorda died Jan. 7 at age 93. Cardiopulmonary arrest, which is also known as cardiac arrest, is the cessation of effective ventilation and circulation, according to the National Institute of Health. One ball pocks an adjacent apartment. . Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine. His haunt was the Rose Tattoo, a gay club with male strippers, long closed now. Tommy Lasorda, the irrepressible baseball lifer who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers to four National League pennants and two World Series championships in a Hall of Fame career that spanned. Expecting the father to ask that donations go to the Gay Men's Health Crisis? Facebook. He's dead.". Tommy had two done. says Magno. Tommy Lasorda Jr Cause of Death - We grieve with the group of Tommy Lasorda Jr, we see how unsettling they could be at this moment, so we are sending our contemplations and supplications to the influenced ones. As for Tom Lasorda, Jr., it may be long past the time to confront and embrace his truth, but to my mind: now is as good a time as any. I wonder if he even listened. At the Duck Club, down behind the Whiskey, in 1985, Tommy sat in a corner drinking Blue Hawaiians. Thirty-three years is better than nothing, isnt it? Tommy Lasorda, arguably one of the greatest managers in MLB history, died on January 7, 2021, as first reported by the Los Angeles Dodgers. "He was very lonely.". . Lasorda is survived by his wife of 70 years, Jo, their daughter, Laura, and granddaughter Emily Tess. "Tommy senior is, as far as I'm concerned, a tremendous man," says Pallone. No cause of death was given. Back in his suite, in the residence area of Dodgertown, I ask him if it was difficult having a gay son. That's all. And, after Pirates' great Roberto Clemente died, I had to search for new favorite ballplayer, and a year or two after Clemente's death, Steve Garvey, the first baseman of the Los Angeles Dodgers burst onto the scene, becoming the first write-in to earn a spot on the All-Star team mid-season in 1974, and at the end of the year, garnering the MVP award. A place where, each spring, in the season of illusion's renewal, they are allowed to be the men they once were. I was disappointed that someone as jovial, honest, and forthright like Lasorda would dispute the authenticity of his son. The complex also features Brooke Shields on its list of tenants. His most recent book is Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders, which was excerpted on Deadspin.