Sometimes life intertwines destinies in surprising ways, and in the baseball world these days, thanks to the La Guaira Sharks’ victory in the 2024 Miami Caribbean Series, two names resonate loudly: Tommy Lasorda and Oswaldo Guillén.
Both managers share the unique distinction of having won a World Series, a winter baseball league, and the Caribbean Series from the bench. But there are many more links in their brilliant careers and in their management styles.
The order of their achievements doesn’t follow the same chronology, but Lasorda’s greatness was built from less to more. From the Dominican League with the Tigres del Licey in the 1972-73 season, the Caribbean Series in February 1973, and the World Series with the Dodgers in 1981 and 1988, Tommy Lasorda’s legacy is ascendant. In contrast, Guillén charted his path to the Triple Crown in a different order: the World Series with the Chicago White Sox in 2005, the Venezuelan Baseball League in 2023-24, and the Caribbean Series in February 2024. Furthermore, Guillén achieved all these feats with the teams he loved: the La Guaira Sharks and the White Sox.
The Legacy and Style of Pompeyo Davalillo
In the history of Lasorda and Guillén, there is one name that becomes a bridge: Pompeyo Davalillo (1928-2013). I believe that in historiography, Davalillo would be “the cornerstone” of the similarities between Lasorda and Guillén. Let’s reflect.
Davalillo was a Venezuelan player and manager, known as “Yo-Yo” in the United States. He made his mark by managing the Salamanca team in Mexico, becoming the first Venezuelan to lead a professional baseball team in another country. In other words, he was the first Venezuelan professional manager to be an immigrant.
Davalillo also shared crucial moments with Lasorda. In the 1971-72 season, Lasorda served as Davalillo’s coach with the Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan League, and the following year, Lasorda took over as manager of the Tigres del Licey, winning his first professional championship. It seems as though Lasorda’s last internships before becoming a champion manager were destined to coincide with his boss for that season: Davalillo.
I am not suggesting that Lasorda learned everything thanks to Pompeyo, not at all. But I do want to make it clear that it’s no coincidence that Lasorda, the season after he was Davalillo’s coach, won his first professional championship in the Dominican Republic and a Caribbean Series as a rookie manager. The similarities in Lasorda’s and Davalillo’s management style are striking.
My opinion is that Davalillo taught him (with words and actions) how to play Caribbean baseball and aggressive baseball with teams favored to win the championship. Lasorda was the coach of a competitive manager like Davalillo, and up until that point, Lasorda had been merely a talent scout and a developer of minor league teams in the U.S., but not a winning manager. Those in the know know that being the manager of a favorite team to win is not the same as being an average manager. The pressures and the demands are very different. That was exactly one of the things Davalillo taught Lasorda.
In those years, it was well known that American players and managers went to the winter leagues to improve and learn from their development. Today, everything has changed, but that’s not the point.
Coincidence or not, it’s important to highlight that in that 1971-72 season, Lasorda had his last coaching internship, and it was a turning point in his career. With the Leones del Caracas, Lasorda didn’t win, but he did suffer defeats against a team that was poised to become a champion. And this is a painful truth in life: losing teaches more than winning.
In the 1970s, as in our days in the Caribbean Winter Leagues, the game is played to win, and there’s no training process because almost all Latin American professional players make their living and develop in the MLB’s Minor Leagues. However, any local or foreign manager who doesn’t win in the Caribbean either leaves or has to endure the insults of the fans (just ask Phil Regan, an American manager who managed in the 1990s in Venezuela). My hypothesis is that Lasorda, in Caracas, alongside Davalillo, learned to win and compete more than to develop new talent, something he already knew and did very well. So much so that during Lasorda’s fruitful career in the majors, nine of his players won the Rookie of the Year Award. How great Lasorda was.
But fate connects not only Lasorda with Davalillo, but also with Ozzie Guillén. In the 1980s, Pompeyo Davalillo displayed his wisdom and discipline with the La Guaira Sharks, forming the famous “Guerrilla” team alongside Guillén and other talented Venezuelan players. In fact, these Sharks won three times in the 1980s, with a double (1984-85 and 1985-86). That 1986 season was their last until 38 years later, when the Sharks, under Oswaldo Guillén’s command, won their eighth title in 2024.
Guillén has repeatedly stated that Davalillo was his baseball mentor, a father to many of the players of that generation. And the similarities in their playing style between Guillén and Davalillo are obvious (as with Lasorda). Coincidence? I doubt it. Such a coincidence is logically unlikely.
Both Lasorda and Guillén share an aggressive approach to the game. Pompeyo Davalillo, the common link, was known for his bold style, incorporating tactical plays such as surprise bunts, constant base steals, and hit-and-runs. Davalillo was a manager for big teams, for favorites, those teams that only know how to win. This aggressive baseball has become a hallmark of both managers (Lasorda and Guillén), who ended up winning the Triple Crown.
The Latin Connection Between Lasorda and Guillén
Finally, a Latin bond unites Lasorda and Guillén. Thomas Charles Lasorda (1927-2021), the American son of Italian immigrants, shares Latin roots with Oswaldo Guillén, a native of Ocumare del Tuy, Miranda state. This Latin cultural connection adds another layer of complexity and connection to the history between these two iconic baseball managers.
For those unaware, the origins of Spaniards and Italians and their descendants are Latin because the Roman Empire spoke Latin and conquered Hispania. Being Latin isn’t a matter of skin color, religion, or even strictly genetics. Being Latin is a cultural issue, and I dare say it’s basically a matter of one’s native language: Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese (among others). Let’s get back to the topic.
Note that Lasorda was the Dodgers’ manager during the era of Fernando Valenzuela and “Fernandomania.” I have no doubt that Lasorda’s time in Caribbean baseball helped him get to know and connect better with his Latin players and with all those Mexican fans who, in the 1980s and to this day, form the Dodgers’ great fan base. Is it a coincidence that Lasorda was the manager of those Dodgers? Of course not. There are no coincidences, just “causalities.” However, some believe that Valenzuela’s lack of continuity with the Dodgers had to do with his relationship with Lasorda, but this was a personal issue between them. In short, Lasorda was characterized as a manager with little patience with his pitchers.
In the game of life and baseball, these connections, unexpected for many—but found in the depths and treasures of history—between Lasorda, Guillén, and Davalillo weave a unique tapestry of legacies, successes, and lessons that will endure in the history of Latin American baseball.
And as many historians say: history is written by winners, and Lasorda, Davalillo, and Guillén are indeed winners. Others also add: immigrants forge that winning history because Lasorda, Guillén, and Davalillo were all, in one way or another, immigrants who elevated “their” baseball outside “their” borders or comfort zones.
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