Tommy Lasorda: Los Angeles Dodgers Kawhi Leonard: Los Angeles Clippers Derek Fisher: Los Angeles Lakers Morley Drury: USC football Robert Woods: USC football, Los Angeles Rams
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 2:
Lonzo Ball: Chino Hills High basketball, UCLA basketball, Los Angeles Lakers Gianna Bryant: Mamba Academy basketball Adam Kennedy: Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels Cobi Jones: UCLA soccer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Los Angeles Clippers
The most interesting story for No. 2: Tommy Lasorda: Los Angeles Dodgers manager (1976 to 1996) Southern California map pinpoints: Fullerton, Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium)
Glendale, Arizona, 2010: Tom Hoffarth with Tommy Lasorda.
What’s your opinion of Tommy Lasorda? Curses. We have quite a few to share.
He motivated and manipulated. He spoke in succinct sound bites that would unravel into magnificent yarns, often too good to be true. And he always did better with an audience around him.
One day, after an event in downtown L.A., Lasorda grabbed me by the left forearm. There was urgency.
“We’re going to Paul’s Kitchen,” he said, leaning in. “You gotta go with us.”’
The invite to one of L.A.’s most historic Chinese restaurants seemed to mean that with Lasorda and six friends, you get extra egg rolls.
I couldn’t commit, since I had to run back to meet a deadline for a story. Give me a Teriyaki rain check.
The Pied Piper that he was, Lasorda did the loud Italian exit with and a group in tow, out the door of Sports Museum of L.A. — this was after a 2010 press conference that had to do with Kirk Gibson’s 1988 Game 1 bat and uniform going up for auction. Our money was on the guy heading over to a familiar spot where he could hold court for the rest of the afternoon.
Steve Garvey: Los Angeles Dodgers Mark Sanchez: USC football, Mission Viejo High football LeBron James: Los Angeles Lakers Bronny James: USC basketball Carl Furrillo: Los Angeles Dodgers Sue Enquist: UCLA softball Joe Torre: Los Angeles Dodgers manager
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 6: Marc Wilson: Los Angeles Raiders Anthony Rendon: Los Angeles Angels Ron Fairly: Los Angeles Dodgers/California Angels via USC
The most interesting story for No. 6: Steve Garvey: Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman/first baseman (1969 to 1982) Southern California map pinpoints: Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium); Palm Springs
Citizen Garv had a modest populist proposal in the fall of 2023. Thankfully, it had nothing to do with endorsing another reverse mortgage plan, some hair restoration, weight-loss supplements or switching to dog food brands.
It would all happen very painlessly through something called efund.
Ah, the joy of six.
“Our campaign is focused on quality-of-life issues, public safety, and education. As a U.S. Senator, I will serve with commonsense, compassion, and will work to build consensus to benefit all of the people of California,” the script said quoting one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ most popular and productive players in the 1970s and ’80s.
The CEO of Team Garvey said he needed a lot support as a Republican in a very Democratic state for the March 5, 2024 primaries.
None of this really came out of the blue.
During his baseball career, he had been planting seeds about his next career in some type of high-profile public office. For those who made a connection to the red No. 6 on the front of his Dodgers’ jersey — which he also carried onto a few more seasons in San Diego — the nostalgia was thick and the opportunity ripe as a controversial Republican president was somehow circling back to the pulpit and gaining momentum on a campaign of anti-blue sentiment.
The twist in all this — the California primaries reward the top two vote-getters regardless of party moved onto the Nov. 5 general election. In this wrestling match to finally get the seat once held by Diane Feinstein, Democratic candidate Adam Schiff was an early favorite but he created a campaign strategy targeting Garvey as his main competitor — inciting more Republican support for Garvey — because Democrat Katie Porter provided a far-more serious threat to Schiff.
As a result, Schiff manipulated it so he and Garvey finished 1-2 in the primaries with nearly the same number of votes.
Now there were eight months left of campaigning for a spot that really wasn’t that close.
Back in February of 2024, a Los Angeles Times story tried to layout the contradictory “family values” life Garvey has led coming to this point — including a disassociation with one of his daughters and his grandson. He has seven children. Not all keep in touch.
“Dozens of ex-athletes have attempted to transition into politics, some of them driven by noble aims. But what sets Garvey’s Senate run apart from all the others is that I’m not sure what it is about at all. In fact, it seems entirely devoid of a purpose beyond the name of the candidate himself.
