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Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda dead at 93

Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has died. He was 93.

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Lasorda died Thursday of a heart attack. His death was confirmed by the Dodgers and Major League Baseball.

“Regarded by many as baseball’s most popular ambassador, Lasorda spent 71 seasons in the Dodger organization with Dodger Blue running through his veins,” the team said on social media.

In November, he was hospitalized in a Southern California intensive care unit.

>> Hall of Fame Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda hospitalized

Lasorda managed the Dodgers from 1976 to 1996, winning 1,599 games. His teams won four National League pennants, eight division titles and two World Series in 1981 and 1988. He managed the U.S. Olympic baseball team to a gold medal at the Sydney games in 2000.

“He was a champion who at critical moments seemingly willed his teams to victory,” team president Stan Kasten said. “The Dodgers and their fans will miss him terribly.”

He had a heart attack in 1996 and retired from the Dodgers a month later. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame the next year.

In 2012, Lasorda was hospitalized in New York after suffering a heart attack.

Lasorda wanted to see the Dodgers win the World Series one more time and got that chance last year when he attended Game 6 when the Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays.

He is survived by his wife Jo, their daughter Laura and granddaughter Emily Tess, the team said.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, who spent 67 seasons calling games for the Dodgers, shared his condolences.

“There are two things I will always remember about Tommy,” he said. “The first is his boundless enthusiasm. Tommy would get up in the morning full of beans and maintain that as long as he was with anybody else. The other was his determination. He was a fellow with limited ability and he pushed himself to be a very good Triple-A pitcher. He never quite had that something extra that makes a major leaguer, but it wasn’t because he didn’t try. Those are some of the things; his competitive spirit, his determination, and above all, this boundless energy and self-belief. His heart was bigger than his talent and there were no foul lines for his enthusiasm.”