Italian Baseball Team Names Itself After Tommy Lasorda

↵↵Tommy Lasorda has been feted in many parts of the world for his unofficial ambassadorship for the game of baseball. In 1997, he was honored by the president of the Dominican Republic for his dedication to the game and his work in the country. A decade later, Lasorda received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, by the Emperor of Japan for his contributions to Japanese baseball.↵

↵↵Ah, but neither of these nations have an actual team named in his honor (insofar as we know, at least). That distinction belongs to a town on the east coast of Italy, which adopted his name, put it in signature Dodgers font and stuck it on the front of their jerseys. The former manager brought it to the masses with a picture posted on Twitter yesterday with this accompanying text:↵

↵↵⇥This team from Tollo, Italy named themselves after me. I worked with them in ‘85.↵↵ ↵↵Lest you think Lasorda was committing a random act of international beneficence in rural Italy, his father hailed from the town, which no doubt pointed him in their direction,↵

↵↵(H/T to Out of Bounds)↵

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