“It’s not just that Garvey is running as a Republican in a deep-blue state in perhaps the most polarized era in modern American history; it’s that he doesn’t even seem to be trying. He speaks in aphorisms that mean absolutely nothing; he won’t even express a definitive opinion about the standard-bearer of his own party. It’s as if he’s running just to say he ran, because this is what he always appeared destined to do when he was younger. It’s as if he’s trying to fill out the gaps in his own story.
“There’s something kind of sad about this. But it also feels like a telling metaphor for modern American politics at a moment when celebrity has outweighed substance. Best as I can tell, Steve Garvey is running for office because of his own hollow conception of fame. …
“For a while, it appeared Garvey stood above it all, and then his own hypocrisy rendered him a punchline. Maybe it’s cynicism; maybe it’s naivete. But either way, it’s as if he’s trying one last time to will into truth his own hollow fiction.”
At the website Sons of Steve Garvey, billed as “random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans,” there was never a Garvey endorsement of his political aspiration.
We had a flashback to 1998 when we caught up with Garvey at a North Hollywood baseball card shop named Porky’s. At the time, Jessie “The Body” Ventura had just won the governorship Minnesota. Garvey told us that Barbara Boxer, who had just been re-elected California state senior, “could have been had” if another Republican — like him? — had stepped up to get that spot.
Even then, he said he had his eye on Feinstein, whose six-year term was coming up in 2000. But he knew he wasn’t getting any younger.
“You know, I’m going to be 50- in December,” he told me than (and he just had a two-week old daughter born).
A bumper sticker one can obtain with a donation to the Garvey campaign.
So now, in 2024, the 75-year-old Garv thought he could change the narrative of a “man of the people” journey.
A baseball card created for Garvey’s senate campaign issued to contributors.
Mailers to constituents tried to make his case through a mock up of a baseball card. Another mailer tried to make sure that even if he has supported Donald Trump in previous presidential elections, he would like to be thought of more as someone aligned with former president Ronald Reagan — sending out a 1984 photo of the two once together in San Diego.
Garvey tried to use a new-age baseball stat — Wins Above Replacement — as a way to show how Schiff’s shortcomings could be best measured.
The back side of the campaign card.
“He just doesn’t need to be replaced. He needs to be defeated,” Garvey wrote.
Even though a story in The Nation projected that Garvey could not be underestimated, it all played out as suspected. Photo ops on Skid Row in L.A. and a trip to Israel in the middle of a war to try to see for himself what was going on weren’t effective.
The fact remains that, by early November, Schiff easily send Garvey to the showers with a 59-41 percent victory that was called by an Associated Press projection about one minute after the California voting precincts closed.
Garvey (who goes with the social media handle of @SteveGarvey6) used even more twisted numerical logic in his November election-night remarks in Rancho Mirage, which occurred just days after the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series triumph, to make it appear he achieved something (by fact that California is the most populated state and likewise produces the most voters):
In baseball, like in many professional sports, there’s a tradition of members of the opposing team to congratulate the winners. Often times with a handshake on the field or even a visit to the opponent’s clubhouse. In that same spirit I congratulate Congressman Adam Schiff on his victory. Using their enormous power the voters have elected him the next U.S. Senator from California. And I respect that and wish him good choices for all of the people in the years to come. I want you to know that despite the outcome that when the counting is over we will have gotten the fourth-most number of votes in the country. This means that everyone in California does have a voice. And it will only grow louder and louder. ….
I fell in love with California since my first day when I arrived on September 1,1969, when I was a rookie with the Los Angeles Dodgers. And want it to once again be the heartbeat of America. And I want the American Dream to live on and thrive. Because as the great Ronald Reagan once said — “As long as that dream lives, as long as we continue to defend it, America has a future, and all mankind has reason to hope.” Thank you again. God bless you and God Bless America.
Hardiman Cureton: UCLA football Clay Matthews Jr.: USC football Dennis Harrah: Los Angeles Rams
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 60:
Chin-Lung Hu: Los Angeles Dodgers Andrew Toles: Los Angeles Dodgers
The most interesting story for No. 60: Andrew Toles: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder (2016 to 2018) Southern California map pinpoints: Dodger Stadium
Andrew Toles (60) is acknowledged (above) by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and coach Bob Geren and (below) by teammates in the Dodgers’ dugout after scoring on a Corey Seager single in Game 3 of the 2016 National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium against the Chicago Cubs. Toles hit .462 (6 for 13) with an.082 OPS in the six-game series. (Both photos: Harry How/Getty Images)
Every year since 2019, the Los Angeles Dodgers try to keep it under the radar about the ways they have kept Andrew Toles in their collective hearts and minds.
