Tommy Lasorda Quotes

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it's because you've started to think of failure.”

— Tommy Lasorda

I still remember the entire Boy Scout motto. I don't remember the serial number of my gun in the army. I don't remember the number of my locker in school. But I remember that Boy Scout code.

— Tommy Lasorda

“I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it, not hard enough and it flies away.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I bleed Dodger blue and when I die, I'm going to the big Dodger in the sky.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“No, we don't cheat. And even if we did, I'd never tell you.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I started in the lowest league in baseball, and I worked my way all the way up to Triple A and then to the big leagues. I never reached the level that I thought I would reach as a player. But that's the way it goes. So then I started from the bottom as a manager, and I worked my way up to managing the Dodgers for 20 years.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Chan Ho had a great career and was the exemplification of class, dignity and character.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“We're all put here for a reason. And one little movement changes your way of life.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I love doubleheaders. That way I get to keep my uniform on longer.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I do not care whether you're a Democrat or you're a Republican or an independent. We must pull for the people who are wearing the uniform of the armed forces. These people weren't drafted. They enlisted, because they believe.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Listen, if you start worrying about the people in the stands, before too long you're up in the stands with them.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“When I was interviewed after I got hired to replace Walter Alston, a future Hall of Famer, I was asked: 'Don't you feel pressure on you?' I said: 'Want to know something? I'm worried about the guy who's going to have to replace me.'”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I am so happy and proud to learn of Hideo Nomo's election to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. He was quite a pitcher and competitor, but he is also a very special and caring person.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“My theory of hitting was just to watch the ball as it came in and hit it.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“You can wake up every day and make today better than the last.”

— Tommy Lasorda

Baseball is played by all countries now, and softball, too.

— Tommy Lasorda

“You get an opportunity to do something for your country, you better get out and do it.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“My son wasn't gay. No way.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Sometimes, you get too hopped up, too excited, and it works against you.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“When I took the job as the manager of the Olympic team, I didn't take it because I was a Dodger. I did it because I was an American, and I wanted to bring that gold medal where it belongs in baseball, the United States. And that's exactly what our team did.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I didn't even graduate from high school. I've never told anybody that before. I got my degree later, when I was in the army.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I've always called L.A. 'the world capital of sport.'”

— Tommy Lasorda

“My goal is to live to be 100.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Sports has kept me on the straight and narrow path.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“When you're not playing up to your capability, you gotta try everything, to motivate, to get them going. All of them have to be on the same end of the rope to pull together. It's playing for the name on the front of the shirt, not the back. Individualism gets you trophies and plaques. Play for the front, that wins championships. I try to remind them of that.”

— Tommy Lasorda

All last year we tried to teach him (Fernando Valenzuela) English, and the only word he learned was million.

— Tommy Lasorda

I walk into the clubhouse today and it's like walking into the Mayo Clinic. We have four doctors, three therapists and five trainers. Back when I broke in, we had one trainer who carried a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and by the 7th inning he'd already drunk it.

— Tommy Lasorda

“When you say you're a padre, people ask when did you become a parent. When you say you're a cardinal, they tell you to work hard because the next step is pope. But when you say you're a Dodger, everybody knows you're in the Major Leagues.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I don't like the pitch count! How are you gonna develop your arm? If you're a track man you say, "Hey, you can't run too much." Or if you're a boxer you say, "Hey, you can only box three rounds." It's not right!”

— Tommy Lasorda

If you don't root for the Dodgers, you might not get into heaven,

— Tommy Lasorda

“I motivate players through communication, being honest with them, having them respect and appreciate your ability and your help.”

— Tommy Lasorda

When we lose, I eat. When we win, I eat. I also eat when we're rained out.

— Tommy Lasorda

“I've been able to dine with presidents, with leaders of corporations, traveled for 14 years with (financier and philanthropist) Michael Milken, who has taught me so much about life. Hanging around with them, it's nothing I could have believed in grade school. I could be with all of them? Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Dean Martin ... this former third-string pitcher from the Norristown High baseball team and the son of an Italian immigrant? I really am in awe when I think that has happened to me. What a life.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Think about each pitch like you think about women, then select one which is particularly appealing.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“You have got to love what you're doing. No matter what it is. Whatever you undertake in life, if you don't love it, and you don't enjoy it, you are making a big mistake. You have got to love what you are doing. You have to appreciate what you are getting, and you have to do it to the best of your ability.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I've been Catholic all my life, and there's one thing I've never understood. Why didn't the Corinthians write back?”

— Tommy Lasorda

“I'm so excited I had a seven-car police motorcycle escort. I've had escorts before, but nothing like this ... I'm really in awe, coming here and seeing so many cars, so much enthusiasm.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Say 'Dodgers' and people know you're talking about baseball. Say 'Braves' and they ask, 'What reservation?' Say 'Reds' and they think of communism. Say 'Padres' and they look around for a priest.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Ernie Banks was a great great player and when he no longer could play, he became a great ambassador for the game. He represented the game with the highest of class and dignity. Everybody loved Ernie Banks. He enjoyed baseball, life and people. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. We have truly lost a baseball giant.”

— Tommy Lasorda

I wasn't quite sure how a player got to the big leagues. As far as I knew, he was just there one day.

— Tommy Lasorda

There are parents out there screaming as if their kid is going to be in the big leagues someday. C'mon. I chew them out if I see that. Maybe they've got their own idea how to do things, but it's wrong. Just be with the kids. Let 'em make errors. Give them all a chance. It's not about winning. It's spirit, togetherness.

— Tommy Lasorda

“Caltech honored me
they named an asteroid after me. There's only two of them up there with names. One of them is Walter Cronkite. The other is Tommy Lasorda.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Talking about your troubles is no good. Eighty percent of your friends don't care and the rest are glad.”

— Tommy Lasorda

I managed the Dodgers for 20 years. It's hard to believe that there are only four guys in the history of baseball who managed the same team for 20 years or more. One was owner of the team, Connie Mack. Another was part owner of the team, John McGraw. Then there was my predecessor, Walter Alston, and me. It's amazing. In the 20 years I managed the Dodgers, 210 managers were fired.

— Tommy Lasorda

“You give loyalty, you'll get it back.”

— Tommy Lasorda

“Nothing succeeds like - failure.”

— Tommy Lasorda

Bruce Benedict is so slow he'd finish third in a race with a pregnant woman.

— Tommy Lasorda