Tommy Lasorda’s 84th birthday is Thursday and the Hall of Famer will celebrate by serving as an honorary Dodgers coach against the rival Giants.
Lasorda, who managed the Dodgers from 1976 to 1996, told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com that he was thrilled to get the invite from current manager Don Mattingly:
I am so deeply honored and grateful that Don would ask me to do this. I loved every minute of managing during my 20 seasons with the Dodgers, and it is always outstanding to put on the Dodger uniform.
Hopefully it goes better than the time Lasorda was the NL’s third base coach during the 2001 All-Star game. Incidentally, I saw Lasorda on last night’s episode of “Hell’s Kitchen” on FOX and his 10-second appearance predictably involved a conversation about pasta. Type casting!