Though longtime Dodgers skipper Tommy Lasorda is a mysterious no-show in LA’s recently completed video in support of “It Gets Better”, the 84 year old recently celebrated his birthday by serving as an honorary third base coach for last Thursday’s home tilt against the Giants.  It’s with Tommy’s baseball legacy and humanitarian streak in mind that we recall the following CSTB post from July 8, 2008, “YFIASB : Haunted By The Nearly Nude Lasorda” ;

The LA Times ran a piece on ballpark statues in which author Kevin Baxter noted Dodgers Stadium is amongst the clubs without one. While Your Face Is A Sports Blog‘s Duke Of Everything rejects Sandy Koufax as a subject for not being “‘iconic’ enough”, he’s not without alternative suggestions.

I started to ask myself what the perfect statue would be to represent the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. If I just closed my eyes and thought “Los Angeles Dodgers”, what immediate associations did I have.

A few ideas came to mind:

  • Steve Garvey surrounded by children – dozens and dozens of children
  • A fan in a Raiders hat and Dodgers jersey pouring beer on a 6 year-old wearing a Giants hat
  • Jackie Robinson in Heaven, watching Al Campanis on God’s TV and weeping
  • Fred Claire giving Pedro Martinez a handshake and a plane ticket to Montreal

But the one thing that symbolized the Dodgers, more than anything else, would be this: Tommy Lasorda, naked except for a towel barely covering his sweaty midsection, at the post-game buffet filling his plate with mounds of linguini while screaming profanities at the clubhouse boys. It’s a mental image I picked up while reading John Feinstein’s “Play Ball” several years ago, and no amount of therapy has been able to scrub it from my memory. (Perhaps a more accurate statue would have two sides – one with Lasorda smiling and hugging kids, while the other had him foaming at the mouth about Dave Kingman – but I disgress.)

The Duke’s proposed Mets monument would feature “Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden playfully skiing down a mountain of blow”, which, I suppose on the old iconic-meter, scores a lot higher than David Cone whipping it out, Kevin Mitchell decapitating a cat, or the duo of Shane Spencer and Karim Garcia beating up the pizza delivery guy.