Through every major coaching change LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri made, Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda was there.
Mainieri’s four seasons at LSU include a national championship and three straight Southeastern Conference tournament titles.
It’s possible Mainieri never would have set foot in an LSU dugout without Lasorda, a two-time World Series champion manager who coached the Los Angeles Dodgers for 20 years.
Lasorda was a close friend of Mainieri’s father, a baseball manager at Miami-Dade North Community College and the first junior college coach to win 1,000 games.
Lasorda said he immediately took to Mainieri when they met.
“He’s an outstanding friend,” Lasorda said. “He’s almost like a son to me.”
Lasorda said he told Mainieri early in his career that if he ever needed any help he would always be there.
So when Mainieri inquired about coaching at Air Force, Lasorda delivered on his promise. Lasorda was a friend of the athletic director at Air Force, so he gave him a call.
“He said to me, ‘Tommy, I’ll hire him right now if you tell me to,'” Lasorda said.
The rest is history.
Mainieri’s career has skyrocketed since accepting the Air Force coaching job in 1989. The Falcons averaged 26 wins a year in six seasons with Mainieri after averaging just 15 wins in the six years before Mainieri’s arrival.
When Mainieri wanted to move on to Notre Dame, the pattern continued. Lasorda said he called the athletic director for the Fighting Irish, and Mainieri was hired soon after.
Once again, Mainieri didn’t disappoint. He compiled a .714 winning percentage and led the Irish to 11 40-win seasons and nine NCAA Regional appearances in his 12-year tenure.
“If I had a son who wanted to play college baseball, and I could send him anywhere I wanted, I’d send him right here to LSU under Coach Mainieri,” Lasorda said.
Lasorda called Mainieri the Joe Paterno of baseball and said he can see how Mainieri’s players respond positively to his coaching.
“Players like him because he likes them,” Lasorda said.
“When you give respect, you’re going to get respect.”
Lasorda and Mainieri’s friendship is mutual.
“Tommy Lasorda means everything to me,” Mainieri said. “He’s helped me personally in my own career, and he’s always been there, whether it be for advice or to help me get a position.”
Mainieri said he admires Lasorda as a humanitarian as well.
Lasorda recently traveled across the country to help raise money for college and high school baseball programs.
“We were up in Seattle where we helped raise money for a Catholic high school, and we raised $206,000,” Lasorda said. “I just went back up to [Seattle University], which had dropped baseball 28 years ago, and I came back and helped them raise a lot of money.”
Mainieri said the values he learned from the storied major league coach stay with him today.
“I give a lot of talks and lend my time to a lot of different causes, and people wonder why I do that,” he said. “Well, Lasorda’s my mentor.”
Mainieri said he feels guilty saying no to anyone who needs his help in the community, because he thinks about what Lasorda would say.
“My relationship with him is far reaching,” Mainieri said. “He’s really like a second father to me.”
Lasorda maintains contact with Mainieri and traveled to Baton Rouge this week to meet with the LSU baseball team.
“Not too many teams can say Tommy Lasorda came and talked to us for a couple days and hung out with us,” said LSU junior outfielder Mikie Mahtook. “It’s an awesome experience to be able to take from a big league manager like that.”
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]