Quick Hits on Tommy Lasorda: Baseball’s Most Foul-Mouthed Manager

00:00:13 Speaker 1: After following the Denver broncos unbelievable comeback win against the New York Giants, capped off by the Broncos scoring thirty three points in the fourth quarter after scoring zero points the previous three quarters, their head coach, Sean Payton, spoke with the media. During this press conference, Peyton took what many perceived to be a shot at former Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson. You see, Wilson was traded from the Seahawks to the Broncos in early twenty two twenty two, and Sean Payton took over as head coach of the Broncos in twenty twenty three. To put it mildly, Peyton and Wilson did not get along during their time together, which culminated and Wilson being released from the Broncos before the start of the twenty twenty four NFL season. It might not sound that bad at first, but Wilson had signed a five year, two hundred and forty two million dollar deal with the Broncos in twenty twenty two, with one hundred and sixty five million of those dollars being in guarantees, so when he was released only two years into the contract, the team still had to pay Wilson about eighty five million dollars, a decision that Sean Payton was totally fine with making, showing just how little the coach thought of Wilson's playing ability. Wilson began this season as the starting quarterback for the New York Giants, and most people expected him to act as a veteran presence and mentor to the giants rookie quarterback Jackson Art. Three games into the season, the Giants were z and three, so they made the choice to bench Wilson and start Dart instead. Bearing that in mind, take a listen to Sean Payton's comments after their Week seven victory against the Giants. 00:02:15 Speaker 2: I have a ton of respect for that organization. I spent four in my early years there, coordinate in Super Bowl, first game in this stadium before nine to eleven, close with the Marittish family, and you know they found a little spark with that quarterback. I was talking to John Mayor not too long ago, and I said, we were hoping that that change would have happened long long after our game. 00:02:46 Speaker 1: Did you catch it? Peyton saying he hoped they wouldn't have to face Dart is essentially saying he would have rather played against Russell Wilson, implying that Wilson was a worse quarterback than Dart. Wilson and ded up taking a shot right back at Peyton, calling him classless on social media, and shortly after Peyton spoke to the media again explaining that he never meant to slight Wilson with his comments and that he just meant to show praise to Dart. The resulting media coverage around this beef kind of exploded, resulting in countless articles and online debates over the entire situation. And that's because it's quite rare to hear a head coach call out an opposing team's player in the media. It just doesn't happen that often anymore, so when it does, it gets a lot of coverage. When you compare this story and beef to the way coaches and players used to call each other out in the media, it becomes almost laughable. Even just a few decades ago, the sports landscape was the wild, wild wild West compared to today, and there's no better example of this than former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers Tommy Lesorda, who not only called out other players, but cussed them out in ways you have to hear to believe. So on today's Quick Hits episode of Sports Dot MP three, I'll be diving into a few examples of Lesorda's most infamous and iconic rants. Spoiler alert, there's a lot of vulgarity ahead, so be aware. All right, let's get into it, Tommy Lesorda managed the Los Angeles Dodgers from nineteen seventy six to nineteen ninety six and was well known for his charisma, leadership, love of baseball, and his mouth. The man loved quick one liners and cussing every opportunity he got, and during his career he led the Dodgers to two World Series wins, one in nineteen eighty one and another in nineteen eighty eight. He was also a well known figure outside of baseball. For instance, my mom, who has never been a big baseball fan, knew who he was. He was a frequent guest on various talk shows, acted as a TV spokesperson for Budweiser SlimFast, which was a diet drink, and even a personal computer brand. And that's not all. He also made appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond and WrestleMania, among other shows. So in short, he was well known in pop culture, not just sports culture. If that still doesn't drive home just how popular he was at the time, especially for a manager. Listen to this. When Lasorda first took over as manager of the Dodgers in nineteen seventy six, his close personal friend Frank Sinatra sang the national anthem for the team's inaugural home opener. I can't mention that without also noting that Sinatra lost a printed sheet that had the anthem's lyrics just before his performance, leading him to completely butcher a few of the lines. And luckily for us, audio recording technology did exist back then, so we can relive that opening day anthem right. 