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Tom, you've been a player and a coach in both the minor and the major leagues.
Now you're manager of the Dodgers. Just when did you first start playing baseball?
As an amateur, I started playing when I was about seven years old.
Playing on youth teams throughout our communities and then getting onto better ball clubs
and finally into schools. Of course in those days we did not have little leagues or American legions
so we had to play on neighborhood teams.
Now you say you played on neighborhood teams. Did you have any games that you played maybe by yourself
to work on your own baseball skills?
Oh yes, I used to have a stick and I would throw the ball up in the air and I would hit the ball
and I would throw the ball against the sidewalks or against the walls and practice my fielding.
I did everything I could to practice without, you know, sometimes you're alone and you throw the ball up in the air
and throw it up as high as you can practicing catching fly balls.
You throw it against a wall or a building to catch ground balls and then you take a stick or a bat
and you throw a ball up in the air and you hit it and you go chase it.
So actually you were accomplishing something when you were alone.
Tom, let's talk a little bit about the various positions on the field.
Can you tell us a bit about what you have to do to play that position and what kind of skills are necessary?
First of all, talk about the outfield, right field, center field, left field.
Well, I think most important you have to be on the balls of your feet.
You have to be in a position to where you can move quickly.
You have to keep your eye on the barrel of the bat, which will allow you to pick up the ball coming off the bat sooner.
And of course you have to be completely ready to move at all times,
having your weight distributed on both feet equally and having your body in a position
where you can go to your left by using the crossover step or to your right by using the crossover step.
You also have to be able to charge ground balls.
When you're an outfielder, you must feel and believe that you're an infielder playing deep.
Tom, when you play the outfield, you have to have a pretty good arm.
Now, is the long overhand throw an important skill for young outfielders to develop?
There's no question about it. I think a lot of youngsters make the mistake when they start throwing,
they throw the ball sidearm, which of course doesn't help them.
When you're an outfielder and you're throwing the ball to a base, naturally you would want the ball to carry.
So by throwing the ball overhand and across the seams,
you would get more carry on the ball rather than throwing the ball sidearm.
In other words, if you have a sidearm pitcher on the mound and he throws the ball from the side,
the ball will have a tendency to sink.
The three-quarter and overhand pitcher throwing the ball will have carry on the ball.
So this is what all outfielders should practice.
And another thing that I think that they should do is that when they are warming up,
try to get as far away from each other as they possibly can.
Because what happens when a youngster starts warming up, he warms up maybe about 30 or 40 feet away,
then he has to go into the outfield and he has to make a long throw.
His arm is not prepared, it's not strengthened enough to make that long throw.
So practice throwing the ball as far away from the other guy as possible.
Now when you do get in the outfield, your arm will be a lot stronger.
Tom, let's move from the outfield to the infield positions and we'll go to third base first of all.
What skills does it take to be a good third baseman?
Third base, unlike shortstop or second base where you have to have a great deal of range to play that position,
you have just a limited amount of ground that you have to cover.
And the quicker you are, the better third baseman you're going to be.
So it takes quickness from your upper part of your body up to be able to play third base.
He has to look at a certain zone of the batter.
In other words, if the ball is away from a right-hand hitter, there's no way he can hit it to third base.
He would be hitting it to the opposite field.
So he has to concentrate on just in the zone where that bat will come around and hit the ball to him.
How about the shortstop?
Well, shortstop naturally is the toughest position to play as far as I'm concerned on the infield.
You have to have a great deal of range.
You have to have the ability to throw the ball from all different positions.
And you've got to be very, very quick.
You've got to be very agile.
And this is a position that requires a great deal of work.
You have to have the weight evenly distributed on the balls of your feet.
You have to have your body in a position where you can charge a ground ball at all times.
You have to keep your eye on the ball coming off the bat.
So what we try to teach our infielders and above all shortstop, as I said before with the outfielder,
keep your eye on the barrel of the bat.
Tom, let's talk about playing second base.
Now, do you have to have a good throwing arm to play second?
Well, it is important because of the fact that you're mostly on the other end of the double plays,
the pivot man, we call him.
He's going to be quick to get out of the way of the oncoming runner.