In his three Major League Baseball seasons, the 5-foot-9, 190-pound left-handed hitting outfielder was in just 96 games and 249 plate appearances. His. 286 batting average factors into a career 1.9 WAR. He will likely never play again, but the Dodgers have never looked at from that lens.
In years past, by renewing him as a player under contract on the restricted list, Toles and his family have had some peace of mind that his MLB health insurance will continue. Toles’ ongoing struggle with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The anxiety, a daily concern to his existence, was likely exacerbated by a career-setback knee injury at a time when he was making strides to be an every-day, reliable player.
One battle after another.
Media reports have made it appear there is a simple action of kindness the Dodgers take every spring, but there is far more to it. In the spring of 2026, the Dodgers eventually issued a statement of some clarification in a statement:
“We’ve been in contact with the Toles family and have worked together on how to best move forward. Continuing with the previous setup was no longer possible due to eligibility. The Toles family has asked that Andrew’s privacy be respected. Out of respect to the Toles family, we will not comment any further.”
Out of respect to this story and how the Dodgers have proceeded, it is always worthy of our attention.
Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers Bill Kilmer: UCLA football Phillip Rivers: Los Angeles Chargers
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 17:
Puka Nacua: Los Angeles Rams Carl Erskine: Los Angeles Dodgers Jari Kurri: Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Jeremy Lin: Los Angeles Lakers
The most interesting story for No. 17: Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter/outfielder (2018 to 2023); Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher/designated hitter (2024 to present) Southern California map pinpoints: Anaheim, Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium)
Everything, everywhere all at once, Shohei Ohtani’s ability to be a Major League Baseball hitter and pitcher has become the ying and the yang of a supernatural existence wearing the uniforms of Southern California’s two franchises since 2018.
To best capture what this has been like, there is an English-created adjective you don’t find in any global dictionary or with a Japanese-translatable character. Yet.
In a June 2025 Substack post, former MLB player-turned-media analyst Doug Glanville seized on what he felt was a true measurement of the seismic things worth documenting for future generations:
“I landed on ‘Ohtanic’ … ‘When Shohei Ohtani does something that only Shohei Ohtani can do.’ ” Glanville explained. “Circular? Yes. True? Also yes. … He exists in this strange stasis. Maybe like the Last Action Hero or Batman — super, but without superpowers. Ohtani does not need smoke and mirrors. He is right there, in the open. And that is the point. …
“He embodies a kind of limitless greatness, rooted in craft, powered by discipline, and entirely human. And still, that does not quite capture the essence of who he is and what he does.”
Glanville came up with this word nearly four years after Ohtani made the AL All-Star team as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. He was named both as a hitter and pitcher. He batted leadoff as the DH and started on the mound, credited with the victory in the final box score. But that’s a mere exhibition.
“Ohtanic” came nine months after Ohtani had a game in Miami for the Los Angeles Dodgers that resulted in him going 6-for-6 with three homers, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases, he reached the 50 HR mark as well as the 50 SB mark for the season. The game also clinched the NL West title for the Dodgers. Had he also pitched in that game, consider the superlatives added in.
Joe Posnanski wrote on Sept. 20, ’24: Did Shohei Ohtani just have the greatest game in baseball history? … Let’s instead call it the most amazing game in baseball history. Let’s instead call Ohtani the most amazing player in baseball history. All the great players in baseball history, Ruth and Mays and Aaron and Bonds and Gehrig and Clemente and Pujols and Bench and Ichiro and Charleston and Mantle and Morgan and Griffey and Gibson and Trout and on and on… and we’ve never seen anyone like Shohei Ohtani.
Shohei Ohtani just had one of the greatest performances in MLB history:
6-for-6 3 Home runs 2 Doubles 1 Single 10 Runs Batted In 4 Runs Scored 2 Stolen Bases
He became the first player in MLB history to reach the 50/50 (and now 51/51) club.
Then, on Oct. 16, 2025, during Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium, this happened:
Add to that Ohtani, as the starting pitcher, went into the seventh inning and 100 pitches (66 strikes) before coming out. He was credited with throwing six shutout innings and striking out 10 Milwaukee Brewers hitters. As the DH — effectively, hitting for himself — Ohtani rocked solo homers in the first, fourth and seventh innings, off three different pitchers. The last one went over the right-field pavilion roof and was listed at 469 feet, one of the greatest hit in the stadium’s history. It wasn’t even the longest he ever hit.
