LOS ANGELES -- Taking a break from signing autographs and making the rounds as team ambassador, Tommy Lasorda heaved a heavy sigh, lifted his "LA" cap and ran his opposite hand over the top of his head.
"Twenty-nine years," the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager said while sitting in a golf cart at spring training early in March, wearing a full uniform.
Lasorda was talking about the last time the Dodgers won a championship, which is also the length of time since the club last appeared in a World Series, period. Lasorda's 1988 Dodgers rode Kirk Gibson's magic and Orel Hershiser's right arm to a title over the Oakland Athletics.