Blue Heaven on Earth

Saint Tommy preaching to his flock.

Referring to God as the "big Dodger in the sky" and Dodgers Stadium as "blue heaven on earth," Lasorda, whose talk closed out the 1998-99 edition of the Distinguished Speakers Series, said his epitaph will read "Dodgers stadium was his address but every ballpark was his home."

... "Loyalty is an amazing thing," he added. "I love the Dodgers and I want to die a Dodger."

Back in my youth, when days where filled with fun and irresponsibility, I had an opportunity to hear Tommy Lasorda give an inspirational speech to employees at my Fathers work. My Dad was an engineer with Flour Daniel. Pops jumped an the chance to let his young son listen to the patriarch of the Dodgers. The Dean of the Blue Diamond. And I welcomed the opportunity to listen to his kind words. I remember being so excited about being there.

It was some time ago, the exact time period or date escapes me, so its hard to remember exactly the body of his speech. But rest assured, it was probably much like the speech described at the Distinguished Speaker Series detailed above. I left the evening with a smile on my face, a signature in my hand and a strange sense that Tommy was talking right to me. I'm sure he said, "we must believe we can achieve whatever we want, but we can only achieve our dreams through the avenue of hard work."