If he concentrates on the sound of the footsteps coming towards him,
many times he will throw the ball wild because of the fact that he's looking at the runner
rather than looking at the base that he's throwing the ball to.
He has to make that runner unaware of what direction he's going to go in when he throws the ball to first base.
In other words, if he makes the double play one way all the time,
then the runners will know what direction he's going in when he takes the ball from the shortstop or the third baseman.
He has to have maneuverability, and he's got to be able to do it in different ways.
Once he eliminates the fact that the runner knows where he's going to go,
now his chances of getting hit are less.
He has to be quick.
He has to have an arm that what we think he has to have great forearm velocity.
He cannot throw with the full extension of his arm.
In most cases, he has to use a forearm flip.
What about playing first base?
First base is basically the same as third base,
but the only exception is that he handles most of the throws.
He has to be a guy that has to have good hands.
He's got to work on catching balls out of the dirt.
He's got to assume when he's on first base that every ball that is going to be thrown to him will be a bad throw.
This way his body will be in position that he can move equally to his right as to his left.
He also must practice getting to the base on a ground ball hit to the infielders
in enough time to where he can position himself,
straddle the bag to where he can take the throws from either side.
Skipper, what do you look for in a good catcher?
He's got to be able to throw runners out.
He must know how to handle pitchers.
He must know what pitches to call.
He's the general on the field.
So consequently, it's good hands, follow the ball all the way into your glove,
and a lot of catchers make the mistake they blink
only because they feel that the batter is going to hit the ball rather than miss it.
So then when he does miss it, they blink because they think he's going to hit the ball when it should be reversed.
He should feel that the batter is going to miss the ball.
Then when he misses it, he's ready to catch it.
If he hits it, he has nothing to do with it anyway.
He has to learn how to throw the ball overhand, just as I mentioned before, about an outfielder.
As soon as I'm throwing catcher, the ball will tail, sail, sink, and that's what you don't want the ball to do.
So get yourself on the balls of your feet, position your body where you have control of it at all times.
You're able to shift your weight quickly.
You have to come up throwing.
You have to step into the ball when you're receiving it and firing it.
Throw the ball overhand, and above all, do a lot of throwing to strengthen your arm.
Tom, let's talk about actually fielding the ball.
Now everyone, even the pitcher, eventually has to go after a pop fly.
What can help an infielder, or really for that matter an outfielder, catch a fly ball or a pop fly?
If you can make it a practice, if youngsters can make it a practice, whether it's a catcher on pop flies or an infielder on outfielder,
make the ball come down and hit you on the nose, so to speak.
I mean, don't let it hit you, but pretend like it's going to come down and hit you right on the nose in the last minute you catch it,
and that way you'll always have yourself in the right position to catch the fly ball.
What should the players in the field be thinking about?
Now, they've checked how many balls strikes, how many outs there are, but what else should be on their mind?
Each player, while he is out in his position, he must assume that before the pitcher throws the ball,
that the ball is going to be hit to him, and then he will know what he has to do with the ball.
In other words, let me say, there's a runner on first base, the right fielder is saying to himself,
if this ball is hit to me, it's a base hit, I'm going to come up and I'm going to try to throw that guy out of third base.
I'm going to hit the cutoff man. I'm going to field the ball clean. I'm going to charge the ground ball.
Now, if he assumes everything he has to do before the ball is hit to him, in other words,
he has to anticipate that the ball is being hit to him, when he anticipates everything that he has to do,
if the ball is hit to him, he will react. If the ball isn't hit to him, then he has nothing to do.
Then he has to say, if that ball is hit to the center fielder, I must go back him up.
If the ball is bunted, I must back up the first baseman.
So every man on his position, defensively, has to anticipate the ball being hit to him
and what his requirements are to do with that ball when it is hit to him.
Tom, what advice would you give young athletes about deciding which position they should play?
Play as many positions as you can. Learn as much about every position as you can.
And then you will realize the position that is best suited for you.
But batting isn't all that easy. Certainly in the major leagues, players often strike out.
A team might even suffer a no-hit, no-run game. Nobody gets a hit all day or all night.
