GaryMrMets
06-08-2005, 09:49 AM
Lasorda Remembers Being Replaced by Koufax
By JOE RESNICK
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tommy Lasorda is still sure of many things. One of them is this: He could have been a big winner with the Brooklyn Dodgers - if not for a kid named Sandy Koufax.
Their paths crossed exactly 50 years ago, and both wound up in the Hall of Fame. But they took vastly different routes to Cooperstown.
It's one of those quirky, shake-your-head stories that makes people fall in love with baseball lore. On June 8, 1955, Lasorda was demoted to the minor league Montreal Royals so the Dodgers could free up a roster spot for Koufax.
Four months later, Lasorda wasn't even in uniform when Brooklyn won its only World Series title.
``It took the greatest left-handed pitcher in baseball history to get me off that Brooklyn club - and I still think they made a mistake,'' said Lasorda, whose only similarity to Koufax was that he also pitched with his left hand.
``They never gave me a chance to pitch. I knew I could win in the big leagues,'' Lasorda said. ``I never reached a level of success as a pitcher, but I felt that maybe I would be a success some other way.''
Lasorda made a big name for himself years later by managing the Dodgers to four NL pennants and two world championships in Los Angeles. He now is a senior vice president with the organization. So everything worked out fine for both pitchers who will be forever linked.
``Tommy forgot all about that after he became a coach and then manager and got on with the rest of his career,'' said Don Newcombe, a member of the '55 Dodgers and now the team's community relations director. ``They've had a great relationship. I think they admired one another, more than any malice at all that came from those earlier years.''
Buzzie Bavasi, the Dodgers' general manager back then, had no choice in the matter of Koufax's promotion.
The 19-year-old rookie, whose season was delayed by a hairline fracture in his ankle during spring training, had just come off the disabled list. And major league rules back then dictated that any team who signed a player to a bonus of $4,000 had to keep him on the 25-man roster for at least two years.
Lasorda spent the rest of the 1955 campaign back in Montreal, but Dodgers players voted him a half-share of the World Series money. Years later, owner Peter O'Malley made Lasorda a replica of the '55 World Series ring from the original mold.
``I was thinking about the ways I was going to spend that World Series money, because we started out 22-2 and had about a 15-game lead,'' Lasorda recalled. ``But I got summoned into Buzzie's office and he says, `I've got a problem.' I said, `What's wrong, Buzzie? Is one of your relatives sick?'
``He said, `No, I've got a tough thing I have to do right now. I've got to cut one guy off of this club and I have to send you back to Montreal. So Koufax stays and you've got to go.'
``I said, `Hey, Buzzie, I won 20 games down there.' He said, `Look, Tommy, if you were sitting right here, who would you get rid of?' And, at that point, I said, `Koufax. Here's a guy who can't hit a barn door 60 feet away with a fastball,' because Koufax was wild in those days.''
Lasorda wasn't the only one who felt that way.
``I'll be honest - we didn't want Sandy on the ballclub because Sandy couldn't throw the ball in batting practice,'' Newcombe said. ``But if I was going to pitch in the game, I would not take batting practice when Sandy was pitching it because Sandy was so wild. But that was the way it had to be because Sandy was a bonus kid and he had to stay.
``He was wild the whole time we were in Brooklyn - and he was wild after we got to Los Angeles,'' Newcombe added. ``One day I talked to him and I said, `Sandy, unless you sacrifice a little speed for accuracy, you're going to continue to throw balls.' And he thanked me for that.''
Koufax had cured his troubles considerably by 1961, the Dodgers' fourth and final season at the L.A. Coliseum. He put together perhaps the most dominant six-year stretch in baseball history, going 129-47 with 115 complete games, 35 shutouts and 1,713 strikeouts. He won three Cy Young Awards, five consecutive ERA titles, and was the World Series MVP twice.
Lasorda finished 0-4 in the majors. After a brief stint with the Kansas City Athletics, he spent several more years bouncing around the minors before hanging up his spikes in July 1960 when the Dodgers gave him a job as a scout.
``I don't know how Tommy would have done in the major leagues as a pitcher,'' Newcombe said. ``I don't think he had a major league fastball, but he had a great curveball. And he could get by with that curveball, as long as he got it over the plate.''
