Sport: Nice Guys Always Finish . . . ?

(5 of 6)

Lasorda was in a unique position to know just how good was the team he now led. Nine players on the Dodger roster played minor league ball under his tutelage. O'Malley, who tolerates clubhouse conflict only slightly less than free agents, had long assured an orderly transition. "We had Tommy in mind as a manager about ten years ago," O'Malley explained. "We deliberately took our best young prospects and put them on minor league teams that Tommy was managing. It's paid off. He knows the players."

Second Baseman Davey Lopes, whom Lasorda converted from an outfielder in the minors, credits the manager with creating a major league career for him. Says Lopes: "If someone takes an interest in me as a man as well as a player, our overall relationship will be improved. Of all Tommy's gifts, that's the greatest." Reggie Smith, the gifted, moody outfielder who bounced around the big leagues on a malcontent's reputation before finding a home with the Dodgers last season, was considered an acid test for Lasorda. Smith had a sterling year at the plate (.307 batting average, 32 HRs and 87 RBIs).

The Dodgers' fast start was a tribute to Lasorda's planning. Over the winter he met with every player and told him his role for the next year. In spring training, his lineup was set, and the starters played together from the first day of camp—honing teamwork, learning one another's strengths and weaknesses. A rigorous running regimen brought the Dodgers' pitchers into top shape and kept them well-tuned. Only two pitchers missed their regular turn in the starting rotation, and then just once. Lasorda, committed to his lineup, never bent, even in the face of the Yankees' slugging lefthanders. Against all the percentages and the prudent practice of every American League manager, he started two righthanders against the fearsome New York bats in Yankee Stadium—it was their turn to pitch.

Lasorda catered to the journeymen as much as he did to the regulars, lunching with the No. 7 outfielder, enveloping a utility infielder with praise. Injured players struggling to come back from surgery—Pitcher Tommy John, Outfielders Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith—were bombarded with encouragement by the chunky Dale Carnegie in Dodger Blue. Always, the message was the same: The Dodgers will win. Says Reggie Smith: "He allowed us to share. He gave us a greater sense of being part of something, and we had to believe in ourselves because he never doubted us. He preached to us from day one that we were going to win it. In all my 15 years, I had never heard a manager say it so emphatically." Adds John: "If this has been my best season, then Tommy deserves much of the credit because he's made me a more confident pitcher."