Lasorda Contributes Hot Air to This Draft
The rivalry between the Dodgers and Angels appears to be heating up.
During Tuesday’s amateur draft, when the Angels made Huntington Beach High catcher Hank Conger the 25th player taken, an official called his team by its full name, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. June 12, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday June 12, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 70 words Type of Material: Correction
Baseball: In Wednesday’s Sports section, an item in Morning Briefing recalled an exchange in 1978 between radio reporter Paul Olden and Tom Lasorda, then the Dodgers’ manager, after a game in which Dave Kingman hit three home runs to beat the Dodgers. It said the question to Lasorda that triggered his tirade was, “What did you think of Kingman’s performance?” In fact, it was, “What’s your opinion of Kingman’s performance?”
Selecting next, the Dodgers picked Bryan Morris, a pitcher from a Tennessee junior college. Making the announcement for the Dodgers was special advisor Tom Lasorda, who called his team “the only major league team in Los Angeles.”
On a later conference call with reporters, Angels scouting director Eddie Bane dismissed Lasorda’s crack as “nonsensical, silly stuff.”
And, using a distinctly Anaheim term, Bane added, “The other team up north pulled some Mickey Mouse stuff.”
Lasorda, told about Bane’s comment at Tuesday night’s Dodgers game against the New York Mets, said, “I say what is Mickey Mouse is for them to have Los Angeles in their name.”
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Trivia time: Orel Hershiser, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Tuesday night’s game, was drafted by the Dodgers in what round in 1979?
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Oops department: The Associated Press sent out a story Saturday about Lasorda’s famous tirade after a three-homer performance by Dave Kingman against the Dodgers when Lasorda was the manager.
The AP story said it was the 30th anniversary of the tirade.
Kingman did hit three home runs for the Mets on June 4, 1976, against the Dodgers, but Lasorda blew his stack on May 14, 1978, when Kingman was with the Chicago Cubs and hit three home runs and drove in eight runs.
Paul Olden, a young radio reporter working for Jim Healy at the time, asked Lasorda that now famous question: “What did you think of Kingman’s performance?”
Olden said he called AP to inform the news service of the mistake. He could have easily said, “Who goofed? I’ve got to know!”
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Some consolation: The Los Angeles Riptide of Major League Lacrosse drew an announced crowd of 6,024 for its home debut at the Home Depot Center on Saturday.
According to Steven Herbert of City News Service, the Lakers drew 4,027 for their home debut Oct. 24, 1960, at the Sports Arena.
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Looking back: On this day in 1998, the record for largest margin of victory in the NBA Finals was set when the Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz, 96-54, in Game 3. The 54 points by the Jazz is the NBA Finals record for fewest points by a team.
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Trivia answer: The 17th round.
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And finally: David Thomas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram listed this as one of the things that a “speechless” Mark Cuban could have said in accepting the Western Conference finals trophy: “I have to run -- I have some tapes to send the NBA office about how Shaq pushes off down in the low post.”
Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.
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