For Once, Lasorda Is Mum : Smiling Wax Figure of Dodgers Manager Boards Flight for Florida

Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, drew more than the usual amount of stares as he was whisked through John Wayne Airport early Monday morning.

Lasorda, wearing his Dodger Blue uniform and sporting a suntan, looked pretty stiff. Even though he was smiling, he didn’t say a word.

It wasn’t because the Dodgers had just lost three games in a row to the California Angels in the Freeway Series. It wasn’t because he was mad at Darryl Strawberry.

No, Tommy Lasorda just wasn’t himself.

In fact, it was Lasorda’s wax likeness that captured looks of surprise and delight as the figure was carted through the airport for a Delta Air Lines flight to Orlando, Fla.

The wax figure, created by Buena Park’s Movieland Wax Museum, will be displayed at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., the spring training site for the Los Angeles baseball team.

This summer, the wax sculpture will return to the Southland to be part of an exhibit at Dodger Stadium that will include other ball players, said Mark Edwards, Movieland’s general manager.

Other “Dodger greats” will be molded into wax works of art for the stadium exhibit, said Edwards, who added that a wax sculpture of former Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela has already been completed.

A Dodgers spokeswoman said an unveiling ceremony of the Lasorda figure will be held in either late June or July at the stadium before a game.

At John Wayne Airport, jokes were flying like fastballs as airline passengers commented on the girth of Lasorda’s wax figure.

“He’s pretty slim--is he still taking Slim-Fast?” mused Linda Hosokawa of Huntington Beach, referring to Lasorda’s TV commercial pitching the diet plan.

Hosokawa, who was heading for a ski trip to Colorado, added: “I was wondering if he was ever going to move. He stayed smiling the whole time.”

Delta flight attendant Priscilla Hill joked as startled passengers walked by the Lasorda figure, which had an airline boarding pass in hand, to take their seats for the 8:35 a.m. flight.

“He’s so happy and cheery so early in the morning,” Hill laughed. “It’s a pleasure to serve him!”

Edwards explained that the wax figure was being flown to Florida first-class for fear that its head might be damaged if it was shipped any other way.

“A slight jar and it could ruin six months of artwork,” he said.

Edwards said that Lasorda’s deep blue eyes were made of glass and are very fragile. He said that each strand of real human gray hair was placed on the head one hair at a time. “That process takes a month,” he said.

Edwards added that the head was placed on a bendable upper torso so it could travel like a real person.

The wax body, however, was carefully packed in a crate and was shipped with the flight’s other baggage. But Edwards did tote on board the wax hands in a cardboard box and the arms in a plastic bag.

Lasorda hasn’t seen his wax likeness, but after the public’s first glimpse Monday, bystanders agreed that it will be a hit.

Marguerite Kanaga, 69, of Costa Mesa, who was on her way to a family reunion in Topeka, Kan., said, “It’s a very good likeness. I think he’s a great guy--and I think he’ll enjoy seeing himself.

“I can hardly wait to call back home and tell (family members) I flew with Tommy Lasorda.”