Last month, 2 legends of baseball passed away: Tommy Lasorda & Hank Aaron!
Tommy Lasorda
Tommy Lasorda played in the Major Leagues in the 1950s, but his legend had more to do with his bold personality as a coach & a manager in the following decades.
As a manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, his team made the playoffs many years and won the World Series in 1988.
He was very excitable around his players and confrontational with referees and journalists.
He appeared in TV ads for Ultra Slim Fast, a protein shake that is advertised to help people lose weight.
He has also done speaking gigs around the country, including my graduation ceremony at the University of Hawaii at Manoa back in 2004! I remember mostly his loud talks of the importance of getting an education, and also his joke about liking baseball better than football (and I was sitting next to a member of the UH football team. He laughed it off).
Lasorda coached in the 2000 Olympics. He later spoke out in defense of keeping baseball in the Summer Olympics when it was dropped from the 2012 & 2016 games. Baseball expected to return to the Olympics this year (if they actually not cancel it again this year due to the coronavirus).
Last year, Lasorda was able to witness the Dodgers win its first World Series since the time he coached the team to victory in 1988.
A few months later, on January 7, 2021, Lasorda died from a heart attack. He was 93 years old.
learn more at https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/01/08/breaking-news/tommy-lasorda-fiery-hall-of-fame-dodgers-manager-dies-at-93/
tribute video from the Dodgers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAqw6dp56CU
Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron was one of the greatest (if not, the greatest) baseball players of all time.
He was best known for breaking the home run record in 1974. The record was previously held by Babe Ruth. This was resented by many white supremacists who sent Aaron threatening letters as he got closer to breaking the record.
Aaron was born in Alabama during the Jim Crow era and started his career in segregated leagues. He entered Major League Baseball in 1954, a few years after Jackie Robinson joined as the first African-American player.
Aaron spent most of his career with the Braves, a team that moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta during his time there. He broke the record while the team was in Atlanta, a formerly segregated city that has since become the center of African-American culture.
Aaron later became an executive within the Atlanta Braves organization as well as with Turner Broadcasting Station (TBS) which broadcast the games.
Aaron later experienced seeing his homerun record being broken by Barry Bonds back in 2007. Bonds was under controversy at the time for allegations of steroid use. People suggested putting an asterisk (*) by Bond's name in the home run list. Others responded that the asterisk (*) should be by Babe Ruth's name since he competed in a racially segregated time and therefore couldn't accomplish feats with competition from players of all races.
Aaron was gracious during all this, congratulating Bonds on his accomplishment.
Aaron passed away on January 22, 2021, at the age of 86.
A few weeks earlier, he took the vaccine for the coronavirus. This situation encouraged the anti-vaxxers to spread doubts about the vaccine's safety. It has not been publicized if it was actually the vaccine that contributed to his death. Thousands of others took the vaccine with no known side effects.
learn more about Hank Aaron at https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/01/22/sports/sports-breaking/hank-aaron-baseballs-one-time-home-run-king-dies-at-86/
The tribute video from the Atlanta Braves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IpFuuhnw5Y
