New Home for Dodger Blueblood

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — He told the story of seeing an opposing manager in Catholic church on the morning of a game, and of watching him light a candle.

"I walked up the other side, crossed the altar and blew it out," Tom Lasorda said.

He told the story of the time he asked teammate Pee Wee Reese to cite the least likely future star manager among 25 members of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers.

"He told me I was 24th, and I said, 'I'm only 24th?' " Lasorda recalled. "He said, 'Yeah, [Sandy] Amoros is 25th, because he can't speak English.' "

He laughed, he wept, he talked of the dreams of a 15-year-old boy and the sadness of a 69-year-old man.

Then, as if there was any doubt that baseball's staid Hall of Fame had just added a leopard-skin couch, Lasorda pointed into the crowd and shouted, "I also want to recognize and thank one of the greatest actors in the history of Hollywood."

Up stood Tony Danza.

It took Lasorda 48 years to get here, but only 13 minutes to make himself at home Sunday during induction ceremonies for baseball's Hall of Fame.

In front of nearly 15,000 at a grassy park in the shadow of the Adirondacks, Lasorda became the 14th manager and 15th person associated with the Dodgers inducted into baseball's shrine.

Considering he prepared for his afternoon speech by hijacking an entire section of the dining room at the fabled Otesaga Hotel and eating a four-hour breakfast with 100 or so of his closest friends . . . he did just fine.

Also inducted were knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro, Negro League shortstop Willie Wells and second baseman Nellie Fox.

Niekro gave a touching tribute to his late father, Phil Sr., a coal miner and amateur star.

Niekro said his father's daily game with other coal miners in heaven was being delayed by the ceremony, and ended his speech with, "Play ball, Dad."

Stella Wells talked of her father's once-distant Hall of Fame hopes and said, "I never dreamed I would have this opportunity."

Joanne Fox, widow of longtime Chicago White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox, said her husband's hard play was a reminder that "heart and soul have made baseball the game we all love."

That is certainly what made Lasorda so beloved and an easy pick for baseball's Veteran's Committee when it elected him this spring in his first year of eligibility.

His eight division titles, four pennants and two world championships were noted Sunday, as were his 61 postseason games, ranking him third among all managers.