Tom Lasorda, at scouts dinner, shows he can still leave them laughing

Tom Lasorda recycles more stories than Reader’s Digest, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t come up with a fresh gem.

Saturday night at the annual Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation dinner, he was presenting the Tommy Lasorda Managerial Achievement Award to San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy when he got off a good one.

“When I said my prayers last night, first I asked God for forgiveness,” Lasorda said. “I said, ‘Dear Lord, I’m going to have to give a trophy to ... a Giant.’”

Bochy, however, was more than up to the task of receiving his award from Lasorda.

Bochy said his relationship with Lasorda did change after he was hired by the Giants and found that out clearly in 2006 at baseball’s winter meetings in Orlando when he suddenly heard Lasorda’s voice booming across the crowded lobby.

“He’s yelling, ‘Bochy! Bochy! You SOB! I’m never going to talk to you again. You signed with the Giants,’” Bochy said. “And he held his word for awhile.

“Seriously, to be here is such an honor. You were my great-great-great-grandmother’s favorite manager.”

The annual scouts dinner and auction attracted a crowd of more than 1,200 at the Hyatt Regency in Century Plaza Hotel. The organization was founded by Dennis Gilbert to assist professional baseball scouts in financial distress.

Other honorees included Ray Crone Sr. and Jack McKeon (George Genovese Lifetime Achievement in Scouting), Hank Aaron (Bud Selig Executive Leadership), Joe Morgan (player lifetime achievement), Sherry Lansing (Dave Winfield Humanitarian), John Schuerholz (outstanding achievement in baseball), and Elmer Gray, Julian Mock, Bob Oldis, Ray Poitevint, Phil Pote and John Young (legends in scouting).