Tommy Lasorda feeling ‘stronger’ after heart procedure

Tommy Lasorda said he is feeling “so much better” after doctors last week inserted a stent to clear one of the former Dodgers manager’s heart arteries that was almost completely blocked.

“I feel stronger,” Lasorda said Thursday night in his first public appearance since suffering what the Dodgers called a “mild” heart attack last week in New York. Lasorda said doctors discovered one of his arteries was 90% blocked.

Lasorda, 84, participated in a lively panel discussion at a benefit for Joe Torre’s Safe At Home Foundation at the Hotel Bel-Air. Lasorda and Torre, two former Dodgers managers, joined current Manager Don Mattingly, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia and former St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa in a conversation led by broadcaster Vin Scully.

Lasorda said he felt dizzy while representing the Dodgers at the annual baseball draft. Paramedics soon arrived and advised Lasorda to go to a hospital.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to the hospital. There’s nothing wrong with me.’” Lasorda said.

“The commissioner said, ‘You are going to the hospital.’ Joe Torre came by and said, ‘You are going to the hospital.’ That was great, that they did that. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known [about the blocked artery]. I’m glad that they made me go.”

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