It Would’ve Been a Bad Idea to Raise the Subject

Tom Lasorda, among the honorees at the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation dinner Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton, at one time worked as a scout for the Dodgers.

At a private reception before the dinner, Lasorda told Morning Briefing that former general manager Al Campanis offered him a $500-a-year raise and told Lasorda not to tell anyone.

Lasorda said he told Campanis, “Don’t worry. I’m just as embarrassed about this as you are.”

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A slight changeup: When Lasorda told the same story later while at the podium, his foil was Buzzie Bavasi.

“It was Campanis, but I changed it to Bavasi because he was here,” Lasorda said after the dinner.

Bavasi, 92, and his family were there to receive the Ray Boone Family Award.

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Trivia time: Sandy Koufax, another honoree Saturday night, went to college to play basketball and ended up also trying out for the baseball team. What college did he attend?

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Due credit: At the pre-dinner reception, Koufax said three scouts -- Bill Zinser, Cliff Alexander and Campanis -- were responsible for his playing major league baseball.

“If it weren’t for them, I have no idea what I would have ended up doing,” he said.

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More credit: Bavasi, the Dodger general manager who signed Koufax, later said that another Dodger scout, Arthur Dede, also played an important role.

“Sandy wanted a signing bonus of $14,000,” Bavasi said, “which was three times as much as the players’ minimum salary at the time. Arthur told me, ‘If you don’t have the money, I’ll mortgage my house and give it to you.’ ”

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A better driver: Bavasi, known for driving a hard bargain, said only one other time did he give a prospect the bonus he asked for.

“There was this kid from Michigan State named Steve Garvey who wanted $19,000,” Bavasi said.

Bavasi gave it to him, but not because he recognized Garvey’s potential.

“His father did a great job of driving our team bus during spring training in Florida,” Bavasi said.

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A driving force: Dennis Gilbert, the person most responsible for the creation of the scouts foundation and the fund-raising dinner, received a surprise honor from the group’s board of directors.

Gilbert, a former player agent who is a special advisor to Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, never made it above double-A ball as a minor league player.

Said dinner host Tom Arnold, in introducing Gilbert, “Dennis had a great career in baseball -- once he quit playing.”

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Trivia answer: Cincinnati. In his one season of pitching for the Bearcats, Koufax was 3-1 with a 2.81 earned-run average. He had 51 strikeouts in 32 innings -- and 30 walks.

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And finally: Koufax, the final award winner Saturday night, said: “This is the first time in my career that I’ve been a closer.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.