00:06:10 Speaker 3: Now, ohne, what's so brown? We then last, please, who's broad Scots? Than ride Star through the fast word? 00:06:42 Speaker 4: So rye. 00:06:45 Speaker 3: Ham at the prime last wee. 00:06:51 Speaker 1: And only two years into his managerial career, Losorda and leash one of his most memorable profanity laced rants at a player ever, and it was all thanks to Dave Kingman, a star player who had earned the nickname Kong as in King Kong because he stood at six feet and six inches tall and was known to either hit massive bombs or strikeout each at bat. Kingman averaged one home run every fifteen point one one at bats in his career, good enough for nineteenth all time, and his one thy eight hundred and sixteen career strikeouts sat at fourth most all time when he retired. On May fourteenth, nineteen seventy eight. It was Mother's Day and the eighteen and thirteen Los Angeles Dodgers, who sat just a half game behind the San Francisco Giants in the standings, were set to face the struggling fifteen and fifteen Chicago Cubs, who had signed Kingmen just before the season. Leading up to the game, Kingman had been struggling. His season totals before the game sat at four home run ten RBIs and a two hundred and twenty one batting average. In the ninth inning, the Dodgers were actually winning until Dave Kingman hit a two run homer to tie the game and send it to extra innings, his second home run of the game. Then, in the fifteenth inning, Kingman won upped himself by hitting what proved to be a game winning three run shot. To summarize, Kingman finished the game with three home runs, eight RBIs, three runs, four hits, one walk, and thirteen total bases, accounting for eight of the Cub's ten runs and basically doubling his season totals. A young reporter somewhat ironically named Paul Olden asked Tommy Lesorda a few questions, including one that really set him off. Olden asked Lesorda what his opinion of Kingman's performance was, and the response that followed is impossible to forget. 00:08:57 Speaker 5: Which your opinion of Kingman's performance? 00:09:00 Speaker 4: Opinion of king his performance? What you think is my opinion of it? I think it was put that in. I don't opinion of his performance. He beat us with three home runs? What can you mean? What is my opinion of his performance? How can you ask me a question like that? What is my opinion of his of his performance? He hit three home runs. I'm off to lose the game, and you asked me my opinion of his performance. I mean that's a tough question to ask me, isn't it. What is my opinion of his performance? Yes, it is, I asked, getting you gave me an answer. Well, I didn't give you a good answer because I'm mad, But I mean, it wasn't a good question. It's a tough question to ask me right now, what is my opinion of his performance? 00:09:52 Speaker 5: I mean, you want me to. 00:09:53 Speaker 4: Tell you what my opinion of his performance Isn't he just did? That's right, guy hits three home against us. 00:10:04 Speaker 1: Unfortunately I couldn't find any audio that didn't include the beeps, but that won't be a problem later on. Now, if you're curious if the reporter survived, he did and is now the public address announcer for the New York Yankees. As for the aftermath of the rant, it became legendary among baseball fans, but it's hard to fathom how immensely viral it would have been in today's climate. It took years for Lesorda to ever comment on the incident, and when he finally did, he was actually pretty candid in his answer quote, I'm not proud of it. When that guy talked to me, I was as low and depressed and dejected as you can get. I mean, we lose the game in fifteen innings, I have to go into my starting pitchers, and it knocked the daylights out of me. Then this guy comes in at the very moment I sat down and asked me, what is your opinion? So I proceeded to tell him what my opinion was. End quote. He also laid added quote. I ran into Paul Olden a few times when he was announcing for Tampa Bay. I told him, you didn't do anything wrong. I was the guy who did something wrong. Eventually it got all over the country, and I think now it's in Japanese end quote. If you think the Kingman ran is a bit much, we've barely scratched the surface. Because only four years later, Lesorda would produce perhaps the most brutal, scathing roast of two players in the history of baseball, if not sports. His two targets Joe Lefey and Kurt Bovaqua. In nineteen eighty two, the Dodgers and San Diego Padres had a bit of a rivalry brewing, and it was largely due to a particularly heated game on June twenty ninth, nineteen eighty two. The Padres were losing four to zero at the top of the ninth inning, but Kurt Bavaqua, a veteran known as a utility player, meaning he could play a lot of different roles and skilled pinch hitter hit a double to left center field, scoring one run and just as importantly, causing Dodgers manager Tommy Lesorda to pull their starting pitcher Jerry Royce. When Lesorda walked out to the mound to tell Royce that he was pulling him, he did so by yelling and cussing a lot. There was