Dodgers Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda hospitalized

LOS ANGELES >> Dodgers Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda has been hospitalized for several days.

Details of Lasorda’s illness are being kept private, but a number of Lasorda’s former players have been among those in contact with Lasorda, who has been in the intensive care unit at a Los Angeles hospital. Lasorda, 89, has a history of heart problems and was hospitalized following a heart attack as recently as 2012.

Lasorda has been hospitalized multiple times in the past year, including after a fall while attending a memorabilia show in Atlantic City last August and then again for 10 days with multiple issues in October. But he was released in time to attend Game 3 of the National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, where he received his usual ovation when introduced to the crowd.

Lasorda is in his 68th season with the Dodgers, serving as special advisor to the chairman after years as a player, scout, minor-league manager, major-league manager and even briefly as interim general manager. He managed the Dodgers from 1976-96, winning 1,599 regular-season games, four National League pennants and two World Series. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997, the usual five-year waiting period having been waved when heart problems forced Lasorda into retirement as manager.

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