2002 Installation
Tommy Lasorda and Bobby Valentine were named International Baseball Man of the Century and Humanitarian of the Year, respectively, at the 16th Annual Armenian-American Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Tuesday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Newport Marriott.
Proceeds from ticket sales, raffle tickets and auction items at the banquet, which is sponsored by the Orange County chapter of the Armenian-American TREX Fraternity, benefited Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), Ararat Home for the Aged, Mission Hills, Calif., and the Tommy Lasorda Jr. Foundation, Yorba Linda, Calif.
"Tommy was a clear choice for International Baseball Man of the Century, having led the Los Angeles Dodgers to four National League pennants and two World Series championships, in addition to leading the U.S. men's Olympic baseball team to its first Gold Medal," said Jack Kayajanian, founder and co-chairman of the Armenian-American Sports Hall of Fame Banquet.
Kayajanian, a prominent Costa Mesa attorney and a past president of the TREX Fraternity's Orange County chapter, said of New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine, "We chose him as Humanitarian of the Year because of the countless hours he spent driving the relief effort at Shea Stadium in the wake of the World Trade Center tragedy. He also dipped into his personal collection of baseball history, auctioning items to raise money for the Twin Towers Fund."
