\o7T\f7\o7OM LASORDA\f7 has spent a lifetime preparing for this role, which explains why we're sitting in Paul's Kitchen in downtown Los Angeles, enough food in front of us to feed the entire Dodgers roster, but then Santa Claus must eat, you know, to keep his figure.
If the Dodgers do not win the division title, Lasorda has agreed to buy $1,000 worth of toys, dress as Santa and pass them out to the kids at Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA.
Who better to play the part than Lasorda, his eyes -- how they twinkle. Ask anyone who has met him and they will tell you, he has a broad face and a little round belly.
They might even say he was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and just like me when I saw him pictured with all those mini Mickey Mouses, I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he believes Santa Claus is alive and well, prompting him to tell the story about the time he struck the old guy out while pitching for Brooklyn. After all, there is nothing but blue snow, as you know, at the North Pole. Just ask Lasorda.
This week the L.A. icon celebrated his 79th birthday, his protege, Bobby Valentine, arranging to send 79 fruit baskets to Lasorda's home because years ago Lasorda told his players, "I'm busting my behind to make you guys better so you can make a lot of money, and you guys wouldn't even buy me a basket of fruit."
Valentine contacted 79 of Lasorda's friends, had them write messages to Lasorda -- some sappy, some funny -- then attached each one to a basket that contained more toys than fruit, which have now been donated to Mattel Children's Hospital.
"When you come to a fork in the road," wrote Yogi Berra, "use it to eat pasta."
"You taught me how to play the game and you made me love the game," wrote Billy Buckner. "You were like a father to me.... "
"Although you told me long ago in Dodgertown I would never amount to more than a batboy," wrote Brian Cashman, former Dodger batboy and now general manager of the New York Yankees, "at age 39, I already have twice as many World Series rings as you, and counting! Oh, by the way, here's your fruit basket."
Lasorda was beaming, as he spoke and chewed at the same time, the messages a confirmation he's loved by some of the people that count the most to him. It's the same thing he felt, he said, when the fans in Dodger Stadium gave him an appreciative ovation Friday night for his birthday.
