Hall of Fame manager and Special Advisor to the Chairman Tommy Lasorda and Dodgers Third-Base Coach Larry Bowa will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 12 at the Hyatt Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.

 

"It is an honor and a privilege to be enshrined into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame," said Lasorda. "I am proud to come from Norristown and have always tried to represent my hometown to the highest degree of class, dignity, and character."

 

Lasorda was born and raised in Norristown, Penn., where he lived until he signed a contract with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1944 by local scout, Jocko Collins. After signing, Lasorda reported to his first team, the Concord Weavers in Concord, NC in 1945, a minor league affiliate of the Athletics. In 1946 he was drafted into the United States Army and served two years. After he fulfilled his duty he rejoined the Athletics where he was sent to the Schenectady Blue Jays, another affiliate of the Athletics' organization only to be drafted by the Dodgers in 1949. Lasorda, who is in his 60th season in the Dodger organization, managed the Dodgers for 20 seasons (1977-96) and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.

 

"I am honored and humbled to be enshrined into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame and to be mentioned in the same breath s the city's other great sports stars. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the baseball fans of Philadelphia and the surrounding communities for supporting me during my time with the Phillies. Those 16 years as a player and manager in Philadelphia were some of the most special of my professional career," Bowa said.

 

Bowa, who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a non-drafted free agent in 1965, played in 16 Major League seasons (1970-85), his first 12 with the Phillies (1970-81). He was a five-time All-Star (1974-76, 78, 79) and a two-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award-winning shortstop (1972, 78) while finishing third in the NL MVP voting in 1978 and third in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1970. He later managed the Phillies from 2001-04 and finished with 337 wins, the ninth highest total on the franchise's all-time list. He wrote a weekly column for the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1977.

 

Lasorda is currently enshrined in 12 halls of fame (for a complete list please refer to page 12 of the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers Guide). By the end of the year he will be enshrined in 15. Bowa was enshrined in the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame in 2002, an honor Lasorda also received in 2001. Lasorda and Bowa will join the only other Dodger in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, Roy Campanella, who was inducted posthumously in 2006.

 

The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Foundation was founded in 2002. Its mission is to develop a sports hall of fame for Philadelphia as a means to preserve and promote the rich history of Philadelphia sports. The ultimate goal is to build a museum in the city to honor its sports history.