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Spunky Lasorda later died of AIDS and his father shamefully never acknowledged that his son was gay. Tommy Jr. reportedly died of AIDS in 1991. Lasorda was more than the tough manager who won World Series titles in 1981 and 1988. Then he says, "You think people would have cared so much if it had been Mike Tyson?". Anyone can read what you share. In the last two years of his life, Tommy's illness took its toll on his looks. Tommy Lasorda always brought light to every room entered. "If I'm depressed, what good does it do? They became fast friends, hanging out at his apartment in West Hollywood or in the nearby clubs. Accessibility Help. "Tommy Lasorda was always in my corner," Piazza said. It is generally used to erase scars or wrinkles. [But] as far as I'm concerned, I don't think he ever accepted the fact that his son was a gay man. 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. . He could really hold his own in a group of strangers. I meanbut he was incredible. The Dodgers confirmed Jo Lasorda passed away Monday night at the home in Fullerton she and Tommy shared for most of their 70-year marriage. Your quality of life can be good, I say. I got seven or eight dozen balls [signed by Hall of Fame players], we auctioned them, and we built them a home. Tommy never ate. "And to accept the fact he's not with them and what the real reason is. On his head. No way, he continued, with some expletives sprinkled in. A pair of porcelain figures, babies, a boy and a girl, meant to be displayed on a grand pianovery difficult to find, very expensive. He wearied of it. I even had the occasion to meet Garvey several times as a teenager, and as an adult, and even on those occasions, I didn't have a sexual interest in him. He tells me that his winters are so busy with appearances that "you wouldn't believe it." With short hair. "He was very lonely.". This apparent contradiction surfaces regularly in the tale of Tommy Lasorda. ORIGINAL REPORT: Over nearly three decades, Tommy Lasordas denial of his gay sons identity has grown into legend. There was no question that he had a difficult time with it, Pallone said about Lasorda. It may not look like work, but it is; the work is to look as good as you can. On this February weekend, Dodgertown is crowded with clearly affluent, often out-of-shape white men, each of whom has parted with $4,000 to come to Dodgers fantasy camp. From 1965 to 1972, Lasorda's teamsin Pocatello, Ogden, Spokane, then Albuquerquefinished second, first, first, first, second, first, third and first. "I'm one of those gentlemen who liked him," says the man. He had had no sex for a long time. Tommy was forever bugging the editors of Interview to feature him, but they wouldn't. They became friends. "Junior was the better hitter," recalls Steve Garvey. Tommy Lasorda, arguably one of the greatest managers in MLB history, died on January 7, 2021, as first reported by the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I don't care what peopleI know what my son died of. He was as beautiful as his friends. But he smoked, and he drank. He could never be what his father wasTommy Lasorda's own inner orientation made that impossiblebut he could fantasize, couldn't he? 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. "He was as hungry as Madonna. Tommy Lasorda, who managed the Dodgers for 21 seasons and won two World Series titles, died after he sustained a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest Jan. 7 at his home in Southern California. When he did, he was as elegant and debonair as ever: wide-brimmed hats, tailored suits. PENELOPE: What do you do when you get that reaction from them? "The parentsboth of themwere incredibly gracious and kind to everyone in Tommy's life," says a close friend of the family's. Where else would he go to get away from the grief? ", "He was really lonely," Pinkowski says. Whether the two dated or not is never clear, but their relationship was a direct f-you to Lasorda and the Dodgers, who presented a wholesome family values image. Tommy, says one friend, wanted to be like those women in soap operas who have their own businesses but never actually work at them. Tommy Lasorda managed the Dodgers for 20 years, from 1976 to 1996, leading the team to two. Tommy Lasorda died Jan. 7 at age 93. 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. I had to adhere to what Penelope Spheeris had referred to: values. As the Los Angeles Times obituary on Lasorda Sr. states: "In 1991, Lasorda's son, Tom Jr., known as Spunky, died at 33, a death attributed to pneumonia and dehydration. I couldn't help wondering what Tommy Sr. thought when heard about how Magic was so supportive of his son. In his green period, he was known to wear a green lam wrap and drink crme de menthe. No cause of death was given. But what if Tommy Sr., one of the most highly visible men in all of professional sports in those days, had simply acknowledged his son's sexuality and his cause of death? Tom Lasorda, Jr., known as Spunky, died of complications from AIDS on June 3, 1991 at the age of 33. You'd think it'd be hard on a macho Italian man. The cause of his death is still unknown at this time. 