Sportswriters, historians and pop culture hyperbolic hyperbolists may have essentially squeezed all available digital thesaurus in landing on his status of “The Unicorn” or “GOAT of MLB history.” Still, we’re circling back to “Ohtanic.”
Like Titanic, only a larger disaster if it ever submerges into the depths of our memories as something too good to believe.
The Washington Post’s Chelea James wrote of that playoff performance: “This was Beethoven at a piano. This was Shakespeare with a quill. This was Michael Jordan in the Finals. This was Tiger Woods in Sunday red. This was too good to be true with no reason to doubt it. This is the beginning of every baseball conversation and the end of every debate: Shohei Ohtani is the best baseball player who has ever played the game … Friday night, (he) was Mona Lisa.”
Jayson Stark, writing for The Athletic/The New York Times under the headline “Ohtani, the Greatest Shoh on Earth, just had the greatest game in baseball history” declared: “A man named Ohtani had the single greatest game any human has ever had on a baseball field … assuming that term,’human,’ even describes him.” New Yorker writer Louisa Thomas checked in with: “It was the greatest performance by the greatest player in history.”
To punctuate if further, Peter Wehner wrote in the Atlantic under “A Truly Awesome Performance: “Ohtani’s performance shouldn’t be of interest just to sports fans. His triumph offers all of us a ray of hope at a troubled time. … Enjoy Shohei Ohtani while you can. He embodies athletic excellence, which will bring you joy, and moral excellence, which will bring you hope. We could benefit from some of both these days.”
That was written just months after ICE raids in Los Angeles, including the Little Tokyo area of DTLW, brought to light photos such as this:
If Ohtani came perhaps at the right time in our existence, in one stream of thought, there was another idea more philosophically obtuse that Michael Weinreb reflected on with his “Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture,” under the headlined: “Ohtani Is a Hero for the AI Age“:
“I began to wonder if Ohtani’s performance will wind up meaning much of anything at all outside of baseball itself. And I wondered if — through no real fault of his own — Shohei Ohtani could wind up becoming the avatar of an empty cultural age. … He is everything and he is nothing. And you might argue, in an era where everyday life in America feels increasingly detached from reality, he is the quintessential hero of our age.”
Breath deep and meditate on more iterations of adulation:
Above is an excerpt of the New York Times’ list of the “67 Most Stylish People of 2025,” for the way he turned “a hand gesture originally featured in a Japanese cosmetics commercial into something of a craze” as he ran around the bases after a homer.
Where do we find a true origin story amidst all the Ohtani gaga?
Christmas came early for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, and the cross-town Los Angeles Angels were left with nothing more than a lump of coal. If only it was something more like Gerrit Cole if they could have pried him away from the New York Yankees in a deadline trade that would have sent Ohtani to the Big Apple for a different kind of curtain call.
Not only did Ohtani come gift-wrapped courtesy of the Angels, but it took the Dodgers a creative way to set up a 10-year, $700 million deal with much of it craftily deferred so it wouldn’t prevent them from building a heftier team around him. He most expensive gesture and pivotal moment in Southern California professional baseball created the most distinct example of the big business intersection of sports and entertainment.
That’s just no-sham, no-shame, global Sho-business.
In the past, a welcome-to-L.A./SoCal gala fetted for the likes of Wayne Gretzky, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, or David Beckham had their own fanfare. But Ohtani was just changing addresses that involved a carpool lane on the SoCal freeway. He put in six seasons in Orange County. Now it was time for DTLA. There was no need for re-introductions, but the Dodgers did so anyway at a press conference set specifically in the afternoon at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 14, 2023 so that it was prime morning viewing in Japan the next day.
A 2017 piece on CBS’ “60 Minutes” explained to all U.S. viewers what was happening in Japan when Ohtani was 22 and trying to figure out his next move.
Earlier, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times went to Japan as well to write about how “Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani could be double threat in big leagues.” The story started: “SAPPORO, Japan — The best player on the baseball team pitches and bats fourth. Not on a Little League team. Not on a high school team. On a professional team that plays at this country’s highest level. Shohei Ohtani has the kind of extraordinary talent that could change the sport. He’s done it here, and he soon could do it in the major leagues, all the while maintaining the innocence of a boy playing a kids’ game despite the scrutiny and pressure he faces as Japan’s most-popular athlete.”
When he showed up at Dodger Stadium a week before Christmas, Ohtani said through then-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara: “I am very humbled and happy to see all of you guys here … I was told that it was only media today, so I was not expecting this.”
Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis interjected: “It actually is only media.”
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 