Tommy LaSorda in National Portrait Gallery

On my way home from work today, I heard a wonderful radio piece on NPR about baseball great Tommy Lasorda. Today is Tommy Lasorda's 82nd birthday. Happy Birthday Mr. Lasorda.

I learned a lot about this remarkable man I did not know.

• He has been with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization for 60 years, 20 of them as manager.
  
• He worked himself up through the organization with a dream to pitch in the big leagues, but only ended up playing 26 games.
  
• He didn't achieve the level of success that he wanted to as a player, but he seems to have no regrets.
  
• He seemed to me to be completely at peace with his path in life and he talked about how each decision changes who you become - the trajectory of life.
  
• His greatest accomplishment, in my opinion, is that he credits his path in baseball with meeting his wife, and he has been with her for 59 years.
  

It was a wonderful store and can be found here. I suggest you listen to it and read it. It sounds like he has mellowed in his own age as he was no saint.

The painted portrait is found in the National Portrait Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian.