the tommy lasorda managerial tree

with the brewers' firing of manager (and former dodger) ron roenicke the other day (he was replaced by another former dodger, craig counsell), i decided to finally finish pulling this post together.  in football, i used to hear a lot about the bill walsh coaching tree - all of the people who coached under bill walsh who went on to become head coaches themselves.  that tree is then expanded to include coaches under those head coaches who became head coaches, and so on.  my take on the tommy lasorda managerial tree is in regards to his players - not coaches, and this post will just look at the first tier of major league managers who spent some time playing under one thomas charles lasorda.

here's the man himself on a 2004 upper deck sp authentic card

that notes his managerial triumph in the 1982 all-star game in montreal while using a photo from about 20 years later.  incidentally, he had four future big league managers playing under him on that '82 all-star roster - dusty baker, tony pena, pete rose, and ray knight.

i'm focusing on his dodger players, however, and when tommy took over the dodgers late in the 1976 season, he had three future major league managers on his roster at that time:

dusty baker

davey lopes

and bill russell

who replaced lasorda during the 1996 season.

over the next 20-years, lasorda managed another 9 future managers.

johnny oates

ron washington

mike scioscia

ron roenicke

phil garner

 glenn hoffman

who took over for russell in 1998

kirk gibson

willie randolph

and juan samuel

this list does not include players such as bobby valentine, whom tommy managed in the minor leagues, nor does it include players such as joe ferguson, tommy john, gary carter, rick dempsey, mike marshall, or steve yeager who played in the majors under tommy and later managed in the minor leagues.

with the firings of kirk gibson last year and roenicke this year, scioscia is the only active manager to have played under lasorda. however, it is yet conceivable that this tree sprouts some new branches in the future, as such former "lasorda" dodgers and minor league managers bobby mitchell, brett butler, and tim wallach are currently working for big league teams as an instructor (mitchell) or big league coaches (butler and wallach).

and, in case you are wondering, bill russell's managerial tree's first tier consists solely of chip hale.

here's to more lasorda style hugs in the dugout!