But with three outs to a team every inning, it seems then that even batting and base running become team plays.
Everyone on the team can help.
I feel that baseball is a tremendous sport because it's a team sport.
It's a type of sport that anybody can play. You don't have to be big and strong to play baseball.
You don't have to be fast to play baseball. It's a game that everybody can participate in.
It's a game that everybody depends upon each other. It's a tremendous team sport.
And it's a game that requires a lot of skill.
I think that hitting a baseball is the toughest thing in all of sports to do.
Now let me give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
You see, in baseball, if you fail seven out of ten times as a hitter, you are a success.
In other words, if you get three base hits and you strike out seven times, you're a 300-hitter.
And you are a success in baseball if you are a 300-hitter.
Baseball is the only sport where if you fail seven out of ten times, you're a success.
Now let me just point this out. If you're a doctor and you operate on ten people and seven of them die, you're not a good doctor.
If you're an engineer and you build ten bridges and seven of them collapse, you're not a good engineer.
If you're a pilot and you fly ten airplanes and seven of them crash, you're not a good pilot.
If you're a taxi cab driver and you make ten trips and you get lost seven out of ten times, you're not a good taxi cab driver.
But in baseball, if you fail seven out of ten times, you are a success.
It's the toughest thing in all of the sports and all of the world to be able to do.
Tom, when your team is at bat and you're going to be up to the plate next, you go to the on-deck circle.
What's the reason for having an on-deck area and what should you be doing while you're there waiting to bat?
Well, the reason they have that on-deck circle is for a very important reason.
When there's a runner on second base and he's coming in to score, you have to get up there to pick up the bat to get it out of the way.
So the oncoming runner will not step on it and possibly break a leg.
He also should be on the on-deck circle loosening himself up, swinging the bat, and also watching the pitcher and the defensive players.
Tom, if a young boy or girl is in the batter's circle waiting to go up to bat or maybe they're sitting on the bench watching the game, what should they be looking for?
Well, they should be looking at the pitcher at all times because there might be something that the pitcher will indicate to them what they're throwing.
They should watch everybody on the ball field because there's always something you're capable of learning.
And if you've got your head and eyes in the ball game, it definitely has to improve.
Okay, now you're up to the plate and you know that the pitcher can throw hard and you know that, well, you could even get hit with a ball.
What should you do as a batter and what should you be thinking about up at the plate?
Well, there should never be any fear in the mind of a hitter. If you have fear, then you will never hit.
You have to understand that you have to have enough quickness and agility to get out of the way of the ball.
You have a helmet on to protect your head, and that's the only vulnerable spot where you can get really seriously hurt.
Walk up there and have tremendous courage. Do not even think negatively that the ball will hit you.
Tom, how should you get set at the batting plate so that you have the best chance of hitting the ball?
You must have a comfortable stance and you must be in position to where your body is going forward in the direction of where the pitcher is throwing the ball.
Stance is very important. Do not get too wide of stance because then you're uncomfortable and you cannot move into the ball with the quickness that you do with a comfortable stance.
Now, I've heard you say before, to be a good hitter, you have to have a good knowledge of the strike zone.
Now, once you're ready, what part of the pitcher's action should you be watching?
Should you watch his wind-up? Should you watch his head motions, maybe his throwing arm, his hand? What?
There is no way that that baseball can come from any place but out of the pitcher's hand.
So you have to, at all times, concentrate on the ball in the pitcher's hand.
You follow the flight of his arm and when the ball is released, you will have complete concentration on that ball coming out of his hand.
You also must look at the defense, where they are playing you, and this will indicate to you where you should try to hit the ball.
You should also be aggressive at the plate. You should believe you can hit. That, I think, is very, very important.
You must walk up to the plate believing that you can hit any pitcher alive.
Once you have that feeling, you've got half the battle won because self-confidence is the secret to success.
Tom, what do you do differently when you want to lay down a bunt?
You have to hold the bat out in front of you. You have to hold it loose. You cannot let the bat be tight in your hands.
You have to have your top hand behind the barrel of the bat so the ball coming will not hit your fingers.