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? I ask him if he read in the same paper that his son had died of AIDS. West Hollywood shakes its head and drives on by. The tan is de rigueur. The flamboyant life gave way to a routine of health clubs and abstinence and sobriety and religion. "He walked around with a big smile on his face, as if everything was great because he had everything around him to prove it was great," Spheeris says. He starts to whistle. Two World Series Rings. "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 he stops looking around the room and looks me in the eye. "I think he'd have been so proud of me. Jo Lasorda (l.) died Monday at the age of 91, eight months after her husband Tommy Lasorda's passing. He told Spheeris they were a turn-on. A place where, each spring, in the season of illusion's renewal, they are allowed to be the men they once were. His voice was weak. At school, they shared cigarettes in the hallway. Thirty-three years is better than nothing, isn't it? 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 . Buthe didn't want to admit he had AIDS because people would say he was gay.". Mostly he took pictures of Tommy. And, sometimes, his mood. His memorial service was attended by Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles. 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. After a few weeks, Lasorda was moved into the rehab center where he stayed months. Which I have.". He was preceded in death by Tommy Lasorda, Jr. who died in 1991, and the cause of his death was attributed to pneumonia. He wished he could have liked girls. I also came across the Lasorda story again while reading all about Bean, since most stories referenced Burke, and Lasorda's son, and I began to question Lasorda Senior's explanation. Back in November, he was hospitalized in Orange County, California, and placed in intensive care. Spheeris said Tommy Jr. and his father loved each other. . By January 2021, Jo Lasorda was at least 85 years old. That was all. He was friends with Tommy Lasordas son, Tommy Jr., and believed the team traded him for being gay. Tommy Lasorda managed the Dodgers for 20 years, from 1976 to 1996, leading the team to two World Series championships. My father was the greatest man.". The words are like fingers jabbed into my chest. "But I don't think it wasWhen you're that sad, you have to cover up a lot of pain. On occasion, the nighttime ramble led him far from the stilted elegance of Santa Monica Boulevard. Perhaps it's because that was the first time that I looked at Bean as a man, not a baseball player, and I thought he was hot. He was a complete and total case. . Then Tommy would spend all his money on himself. "Laura and I are saddened by the death of Tommy Lasorda. 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. The Dodgers legend hasnt been seen in public since Game 6 of the 2020 World Series in Arlington, Texas, ESPN reported. PENELOPE: Do you think the press would be mean to you if they had the chance? Henry Siegel, the Voight's proprietor, was impressed by Tommy's self-assurance and generosity. He had a new set of friendswhom he regaled, in his best raconteurial fashion, with tales of the past. A few years ago, as baseball was dealing with racial tensions, like other sports, some were calling on the Dodgers to sever ties with Lasorda because he supported former Dodger General Manager Al Campanis when, in the late '80s Campanis said that Black people "lacked the necessities" to be managers and front-office executives. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. When Tommy Jr. died, Lasorda, his wife and their daughter were at his side, a family spokesman told The Los Angeles Times at the time. Why can't we break down the barriers with the AIDS epidemic?'". Burke is the first player in Major League Baseball history to come out to his teammates during his playing career. We send our condolences to Lasordas family and the Dodgers family upon the passing of this baseball idol. Nationality: United States . On Friday morning, the Dodgers released a statement saying Lasorda suffered. He got out of the car, knelt on the street, and cried. He had fond memories of their time together during and after their on-field days; Lasorda came on Pallones radio show once and told him that he should never have lost his umpiring job. He was young, and because his father was his father, I did not connect the cause of death with AIDS. We just want to be human beings. "He's dead." "He was a character," Pinkowski says at breakfast in a Pasadena coffee shop. Tommy Lasorda Sr., was so involved in that macho sports world, and his son was the opposite", "I was astounded at how many clothes he had. Tommy loved the world of the Dodgers. "If his father has to accept his son's death right now in that way, let him do it," she says. Their first son died at the age of thirty-three, though the cause of death is in dispute. If I coulda seen God and God said to me 'I'm going to give you a son for thirty-three years and take him away after thirty-three years,' I'd have said 'Give him to me.'". In the process, I became a Dodgers fan. The legendary manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers has always denied his son was gay. However, cardiac arrest is not also a "heart . You can't force people to face what they don't want to face without hurting them. We may earn a commission from links on this page. But he didn't admit it.". She said Tommy Jr. didnt want people talking about his sexuality either, because he wanted to protect his fathers wishes. Some of the guys would say stuffyou know how guys arebut most were pretty cool. It's going to take loud voices and even louder fury. He had none of his father's basset-hound features; Tommy's bones were carved, gently, from glass. Tommy Lasorda, arguably one of the greatest managers in MLB history, died on January 7, 2021, as first reported by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sadly, Burke died of AIDS in 1995 at the age of 41. His father regularly called him from the road. He walks down the hallway, clicking them off, talking out loud but to himself. He couldn't do anything. "As beautiful as he was, as famous as his father was, he thought he should be in magazines," Pinkowski says now. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) . He loved the Dodgers. Find more of his work at his website. He gave up everything. By the time I joined GQ's staff, the plague had blown up. They trace the path of a perfect, practiced, very lonely shooting star. One of his closest friends compared it to Linda Blair's in The Exorcistthe scenes in which she was possessed. I can't describe how good that made me feel.". In sixteen years, the tone of the sermon has seldom faltered, at least not before this year. His father bought him an antique-clothing store. PENELOPE: O.K., but you understand, when somebody looks at a picture of you, they're going to say, this guy's awfully feminine. "Some of the guys kidded me. Tom Lasorda, Jr., known as "Spunky," died of complications from AIDS on June 3, 1991 at the age of 33. "I'll lay you three to one Magic plays again. They tell stories that careen from wild and touching to sordid and scary; some ring true, others fanciful. He was gay. By contrast, cardiac arrest is caused when the hearts electrical system malfunctions. He entered a rehabilitation program. It may have been because he learned that he had contracted the human immunodeficiency virus. daughter Laura, and a granddaughter. Thats not the truth., Lasorda also rankled at reports that his son was an AIDS patient. AKA Thomas Charles Lasorda. This is something he wanted. though. You shouldn't judge. Sometimes Tommy had Pinkowski take pictures of them. It looks awful") at the pedestrians diving out of the way. He was gay.". I would really hate to state anything like that. The complex also features Brooke Shields on its list of tenants. Jo Lasorda, the widow of Dodgers' Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, has died at 91, the team announced Tuesday. They were all girls, and they were all very pretty. He was very much like the old boy. . Garvey was the only major league baseball player at Wiggins's service. On Friday morning, the Dodgers released a statement saying Lasorda suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at his California home and was transported to the hospital with resuscitation in progress. He died on Thursday night at 10:57 p.m. PT. I never brought them with me. "I found him totally fascinating. PENELOPE: People who would see you around town, they would probably think you were gay. However, cardiac arrest is not also a heart attack, a mix-up commonly made, according to the American Heart Association. In pink polo shirts and pale-pink slacksthe pastels of privilegethey are scattered around the lounge, flirting with fantasy lives, chatting with the coaches. LOS ANGELES, CA - 1989: Manager Tommy Lasorda #2 and Reggie Smith #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers take batting practice before a game at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers manager showed love for Tommy Jr., but publicly denied that he was gay and that he died of AIDS complications. Perhaps, some members of her family still live there. UPDATED, 6:05 PM: Los Angeles Dodgers legen Tommy was the godfather of his daughter. He's dead.". Tommy often had beautiful women around him, Pinkowski recallsvaguely European, vaguely models. I also read in that paper that a lady gave birth to a monkey, too. When I walk into the clubhouse, I got to put on a winning face. "T. L. Jr." reads the directory outside the locked gate; beyond it, a half-dozen doorways open onto a carefully tiled courtyard. Without it. Peter Richmond is at work on two books for imprints of Penguin Publishing: Lord of the Rings, a biography of Phil Jackson, scheduled to be published this fall, and Always a Catch, a young-adult novel, to be published in the autumn of 2014. If I could have seen God, and God said to me, Im going to give you a son for 33 years and take him away after 33 years, Id have said, Give him to me.. One night, he enteredno, he made an entrancein a cape, with a pre-power ponytail and a cigarette holder: Garbo with a touch of Bowie and the sidelong glance of Veronica Lake. And he'd do anything to keep it going. Not a single Los Angeles writer, seeing the diaphanous beauty on the field, talking to his father, Mister Baseball, had seen fit to explore it. Tommy, Jr. ("Spunky", d. 3-Jun-1991 reportedly AIDS . They met at punk clubsthe blond man in custom-made suits, the striking woman in black cocktail dresses and leather boots. While his father was the Dodgers manager, Tommy Jr. befriended Glenn Burke, an outfielder on the team, which strained Burkes relationship with his boss. 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In the early eighties, they spent a lot of time together. "Are you kidding?" At brunch at the French Quarter, men stop their conversations to lay out their pills on the tables, and take them one by one with sips of juice. One night, he made an entrance into Ragethinner, not the old Tommy, but acting every bit the part. Then, the next day, Tommy would make up for it. Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Baseball. In red. . Lounging on the floor. Tracked me down in a motel in Indiana, screamed over the phone, talked of how he thought we were friends, although our relationship had consisted of a half-dozen interviews over the years in which I quoted him and presented him in my newspaper exactly as he wanted to be presented, which did not cleave to my idea of friendship. She called him a sweet, gentle and loving person with an impeccable sense of style. On June 3, 1991, with his parents and his sisters at his bedside, in the apartment on the cool, flower-strewn street, Tommy Lasorda died. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. For forty-five minutes they tried to light the shot so that the underwear was concealed, to no avail. 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. [But] just because a man doesn't have a date doesn't mean he isn't gay! Legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dies at age 93 of a heart attack. No cause of death was given. By ending the rumors, which did more harm than good, by coming forward with the truth? The director Penelope Spheeris met Tommy Lasorda Jr. at a punk rock club in the 1980s. "Maybe," Baker says, "his ballpark was his sanctuary.". And so, on the odd night. It also helped launch a new career. "You'd be surprised what agonies people have," Dusty Baker, the former Dodger, reminds us, himself a good friend of both father and son, a solid citizen in a sport that could use a few more. Ultimately, I wrote the piece confident that it would advance the cause. "He was a good, sensitive kid," says Dusty Baker, now a coach with the San Francisco Giants. When a person experiences cardiac arrest, it typically results in death if cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, isnt immediately performed followed by a defibrillator, which is used to shock the heart and restore a normal heart rhythm within a few minutes.. ", "I'm in a position where I can help people, so I help people," Tom Lasorda says. Tommy Lasorda serving as an honorary coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. Dave Pallone was an umpire from 1979 to 1988 and says he was fired for being gay. So you try to look at the whole picture, especially then when I was a closeted gay man. RIP Tommy.. 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. In time, became friends. Even though I knew in my heart what was going on, I also wanted to try, just like I do now, and look at the whole person., Pallone said that although Lasordas public comments about his son were horrible, he attributed Lasordas attitude to, among other things, a macho culture, a generational gap, a Catholic background and him being Italian, like my father was Italian. He added, Its a hard thing to accept a sons sexual orientation when it isnt what youre used to.. Drank everything he wanted. I didn't want to show my familythat's my family away from my house. I dont want to be mad at somebody who just passed away and somebody that everybody loves. He was 93. Tommy and his foot were a regular subject of conversation, often led by Tommy. Miami Heat Star Fears Game in Washington: Im Not Leaving My Room. 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, . She and Tommy Lasorda were married 70 years until the legendary Dodgers manager died in January. TOMMY: I'm sure they would, but I'll take ANY PUBLICITY. I ask Eugene if Tommy would have wanted this story written. So the overwhelming number of one-runis, in fact, testament, again, to Lasorda's management. I ask him if he watched the ceremony on television when the Lakers retired Johnson's number. "He talked lovingly about his father and their relationshipthey had a very good relationship," Stevens says now. 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. No cause of death was announced. 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. Then I reported, and reported, and wrote and rewroteand took note that all Tommy Sr. had spoken of was how the son's death had affected him and his wife, and not of his kid, and how difficult it must have been to be one thing to himself, and something else to please his dadand waited, and waited, and finally, the death certificate I'd asked for from the county arrived in the mail, and I knew what I had to do. . While. I tell him his father denies the illness. There was a plague, and it was gutting the arts world in my city, and it needed to be cured, and quickly. He was a quiet tenant, a thoroughly pleasant man. When he was being photographed, Tommy was always trying to become different people. Tommy moved out of his West Hollywood place into a new condo in Santa Monica, on a quiet, neat street a few blocks from the beachan avenue of trimmed lawns and stunning gardens displayed beneath the emerald canopies of old and stalwart trees. Sheer bravado was the tool; tent-preaching thick with obscenities the style. Thats not the truth.. They spent the days poolside at a private home up behind the perfect pink stucco of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Tommy lacquering himself with a tan that was the stuff of legend. I never heard him say 'I want to do my own thing.' He's dead. The good thing about the blue period was that on the nights he didn't want to dress up, he could wear denim and still match his drink. That