Dodgers Extend Lasorda Contract : Baseball: Move ends speculation (and distraction) that longtime manager will be replaced after this season.

Dodger President Peter O’Malley extended the contract of Manager Tom Lasorda on Wednesday by one year, retaining his longtime skipper through the 1994 season.

Lasorda, in his 17th season as manager, began his association with the Dodgers in 1949, when he was signed as a pitcher.

The decision, which came after a Wednesday meeting of O’Malley, Lasorda and Executive Vice President Fred Claire, allows the club to start the second half of the season without the distraction of Lasorda’s contract expiring this year.

“I just traveled 9,000 miles in the last three days, and I feel great,” Lasorda said shortly after being told by O’Malley. “I called my wife, Jo, and she was thrilled and then I called my brother. Everybody knows that I love this organization. . . . I’m grateful to be part of it for another year.

“I’ve been bragging the last couple days about the Dodgers after the way they handled (the deaths of Roy) Campanella and (Don) Drysdale. It is an organization with a heart, and they remember people and never forget.”

During the Dodgers’ poor start this season, there was speculation that Lasorda would not be back next season. But Lasorda has been able to blend a team of veterans and youth, turning a 14-22 record to 46-41 at the All-Star break.

“Tommy coming back is as we want it and I’m pleased,” Claire said. “Tommy has done a good job and maintained his enthusiasm for the job and I’m pleased he wants to come back.”

Lasorda is only the second manager the Dodgers have had since they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958. Lasorda succeeded Walter Alston on Sept. 29, 1976, and has won two World Series championships, four National League pennants and six Western Division titles.

Last season, however, the Dodgers finished with the worst record in baseball, and when they got off to a poor start this season, there was speculation that this was Lasorda’s last season as manager.

In an interview earlier this season, O’Malley did not give Lasorda a vote of confidence and went so far as to say he could make decisions in January or June, when asked about Lasorda’s managerial status.

But when the team began winning, it began to look as though he would be back. “We had an off day, it seems like there should be something to get accomplished that is worthwhile,” Claire said, when asked why the extension was made Wednesday. “Beyond that we have been through a lot in the first half, and when we reflect on all that has happened and the importance of it, and the distance we have to travel and looking beyond that, we thought it was the right time.

“We knew (speculation) was going to happen at some point, but that wasn’t the driving force. Overriding that is the fact that we . . . want Tommy to continue.

“If there was any reason why, it’s because he does the job well, he loves it, and all of you know his energy level has not decreased at all, nor has his caring for the players.”

Lasorda said he didn’t know whether he got a salary increase with the extension, because he and O’Malley don’t discuss his salary anymore.

“Whatever my paycheck is, that’s what it is,” Lasorda said. “I told Peter I will work for you (for) whatever you will pay me.”

Lasorda said he had just flown in from the All-Star game Wednesday, where he was a National League coach, and he and Mike Piazza, who was on the team, had stopped to get a bite to eat.

“When I got back to my car my wife, Jo, said that Peter wanted me to come in. I thought maybe he wanted to talk about the club or something and that’s when he told me.

”. . . I hear people ask, ‘Why one year? Why two years?’ . . . But I think the best way for us to go is one year at a time. There is going to come a time when I may say, that this is it. But for now, I really and truly feel like I can do a good job for (the Dodgers) and I think I can give them all of my energy and all of my time to my job.

“They have handled my situation over the years. I am very proud of this, and we will go back into this second half with all the energy and all the drive we can. I’m thinking about 1993, about having a good home stand and making some damage on this lead that the Giants have.”

Said O’Malley: “Tommy is our manager. I admire his commitment and dedication to bringing a championship back to the city of Los Angeles.”

The move ends the guessing, at least for awhile, of who will replace Lasorda when he finally leaves. The top candidates are all former Dodgers: Bill Russell, who is managing the Dodgers’ triple-A club at Albuquerque, Dodger advance scout Phil Regan and Jerry Royster, now a coach for the Colorado Rockies.

“Has anybody told Russell yet?” a reporter asked Lasorda.

Lasorda, who counts Russell as one of his favorites, laughed. “As a matter of fact, he’s managing the (triple-A) All-Star game today,” he said.