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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

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When I Took The

Tommy Lasorda

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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.

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My Theory Of Hitting Was Just To Watch The Ball As It Came In And Hit It.

Managing Is Like Holding A Dove In Your Hand. Squeeze Too Hard And You Kill It; Not Hard Enough And It Flies Away.

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.

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.

A Second-guesser Is One Who Doesn't Know Anything About The First Guess, And He's One Who Needs 2 Guesses To Get One Right.

Chan Ho Had A Great Career And Was The Exemplification Of Class, Dignity And Character.

My Wife Tells Me One Day, 'i Think You Love Baseball More Than Me.' I Say, 'well, I Guess That's True, But Hey, I Love You More Than Football And Hockey.'

I Love You More

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.

Grownups Have To Say 'please,' Too.

Bruce Benedict Is So Slow He'd Finish Third In A Race With A Pregnant Woman.

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.

I'm Sick And Tired Of People Saying That Taking Drugs Is A Sickness. When You Put Something Of Your Own Free Will In Your Own Body Knowing That It's Harmful Against The Body, It's Against The Law And All It Will Do Is Lead You Down The Path Of Destruction, That Is A Weakness.

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.

Everywhere I Go, I Feel Strange.

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!

Sometimes You've Just Got To Let An Umpire Know That You're Not Satisfied With His Decision. That They've Missed The Play In Your Opinion. Not That It's Going To Do You Any Good, But You've Got To Let Them Know.

I Bleed Dodger Blue And When I Die, I'm Going To The Big Dodger In The Sky.

My Son Wasn't Gay. No Way.

I've Always Called L.a. 'the World Capital Of Sport.'

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.

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.

I Firmly Believe That There Is A God. I Firmly Believe That There Is A Heaven. And I Firmly Believe That If You Go There, It's Gonna Be Great.

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.

About The Only Problem With Success Is That It Does Not Teach You How To Deal With Failure.

Congratulations

No, We Don't Cheat. And Even If We Did, I'd Never Tell You.

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.

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.

I Motivate Players Through Communication, Being Honest With Them, Having Them Respect And Appreciate Your Ability And Your Help.

I've Had Heroes In My Life - Joe Dimaggio, Babe Ruth.

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.

You Can Wake Up Every Day And Make Today Better Than The Last.

When We Win, I'm So Happy I Eat A Lot. When We Lose, I'm So Depressed, I Eat A Lot. When We're Rained Out, I'm So Disappointed I Eat A Lot.

The Only Angels In Los Angeles Are In Heaven, And They're Looking Down On The Dodgers.

If You Love Your Job, You Haven't Worked A Day In Your Life.

I Love Doubleheaders. That Way I Get To Keep My Uniform On Longer.

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.

Always Give An Autograph When Somebody Asks You.

The Worst Team In Baseball's History Won Only 55 Games. The Best Team Ever Won 110 Out Of 160, So You're Virtually Guaranteed To Win 1/3 Of The Time And Lose 1/3 Of The Time. The Difference Is The 1/3 In The Middle. You Don't Know What Bucket The Game You're Playing Falls Into, So If You're Smart, You'll Fight Like Everything For All Of Them.

Sometimes, You Get Too Hopped Up, Too Excited, And It Works Against You.

You Give Loyalty, You'll Get It Back. You Give Love, You’ll Get It Back.

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.

He (darryl Strawberry) Is Not A Dog; A Dog Is Loyal And Runs After Balls.

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Nothing Succeeds Like - Failure.

The Saddest Day Of The Year Is The Day Baseball Season Ends.

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Baseball Is Played By All Countries Now, And Softball, Too.

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If He Raced His Pregnant Wife He'd Finish Third.

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Baseball Is Like Driving, It's The One Who Gets Home Safely That Counts.

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.

The Only Way I'd Worry About The Weather Is If It Snows On Our Side Of The Field And Not Theirs.

When You - When You Become The Manager Of A Major League Team, Particularly The Dodgers, To Me, That's A Privilege And An Honor. No Matter Where You Go Or What You Do, You Represent That Position That You Have. And You Represent That Organization That Gave You The Opportunity To Be Doing What You're Doing.

The Gym Teacher's Name Was Mr. Caruso. Mr. Caruso Did Not Speak English. He Spoke 'gym.' One Day I Was Playing Basketball And Mr. Caruso Told Me I Would Have To Get An Athletic Supporter. He Didn't Express Himself Exactly That Way, Though. He Said, 'hey, You, One Day You're Gonna Go Up For A Rebound And The Family Jewels Aren't Gonna Go With Ya.' I Had No Idea What He Was Talking About. Next Day I Showed Up For Practice Without My Watch And My Mezuzah. He Said, 'did Ya Take Care Of The Family Jewels?' I Said, 'i Left 'em In My Locker.' Took Us A Half Hour To Revive Mr. Caruso.

When We Lose, I Eat. When We Win, I Eat. I Also Eat When We're Rained Out.

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.”

It's Still The Best Game In Town Because You Don't Have To Be Big To Play, And Everybody Plays. Even Your Grandmother Probably Played Baseball.

My God, Look At The Words People Use Today. They Use Profanity Like It's Nothing. Christ Almighty.

If You'd See My Schedule, You'd Know I Have No Time To Slow Down.

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.

My Goal Is To Live To Be 100.

Talking About Your Troubles Is No Good. Eighty Percent Of Your Friends Don't Care And The Rest Are Glad.

I Was Fortunate Enough To Coach The Us Olympic Team In Australia. The Parks Were Full At All Times. How Can They Take Away A Sport Like That?

If You Don't Root For The Dodgers, You Might Not Get Into Heaven.

Guys Ask Me, Don't I Get Burned Out? How Can You Get Burned Out Doing Something You Love? I Ask You, Have You Ever Got Tired Of Kissing A Pretty Girl?

You Can Have The Best Team In Baseball, And If Nobody Goes Through The Turnstiles, You've Got To Shut The Doors Down.

All Last Year We Tried To Teach Him (fernando Valenzuela) English, And The Only Word He Learned Was Million.

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.

I've Never Used One Word Of Profanity In Front Of My Wife, Or My Daughter, Or My Granddaughter Or Anybody Else's Wife.

I Was Told To Stay Away From Pasta And Bread For Two Weeks. Not Eating Pasta? That'll Kill Me. Anything Else, But Why Pasta?

One Time I Was Doing A Speech To A Group Of Kids, And Just Before I Get There, I See This Little Kid Crying. I Found Out They Just Lost A Game, And He Was The Losing Pitcher. I Went Over There, Put My Arm Around Him, And Said, 'what Are You Crying For? When Major League Players Lose, They Don't Cry.'

Everybody Wants To Win, But Everybody Doesn't Win.

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.

It Is A Great Honor To Be Inducted Into The Pacific Coast League Hall Of Fame. When You Honor Me With This Distinction, You Really Honor The Players Who Put Me There. All Of The Honors I Receive Became A Reality Only Through The Contributions Of My Players. In Addition To Myself, You Also Honor My Family And The Dodger Organization. I Accept This Recognition With Pride And Gratitude.

The Best Possible Thing In Baseball Is Winning The World Series. The Second Best Thing Is Losing The World Series.

Listen, If You Start Worrying About The People In The Stands, Before Too Long You're Up In The Stands With Them.

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.

If You Don't Love The Dodgers, There's A Good Chance You May Not Get Into Heaven.

I've Got A Portrait In The Smithsonian. Who Ever Thought That Would Happen?

I'm Telling You, I Don't Like Cheaters.

People Say You Can't Go Out And Eat With Your Players. I Say Why Not.

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