seemed so out of character. ", "Please," says his Oscar Wilde. Jo Lasorda, widow of Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda, dead at 91 . Pinkowski remarks on the asexual nature of the masks his friend kept donningand about how his friend kept some sides of himself closed off. Because there were times when the pull was just too strong. According to Alex Magno, he knew he was infected for years before his death. That Magic plays again.". The pylons at Los Angeles International Airport were illuminated in Dodger Blue.. Since then, a few more players, umpires and officials have come out. One of the most famous figures in sports sadly perpetuated a culture of shame. Greta Thunberg carried away by police AGAIN. It may have been that he grew up. To say he wasn't gay would be like saying Quentin Crisp isn't gay. Pallone, who used to see Tommy Jr. at games, didnt feel like it was his place to broach the subject. He'd just suddenly take his shoe and sock off at dinner and say 'Did you know I was missing my toe?'". The word does not seem to be connected to anything. No one had. Then the skin is scrubbed to remove yet another layer. tommy lasorda jr cause of death. But Bowie and Grace [Jones] could do something. In green. So was her maiden name. "I cried," Tom Lasorda says quietly. Pallone considered Lasorda a friend and mourned his loss. Then he posed it next to a red shoe on the gray carpet. Burke was traded to the Oakland Athletics in May 1978, an unpopular move in the Dodgers clubhouse. Pallone, though, said he never talked to Lasorda about his coming out in 1990. Lived For 93 Years. He was also the guy . Years later, at some charity event, not in an interview, Lasorda admitted that Tommy Jr was gay and had died of AIDS and he apologized for his homophobia, wrote veteran journalist and former editor Karen Ocamb, the winner of both GLAAD and NLGJA awards. He would hand him something. During that game, he watched as the Dodgers clinched their first championship win since 1988. Still, in recent years, several players, like Kevin Pillar and Yunel Escobar, and the broadcaster Thom Brennaman had to apologize for their use of homophobic slurs. No cause of death was announced. I was a rabid baseball fan growing up. It may have been that he simply grew weary of the scene. "Tommy senior is, as far as I'm concerned, a tremendous man," says Pallone. If there were others who were young and lithe and handsome and androgynous, none were as outre as Tommy. The details of Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda's death have been revealed. umpire who said he was fired in 1988 for being gay. "I could say 'God, why was I dealt this blow? Tommy Lasorda, arguably one of the greatest managers in MLB history, died on January 7, 2021. And of course, back in the '70s and early '80s, I wouldn't admit to anything like that. Garvey attended the memorial service for Alan Wiggins, his former teammate on the San Diego Padres, who died of an AIDS-related illness last year, after a seven-year career in the majors. ", "Of course he was gay," says Jeff Kleinman, the manager of a downtown restaurant who used to travel the same club circuit as Lasorda in the early eighties. As a for-profit goliath, fed by young men who learn homophobia at an early age, governed by men who were themselves raised in a primitive society, Big Sport's seeds of gender-preference bias have been sown very, very deeply, and uprooting them is going to take more than a story or two and more than a handful of men who come out every few years. His father had taught him that. The producers made multiple efforts to get Lasorda to talk, but were rebuffed. Here are some selected relevant portions from that story: Whats remarkable about Burke is how out he was in the 1970s. But Tommy could never stand to be just another anything. To mention one of her many job titles, Jo was a . Jo Lasorda died at 8:59 p.m. Monday, according to the team. One day, Tommy wanted to pose wrapped in a transparent shower curtain. When you got to meet him, you got to know everything about him. Hence the name: The hearts pumping function is arrested, or stopped. The two loving parents tried to do as much for him as he chose to let them doJunior chose a path in life, and that's his prerogative. Tommy Lasorda, one of the most iconic figures in baseball history, managed the Dodgers for 21 seasons from 1976 to 1996. He won two World . This is West Hollywood in the early eighties, where anything is not only possible but likely. In this judgmental, narrow-minded high school, he strutted his stuff.". ", "There's something wrong with hiding the truth," Penelope Spheeris says. The father, of course, spends his life barking and regaling, never stopping; he's baseball's oral poet, an anti-Homer. They said, 'We prayed for a miracle, and God sent you to us.'". 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. They had a great deal in common. He occasionally held a job, never for long. And it's better having comments, be it GOOD, BAD or WHATEVER. But if a passerby's curiosity had been piqued and he'd climbed to the roof of a neighboring building to divine the source of the show, he would have been rewarded by a most unusual sight: a man of striking looks, with long blond hair, startlingly and wincingly thin, hitting the ball with a practiced swinga flat, smooth, even stroke developed during a youth spent in minor-league towns from Pocatello to Albuquerque. Of the game.