the gold medal at the prior two Olympics. In doing so, he became the first manager to win a World Series championship and lead a team to Olympic gold. Lasorda coached the 2001 All-Star Game as third base coach. While at the plate, Vladimir Guerrero lost his bat while swinging and it flew towards Lasorda, causing him to fall backwards. Lasorda was unharmed. Following the sale of the Dodgers to Frank McCourt in 2004, Lasorda was appointed special advisor to the chairman, where his responsibilities included scouting, evaluating, and teaching minor league players, acting as an advisor and ambassador for the Dodgers' international affiliations, and representing the Dodgers in public appearances and speaking engagements. During spring training in 2008, the Dodgers were invited to play a series of exhibition games in Taiwan. Dodgers manager Joe Torre took a group of players with him for that series. The majority of the team remained behind in Florida to finish out the Grapefruit League season. Lasorda briefly came out of retirement to manage the team that remained in Florida. In 2011 an unnamed Dodger executive came up with the idea of having Dodger manager Don Mattingly ask Lasorda to be an honorary coach on his 84th birthday, against the San Francisco Giants. Honors and awards Lasorda was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 as a manager in his first year of eligibility. The Dodgers retired his uniform number (2) on August 15, 1997 and renamed a street in Dodgertown as "Tommy Lasorda Lane". In 2014, a new restaurant named "Lasorda's Trattoria" opened at Dodger Stadium. The Sporting News Minor League Manager of the Year (1970) UPI and Associated Press (AP) Manager of the Year (1977) AP Manager of the Year (1981) AP and Baseball America Manager of the Year (1988) Sporting News Co-Manager of the Year (1988) Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award presented by the United States Sports Academy (2000) Minor planet 6128 Lasorda was named in his honor. Bob Feller Act of Valor Award 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame winner. The University of Pennsylvania's baseball field was named after Lasorda in 2020. Public persona Lasorda was famous for his colorful personality and outspoken opinions regarding players and other personnel associated with baseball. He had a number of obscenity-filled tirades, some of which were taped and became underground classics, like his explosion over Kurt Bevacqua in 1982. The most