just one slight twist. Lesorda was yelling at Royce, but he was staring down Bavoqua the entire time. Here's what Bovaqua later said about the incident in his own words, quote, He's yelling at Royce, but looking at me, he's calling me a shitty hitter. I yelled at Lesorta, grabbed my crotch and told him where to stick it. And next thing I know, Alan Wiggins was tapping me on the shoulder, telling me that Dick Williams sent him in to pinch run. So I left the field, upset at Williams's and Lesorda end quote. So, in essence, Losorda was shouting at his own pitcher, Royce, but he was staring at and roasting Bavaqua, who in response made some obscene gestures involving his crotch, which then caused Bavaqua's manager to pull him out of the game, and then the Padres went on to win the game in the tenth inning. The resulting tension carried over to the very next day when the two teams were set to face off again in this game, with the Padres winning five to four. At the top of the ninth Broderick Perkins hit a home run to make the score six to four. The very next set bat, Dodgers pitcher Tom Neiedenfeer threw a pitch that hit Padres batter Joe Leffey in the helmet. Bavaqua, who was not playing in the game, immediately charged the mound, was stopped by the first base umpire, and then ejected from the game. It was clear that Pavaqua thought the pitcher intentionally hit the Padres player. A few days later, Dodger's pitcher nieden Fuer was fined five hundred dollars for the incident, which is approximately one thousand, six hundred and eighty dollars when adjusted for inflation. When Bavaqua heard about the fine, he told reporters quote, they ought to find that fat little Italian who ordered the pitch end quote for reference, Lesorta was Italian, and it was pretty clear to everyone exactly who he was calling out. In response to being called a fat little Italian, Lesorda denied that he told his pitcher to throw the ball at a player and went scorched earth on both Bavaqua and le Fey. Here's his profanity, laced rant in its entirety and not edited out, so be prepared. 00:14:48 Speaker 4: I think that was very, very bad for that man to make an accusation like that. That is terrible. I have, never, ever since I had managed, ever told a pitcher to throw it anybody, nor will I ever, and if I ever did, I certainly wouldn't make him throw at a fucking one hundred and thirty hitter like Lefe or fucking Babaqua, who could hit water if he fell out of a fucking boat. And I guaran fucking te you this. When I pitched, and I was going to pitch against a fucking team that had guys on it like Bambakua, I sent a fucking limousine to get the cocksucker to make sure he was in the motherfucking lineup, because I kicked that cocksucker's head any fucking day in a week. He's a fucking, motherfucking big mouth. I'll tell you that. 00:15:39 Speaker 1: The animosity between the Dodgers and Padres reached new heights thanks to Lasorda's response, and this newfounded rivalry actually ended up as a bit of a positive for the Padres because it gave them exactly what they were looking for, a rival team, which, according to former Padres VP of Marketing Andy Strasburg, was marketing gold. And while there's certainly no love lost between Lesorta and Bavaqua, the two seemed to develop somewhat of a mutual respect or at least understanding of where the other was coming from. When Lesorda passed away in twenty twenty one, Bavaqua said in an interview quote it was never hate. He was the kind of guy that you cannot stand when you're on the opposite side of the field, but when you are on the same side, you love them. End quote. Losorda continued managing the Dodgers for another fifteen years after this tirade, and listening back to it now, it's almost impossible to imagine a coach not getting fired immediately for saying anything remotely close to that today, let alone keeping the job for another decade and a half. When you think about the difference between Losorda's rants and Sean Payton's remarks about Russell Wilson, it's clear that the expectations of how coaches and players alike should carry and conduct themselves has massively changed in the last forty years. Sean pay saying that he wished he didn't have to play a rookie quarterback instead of Russell Wilson became a notable sports media story. And yet when you compare what he said to what Lasorda said, Peyton comes across as friendly as mister Rogers or Bob Ross. In truth, it's hard to foresee a future head coach or manager ever roasting and cussing out a player as intensely and publicly as Lesorda did, let alone keeping their job. But that's kind of the whole point of this episode. It shows that times have changed, and if nothing else, Losorda serves as a monument to the sports world that was not the sports world that is. And that's okay, And that does it for today's Quick Hits episode. As always, I'm Will Gatchel. You've been listening to sports Dot MP three and I'll be back next Thursday with a new episode. Thank you so much for listening, and have a great weekend. See you next week. 00:17:57 Speaker 5: Peace, John, don't just not count Jo. Don't