DODGERS

Dodger announcer Vin Scully found out about Manager Tom Lasorda’s retirement through an unusual medium--an international newspaper.

Scully, who recently returned from a nine-day vacation in Europe for the Dodgers’ series against the Braves, expressed a wide range of feelings when he came upon the news.

“My first reaction was shock, but the more I thought about it, I thought it made sense,” said Scully. “Then the third feeling was one of sadness, that it was another phase, another chapter, and the end of his life in a major way. And, of course, we all look at each other’s mortality, and you think, geez, there’s another change after all these years.”

Scully joined the Dodgers’ broadcast team in 1950 while the franchise was still located in Brooklyn. He has known of Lasorda since Lasorda was a minor league pitching prospect.

“One of the things I remember was in Vero Beach [Fla.] around 1951 or ’52. Buzzie Bavasi came up to me and said he had this kid he bet $100 with. Lasorda said he was going to throw batting practice to every player in camp. Now, the Dodgers had about 640 players there. If he did, it would have killed him.”