There's a lot of batters that hurt themselves because they've got their top hand wrapped around the bat.
You must have it with thumb and forefinger behind the bat, able to control the bat.
Now say you're on first base, Tom. How do you steal second base?
You have to, first of all, believe that you can steal. You have to have, you have to take an aggressive lead.
If you're taking a lead and the pitcher throws over there and you can get back very easily, then you do not have the proper lead.
Aggressive lead where you have to dive back into the base and then you know you have a good lead.
Secondly, you have to have the weight on the balls of your feet evenly distributed because you either got to go back to first base or by running you're going to have to go to second base.
You must use the crossover step, both going back to first base or going to second base.
You have to have your knees slightly bent. If you're standing straight up and then you try to run, the first thing you have to do is bend your knees in order for you to run.
So you're eliminating that by having your knees slightly bent, body just slightly down, ready to use the crossover step and to be able to give a thrust with the upper part of your body as you're stealing.
And that will give you the, the quickness to accelerate real quick.
As the manager of the Dodgers, now you set the lineup for every game. As on every team, you have players that have different abilities. Some can hit well, some can run well.
How do you set the lineup to take advantage of all of these abilities?
I think the leadoff man should be a guy who can get on the base. He's got good idea of the strike zone. He's not a free swinger.
He'll take a lot. He's a guy that should be able to get a lot of bases on balls. And he also should be a guy with tremendous speed because when he gets on the base, you're looking for him to steal, hit and run and so on.
So it's a kind of the leadoff man should be a guy who is who is speed afoot. He's a guy who is a line drive type hitter and a guy who doesn't strike out too often.
The number two hitter, I would like a second place hitter to be left handed because when that guy is running, it's tougher for a catcher to throw out a runner with a left handed batter rather than a right handed batter.
He has to be an unselfish ball player because if you have a guy like Davy Lopes who steals a lot, the second hitter like Billy Russell has to take a lot of strikes.
I think Bill Russell is the ideal second place hitter. He's an unselfish ball player. He has to take a lot of strikes when the guy is running.
He's got to be able to hit and run. He's got to be able to hit the ball on the ground to stay out of the double place. He's an ideal second place hitter.
The third place hitter is the kind of guy that I would like to see at all times. The one we have, Reggie Smith.
He's a switch hitter with power from both sides and yet by the same token he gets a lot of base on ball. So his knowledge of the strike zone is good.
The fourth hitter is the guy that you want with power. He's the guy that you're looking forward to hit the ball out of the ballpark with consistency.
I thought that Ronnie Say is an ideal fourth place hitter because he does with a couple of men on generally go for the long ball. He knows the situation.
The fifth place hitter is a guy that's got to be a real good hitter both average wise and power wise because if you don't have a good hitter following that fourth hitter, they'll pitch around him in most cases.
We have the ideal man in Steve Garvey. This year he provided us more power than he ever has. So he would probably be a real good fourth place hitter on a lot of ball clubs.
So you want that fifth hitter to be a good hitter batting average wise and power wise. That way they will not pitch around your fourth hitter.
Batting practice is usually organized Tom before every game but what should you do when it's your turn to take batting practice?
Batting practice is a very very important part of you learning to hit the baseball. Swing the bat as often as you can and as long as you can.
The more batting practice you take, the stronger you get and the quicker your reflexes become. You should not try to hit the ball out of the ballpark.
You should try to hit the ball where it's pitched in batting practice. It's a loosening up process.
Hitting the ball to all fields will make you even better prepared when that pitcher starts for the ball game. Batting practice is very very important.
It should be executed very well. You should walk in, loosen yourself up, take some practice swings and then try to hit the ball where it's pitched.
Tom what does it take to make it as an all around major league baseball player?
It takes a lot of practice. It takes work and work and work. You know I told all of our players when they played for me in the minor leagues
this story about this fellow who had gone to New York to see the opera at Carnegie Hall and he got lost and he kept this big girly policeman on the shoulder
and he said say officer how do you get to Carnegie Hall and he looked back and he said practice boy, practice.
And that's the same way they're going to get to Dodger Stadium through endless hours of practice.
Thank you Tom. Tom Losorda, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.