06/07/05 20:23 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By JOE RESNICK
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tommy Lasorda is still sure of many things. One of them is this: He could have been a big winner with the Brooklyn Dodgers - if not for a kid named Sandy Koufax.
Their paths crossed exactly 50 years ago, and both wound up in the Hall of Fame. But they took vastly different routes to Cooperstown.
It's one of those quirky, shake-your-head stories that makes people fall in love with baseball lore. On June 8, 1955, Lasorda was demoted to the minor league Montreal Royals so the Dodgers could free up a roster spot for Koufax.
Four months later, Lasorda wasn't even in uniform when Brooklyn won its only World Series title.
``It took the greatest left-handed pitcher in baseball history to get me off that Brooklyn club - and I still think they made a mistake,'' said Lasorda, whose only similarity to Koufax was that he also pitched with his left hand.
``They never gave me a chance to pitch. I knew I could win in the big leagues,'' Lasorda said. ``I never reached a level of success as a pitcher, but I felt that maybe I would be a success some other way.''
Lasorda made a big name for himself years later by managing the Dodgers to four NL pennants and two world championships in Los Angeles. He now is a senior vice president with the organization. So everything worked out fine for both pitchers who will be forever linked.
``Tommy forgot all about that after he became a coach and then manager and got on with the rest of his career,'' said Don Newcombe, a member of the '55 Dodgers and now the team's community relations director. ``They've had a great relationship. I think they admired one another, more than any malice at all that came from those earlier years.''
Buzzie Bavasi, the Dodgers' general manager back then, had no choice in the matter of Koufax's promotion.
The 19-year-old rookie, whose season was delayed by a hairline fracture in his ankle during spring training, had just come off the disabled list. And major league rules back then dictated that any team who signed a player to a bonus of $4,000 had to keep him on the 25-man roster for at least two years.
Lasorda spent the rest of the 1955 campaign back in Montreal, but Dodgers players voted him a half-share of the World Series money. Years later, owner Peter O'Malley made Lasorda a replica of the '55 World Series ring from the original mold.
``I was thinking about the ways I was going to spend that World Series money, because we started out 22-2 and had about a 15-game lead,'' Lasorda recalled. ``But I got summoned into Buzzie's office and he says, `I've got a problem.' I said, `What's wrong, Buzzie? Is one of your relatives sick?'
``He said, `No, I've got a tough thing I have to do right now. I've got to cut one guy off of this club and I have to send you back to Montreal. So Koufax stays and you've got to go.'
``I said, `Hey, Buzzie, I won 20 games down there.' He said, `Look, Tommy, if you were sitting right here, who would you get rid of?' And, at that point, I said, `Koufax. Here's a guy who can't hit a barn door 60 feet away with a fastball,' because Koufax was wild in those days.''
Lasorda wasn't the only one who felt that way.
``I'll be honest - we didn't want Sandy on the ballclub because Sandy couldn't throw the ball in batting practice,'' Newcombe said. ``But if I was going to pitch in the game, I would not take batting practice when Sandy was pitching it because Sandy was so wild. But that was the way it had to be because Sandy was a bonus kid and he had to stay.
``He was wild the whole time we were in Brooklyn - and he was wild after we got to Los Angeles,'' Newcombe added. ``One day I talked to him and I said, `Sandy, unless you sacrifice a little speed for accuracy, you're going to continue to throw balls.' And he thanked me for that.''
Koufax had cured his troubles considerably by 1961, the Dodgers' fourth and final season at the L.A. Coliseum. He put together perhaps the most dominant six-year stretch in baseball history, going 129-47 with 115 complete games, 35 shutouts and 1,713 strikeouts. He won three Cy Young Awards, five consecutive ERA titles, and was the World Series MVP twice.
Lasorda finished 0-4 in the majors. After a brief stint with the Kansas City Athletics, he spent several more years bouncing around the minors before hanging up his spikes in July 1960 when the Dodgers gave him a job as a scout.
``I don't know how Tommy would have done in the major leagues as a pitcher,'' Newcombe said. ``I don't think he had a major league fastball, but he had a great curveball. And he could get by with that curveball, as long as he got it over the plate.''
06/07/05 20:23 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.