YAPHANK, N.Y., Sept. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Steel Sports, a social impact organization with the mission of inspiring youth to reach their potential on and off the field, announces the opening of Lasorda Legacy Park to honor the legendary Dodgers Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda.
Formerly Baseball Heaven, Lasorda Legacy Park is a state-of-the-art baseball and softball facility home to Team Steel NY, the National Youth Baseball Championships, and dozens of baseball and softball tournaments where over 250,000 families attend per year.
After being introduced to Tommy Lasorda in 2009, Steel Partners Executive Chairman Warren Lichtenstein founded Steel Sports in 2011 in an office at Dodger Stadium. Coach Lasorda was a key figure in creating the Steel Sports Coaching System-The Lasorda Way, which helps kids thrive by building character, teaching life lessons, inspiring confidence, and having fun.
"Lasorda Legacy Park is a place where kids, coaches, and families can build their legacy through Tommy's 'You Gotta Believe' philosophy," says Warren Lichtenstein, who watched Tommy inspire thousands of people across the world. "We will honor Tommy's vision that providing a positive and fun environment is essential to keeping kids in sports so they can gain the character traits that make them successful in all walks of life."
Coach Lasorda was named Dodgers Manager in 1976, and in his Hall of Fame trajectory, he compiled 1,599 wins, four National League Pennants, and two World Series titles in 1981 and 1988. Tommy had his #2 jersey retired by the Dodgers and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2000, he led Team USA to an improbable Olympic gold medal win over heavily favored Cuba. Nothing was impossible to Tommy Lasorda.
"Lasorda Legacy Park is a national focal point for our Kids First mission and core values of Teamwork, Respect, Integrity, and Commitment. We named our seven fields after these and other values to remind all who play and come here what the true priority of youth sports is: teaching success in life," states Martin Brown, President of Steel Sports.
Steel Sports is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steel Partners, a diversified global holding company with the shared purpose of forging the next generation of future leaders. The Steel Sports Advisory Board includes Dodgers great Eric Karros, legendary managers Bobby Valentine and Dusty Baker, USWNT World Cup and Olympic Champion Julie Foudy, basketball legend Nancy Lieberman, and Lasorda who served until his passing in 2021.
"Tommy was more than a Hall of Fame Manager. He was a husband, father, friend, mentor, icon, American Treasure, baseball's ultimate ambassador, and inspiration to so many. He taught us about teamwork, where you play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back," says Eric Karros, who played for Lasorda for 11 years and was the 1992 National League Rookie of the year. "Tommy's legacy lives on at Lasorda Legacy Park and wherever kids who believe in themselves play."
A Grand Opening ceremony is planned for Sunday, September 19th at the newly branded facility in Yaphank, Long Island. Families and players will hear from those coached by Lasorda, his family and friends, and begin to building their own legacy through sports.
About Steel Sports
Headquartered in Bridgewater, NJ, Steel Sports is a social impact business with the mission of inspiring youth to reach their potential, on and off the field, by developing them as athletes and people through the Steel Sports Coaching System- The Lasorda Way. Through its "kids first" approach, Steel Sports is establishing a new standard in youth sports and coaching, forging the next generation of leaders by instilling Steel Sports' core values: Teamwork, Respect, Integrity, and Commitment. Steel Sports creates a positive youth sports experience for over 100,000 athletes each year. For more information, visit www.steelsports.com.
About Steel Partners Holdings, LLP
Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (www.steelpartners.com) (NYSE: SPLP) is a diversified global holding company that owns and operates businesses, including diversified industrial products, energy, defense, supply chain management and logistics, direct marketing, banking, and youth sports.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Alan Berkes
Senior VP, Brand & Communications
(424)247-3104
aberkes@steelsports.com
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SOURCE Steel Partners
