The impact and influence of Tommy Lasorda

The nickname Orel Hershiser received from Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda might seem more appropriate for a heavyweight boxer or an offensive lineman. It was not one the slim right-handed pitcher particularly enjoyed at first.

Hershiser appreciated the gesture, because it meant he was accepted as “one of the guys,” but he didn’t feel like a “Bulldog.” Hershiser said he is still more often trying to run away from defeat and embarrassment than he is running toward success with confidence.

It became a catalyst for a pitcher seeking his edge.

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Hershiser started to hear “Bulldog” from fans and teammates. When he did, he felt he grew tougher on the mound, capable of getting out of any jam that presented itself. He had to act like Lasorda wanted him to act. The nickname started to remove the fear.

“In the midst of the Bulldog speech, you could read between the lines and tell that he believed in me,” Hershiser said. “That’s when it really started.”

The Bulldog would go on to amass an 18-year Major League career. He was the 1988 Cy Young Award winner and the World Series MVP that year for Lasorda’s Dodgers. He maintained a close relationship with his skipper until Lasorda’s death Thursday night at 93 years old from a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest.

In tribute to Lasorda, whose 71 unforgettable seasons in the Dodger organization saw him ascend from player to scout to coach to manager to executive and finally special advisor, flags at Dodger Stadium flew at half-staff Friday. “Blue Heaven” was lit throughout the night to illuminate a large №2 painted in center field.

Flowers were placed at Lasorda’s №2 monument in the Retired Numbers Plaza at the Top of the Park, and his jersey and two Manager of the Year Awards marked his seat in the Dodger dugout — a space he occupied for 21 seasons, including championship years in 1981 and 1988.

During his time as a Hall of Fame manager, Lasorda possessed an uncanny ability to get the best out of players in his own endearing yet mercurial and colorful way. There was never a moment, Hershiser said, where Lasorda wasn’t by his side developing his pitching style or his character or his confidence.

Sometimes, that was through positive reinforcement. Sometimes, that was “ripping him a new one.” Other times, it fell somewhere in between.

“There was a time that he actually motivated me by saying, ‘Bulldog, I need you to get these guys out in a hurry. I’m hungry and the postgame spread is cooling,’” Hershiser recalled with a chuckle. “We had a lot of banter out there, especially a fiery guy like that. There were some very famous visits that didn’t include me, ones like the Jesse Orosco one where he was trying to figure out the camera angles so he could swear on the mound and people couldn’t read his lips.”

That was a side of Lasorda anyone could see. But there were others that were more sentimental.

Lasorda, for instance, was fond of writing letters to players, both during and after their playing days. Hershiser said he’d sometimes receive those letters out of the blue. Sometimes, they helped serve as motivation after a season, whether it went well or poorly.

He remembers those letters just as he remembers the boisterous chats on the mound, including a lengthy note he received after leaving Los Angeles for Cleveland. Lasorda felt the two were drifting a bit.

“He wrote me a whole two or three pages about our father-son relationship and how he felt a distance and we needed to rekindle it,” Hershiser said. “He didn’t write it in one line or one paragraph, it was like a two or three page letter going through memories that we had and phone calls and talks we had and places we’d been and how he missed that because now I was in Cleveland and not LA.”

They would stay in close contact from that point forward.