Heart

Last month, legendary baseball manager Tommy Lasorda died. I met Tommy only once. It was a warm July evening, the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing the Philadelphia Phillies, and Tommy was in town for the game. His beloved Boys in Blue soundly beat my home team, 16 to 2. I'd already read Tommy Lasorda: My Way, a biography full of his aphorisms and stories. Still, I was an eager audience as Tommy held forth—not only on baseball but also, in so many words, on the game of life and what it means to play it well. The morning after he died, it was that book I pulled from the shelf and sat down to reread. Here is one of the last stories in the book.