Tommy Lasorda, 7th Inning Superstar!

I'm glad they had Tommy Lasorda come up and do the 7th inning at Wrigley Field last night, one fo the few times the ritual didn't irritate me. Even with Fergie Jenkins in the booth, I got irritated because the game was going by below these announcers that seem to forget they are on air when a quasi-celebrity walks through.

Tommy Lasorda is a different story. He could sing every night and sit through tow or three innings if he wanted to in my book. Not because he sang "Root root root for the Dodgers.., " or because the Cubs rallied while he was in the booth. I can forgive the Dodgers reference, this guy bleeds Dodger blue more than even Ron Santo does Cubbie blue.

Tommy did the usual guest's stint in the booth, but as I've said, he was enjoyable, and watching the game. It was refreshing, more so than even having some perennial Cubs fans and 7th Inning conductors like John Cusack, in the booth because of the unique perspective Lasorda has on baseball.

First of all, he doesn't care what anyone thinks, he has done his time, and then some, and then a little more. He is around the game, at 80 years old, because he loves it, and he even ahdd a little bit og softness for the Cubs and the CUbs fans. In the booth in the past, you could hear disdain for tboth, but last night, through the Cubs rally that would ultimately win the game, he was level headed. Only one muffled curse as Ramirez drove in the go ahead run stood as evidence of his Dodger Blue blood and the vaunted Lasorda temper.

Tommy even has a blog, where I got the picture from and where he has an audio clip of his singing. You have to admire this guy, for everything he brought to the game and the way he respected and played the game. One of his best quotes from his guest stint was about today's players.

Paraphrasing: These guys say they're tired these days? I use to tell them, you walk out to the field 9 times, you walk back nine times, you bat four times, one of those times you might get on base, how can you get tired?
-Tommy Lasorda

I wish they could come up with guests like that every night, but they just can't. I'm in favor of making the 7th Inning Guest conductor a special occasion type of thing, not an every night tired old pony.