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Title: I Live for This!: Baseball's Last True Believer
ISBN: 0618653872
Author:
Bill Plaschke
Publicate Date: 2007-10-24
Publish: 2007-10-24
List Price: $25.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $1.98
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.54
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.50
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Tommy Over The Ages
Do you bleed Dodger blue? Tommy does. If that's your blood color, don't miss this breezy look at the many ages of Tommy from little kid through to the 2008 season when he managed the last game at Dodgertown in Vero Beach.
Tommy Lasorda is a unique combination of loyal supporter, brash striver, outrageous motivator, kid with a chip on his shoulder, big-hearted helper, insecure human, foul-mouthed jerk, and adoring pal. The size of his heart is what stands out from this biography.
I decided to pick up the book when my sister recounted a story about some shenanigans at one of the Dodger minor league clubs a few weeks ago. She told me that she would straighten it out. I asked her how. She said, "I'll tell Tommy the next time I see him."
Naturally, I asked her when she sees Tommy and she replied that he often comes to the minor league team's games. She often chats with him there.
If you want an objective look at baseball, the Dodgers, the modern game, or anything else, go elsewhere. This book is for those who loved watching Tommy Lasorda manage.
I was never so moved by baseball as when Tommy's crew won the 1988 World Series with a bunch of players most other teams would have sent to the minors. But they all believed and they achieved. I still tear up thinking about that series and the incredible courage they displayed.
I also owe Tommy and the Dodgers for letting me watch them win the 1981 series in Yankee Stadium. I didn't know Yankee fans could be so quiet.
Bill Plaschke knows Tommy and does a good job of mixing up today, yesterday, stories about the old times, and what Tommy plans to do next into the same stream of consciousness. It's like being with Tommy.
May God bless Frank McCourt for buying the Dodgers and putting Tommy back into the middle of things where he belongs.
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2: disappointing at first but it gets better
I have seen Plaschke on TV and met Tommy Lasorda at Dodger stadium one time as we past his limo heading into the park. This was after his managerial carrer was over. My wife was a nurse working when Tommy's wife wsa treated at Centinela hospital i 1991. He stopped to talk to us and sign something for us but said he was in a hurry. My wife mentioned his wifes's hospitalization and we got into a nice friendly conversation before he left. As related in the book, Tommy was himself hospitalized at Centinela in 1996 for a heart attack. So even though I was a Yankee fan and relished in the Yankee victories over his Dodgers in 77 and 78, I found him to be very nice, funny and endearing.
That type of personality comes through in this book as well. But early on we learn about his idiosynchrosies and the story meanders. It is hard to tell where Plaschke is trying to go with this.
I was thinking about a possible two star review or at most a three. But things got interesting as I moved toward the latter chapters. I learn how he managed to get the Dodgers to sign Mike Piazza and how Lasorda helped mold him into perhaps the greatest slugging catcher in baseball history.
But the most interesting part for me was to read how he took advantage of the moves Fred Claire made to revamp the team after a dismall 1987 season to build a world champion. Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser were the key players and under the leadership of Gibson Lasorda could lay back and let Gibby motivate the rest of the players. So Tommy shut down his usual pep talks and ket the team run on automatic pilot to take the West Division championship. However when the got to the NLCS they had to beat a strong Mets team that had beaten the dodgers badly in their regular season games. It was the way he managed motivated and handled pitchers like Oraszco and Hershisher that got them through a tough seven gane series. In the world series they faced a very formidable Oakland team led by bash brothers McGwire and Canseco. The way he used Kirk Gibson in game 1 produced one of the most dramatic game winning homeruns in the history of the World Series.
Inside strategy and motivational tricks that Lasorda used to bring out the best in all his players is what makes the book interesting, So I give the book four stars for showing this and the many facets of the complicated personality that is Tom Lasorda.
Also interesting and a point I did not know was that as a player in 1957 his beloved Dodgers traded him to Kansas City (the choice was keep Lasorda or keep Koufax) and since Kansas City traded players to the Yankees so much he quickly was traded to the Yankees and was immediately sent to their AAA farm team in Denver, the Denver Bears. In Denver Lasorda learned a lession in managerial psychology from his manager Ralph Houk and this affect the way he treated players throughout his managerial career.
Another very interesting point was how his loyalty was tested when in 1976 he was offered a nice contract to manage the Montreal Expos but turned it down. He knew that Alston would be retiring soon and he felt that he had built up relationships with the current Dodger player who he had managed in the minors that my serve him to have a good shot at becoming the Dodger manager. His thinking was absolutely right and in 1977 he was picked to replace the retiring Alston as the Dodger manager.
The story has a happy ending with Lasorda leading the USA baseball team to the Gold medal by shutting out the favored Cubans 4-0 in the final.
After this a Bostonian decides to buy the LA Dodger franchise and bring Lasorda back into prominance wheras the previous owners from FOX had ignored this Dodger icon.
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3: Counterproductive
I know that Tommy Lasorda is a fun, lovable guy. I've heard interviews with him that made me want to learn more about him. So I picked up this book. And I have to say, I really wish I hadn't. I'm not sure why, but Bill Plaschke has painted Lasorda as an out-of-place, annoying, irritant who uses lies as a motivational tool and routinely accepts paid speaking gigs without bothering to prepare what he is going to say. And somehow, Plaschke seems to think that this makes Lasorda more lovable? Maybe he just didn't realize what he was writing. Anyway, I disliked Lasorda more and more as I continued through the book, and afterward I actively had to distance myself, remind myself that the author is creating the image, and try to return to my previous notions of who the great Tommy Lasorda really is. Thankfully, I have been able to do that. Phew. I don't recommend reading this one unless you are prepared to try to do the same though.
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4: I live for this my review
I live for this is a good bio of Tom Lasorda.This book is full of good stories from His childhood growing up poor to recent times. There are jokes worth borrowing, the one about the Pope and the Taxidriver is a classic. Tom Lasordas carrer as a player was good in the minors with 5 stops Montreal. In the majors bad luck and injuries limited His time in the majors. Preacher Roe gave Him good advice and at a low point Pee Wee Reese is the only one to talk to Him. Lasordas approach to managinng was shaped by two managers one who was cold and one who was freindly and encouraging. The team Tom Lasorda hates the most isnt The Yankees or Giants its The Cuban olympic team. Theres a hopeful optimisum, warm sense of humor here, its easy to see why He lasted and is a fan favorite. This book is easy to read, inspirng and entertaining.
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5: I LOVED This Book!!!!!
This book about Tommy Lasorda is GREAT! I could not stop reading it and I didn't want it to end! It has everything going for it! It's funny. It's sad. It's inspiring! It's full of positive thinking and never giving up stories! I love the way it goes back and forth between present day events and Tommy's past. I've always liked Tommy Lasorda and after reading this book, I love him! What a great guy! Though the World Series wins are great, winning the Olympics is AMAZING! This book is for EVERYONE. You don't have to be a baseball fan. The stories are life stories and apply to all of us. I highly recommend this great book!
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