On September 29th, 1976, Walter Alston, who had been the Dodgers manager since 1954, stepped down and retired. He was replaced by third base coach, Thomas Charles Lasorda. Tommy had been a part of the Dodger organization on and off since 1949 when the Dodgers drafted him from his original, and favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies.
He had quite a career at AAA, but never reached those heights in the majors. He was on the Dodger roster in 1955 when he got spiked by Wally Moon. He made only 3 appearances after that and on June 8th, he was optioned back to Montreal.