‘GAMBLING: AMERICA’S NATIONAL PASTIME? / CHARGES, REACTIONS : Lasorda’s Friendship With Man Reputedly Tied to Crime Is Cited : Ueberroth’s Office Also Questions Dodger Manager

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  A spokesman for baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth said Wednesday that Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda has been questioned by the commissioner’s office regarding his relationship with Joe DeCarlo, a reputed associate of the late Mickey Cohen, a bookmaker and an organized crime figure.

That announcement was made after the publication of a special report on gambling in Sports Illustrated that asserted, in part, that Lasorda has been “hobnobbing openly” with DeCarlo, a former entertainment agent and nightclub manager who was a frequent visitor to Lasorda’s office in Dodger Stadium.

“I don’t think anyone should question my character, my deportment,” Lasorda said Wednesday. “You’re not questioning my character, are you?

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

DeCarlo, according to Sports Illustrated, was identified in a 1982 New Jersey casino commission hearing as having “allegedly provided organized crime (figures) with prostitutes and associated with reputed bookmakers.”

(In Sports Illustrated, DeCarlo’s name is spelled Di Carlo, a variation that has appeared in other stories about him over the years. He told a Times reporter Wednesday in Los Angeles that the proper spelling is De Carlo.)

DeCarlo was convicted on a mail-theft charge, for which he went to prison in 1948.

In 1962, a Los Angeles judge dismissed murder and conspiracy charges against Cohen, DeCarlo and two other men in the 1959 murder of Jack (the Enforcer) Whalen after the trial had ended in a hung jury.

Lasorda said he and DeCarlo have been friends for “about 9 or 10 years.”

The statement from the commissioner’s office said: “We have spoken to Tom Lasorda about his relationship with Joe DeCarlo. He has assured us that, like all baseball people, he will carefully scrutinize his relationships with any individuals who might reflect adversely on baseball.”

Dodger owner Peter O’Malley said he had been told of the DeCarlo-Lasorda association by the magazine two months ago but added that he had not been contacted by the commissioner’s office.

Asked if he knew DeCarlo, O’Malley said: “I don’t think I’ve ever met him. I don’t recall ever having met him.

” . . . I would prefer Tommy didn’t associate with those convicted of crimes like that.”

O’Malley said he had spoken to Lasorda after speaking to a reporter for the magazine. “I told Tommy Sports Illustrated was doing the story. He didn’t know anything more about it than I did,” O’Malley said.

Lasorda, who denied to the magazine knowledge of DeCarlo’s past, repeated those denials Wednesday to a group of reporters in his office here.

“I don’t know anything about his background,” Lasorda said. “I don’t know the background of the guy talking to me. I don’t know the background of any of you guys.

“How the hell do I know your background? I don’t know. I talk to a lot of people. I ate at a restaurant last night and I had my picture taken with five different people. I didn’t ask them for their backgrounds, who they were.”

Lasorda said he first met DeCarlo while dining at Pips, a private Beverly Hills club once managed by DeCarlo. According to one source, DeCarlo served on its board of directors until six months ago.

“I’ve been a friend of his, just like I’ve been a friend of yours or a friend of (Steve) Brener’s (the Dodger publicist),” Lasorda said. “I’ve known him, geez, maybe 9 or 10 years, I couldn’t pinpoint how long. . . . I’ve eaten there (Pip’s) a few times, not a lot of times but a few times.”

Asked if he had ever been warned about any alleged illicit activity involving DeCarlo, Lasorda said: “No one ever said that to me. When I was told that, I was really surprised, very surprised. . . . Is he guilty of anything?”

Told about DeCarlo’s conviction of mail theft, Lasorda said: “That’s really a shock to me.

“Let me say this: If he’s the kind of guy that I’m not supposed to be associated with, then I won’t associate with him. . . . This guy (a reporter) is telling me something I’m learning for the first time today.”

” . . . If this guy’s not a proper guy to be around, I won’t be around him. It’s as simple as that.”

Lasorda said he called DeCarlo to ask him about the allegations. “He said he’s never been involved in gambling. He said he doesn’t even bet on any sport. That’s what I asked him.

” . . . He never said anything to me out of the way, ever. This guy (DeCarlo) told me he was in the White House having lunch three times with the President.”

Asked which president, Lasorda replied: “Abraham Lincoln. How the (bleep) do I know? If you get in the White House, you’re supposed to be clean. I don’t know.”

Lasorda refused to say when he had been contacted by the commissioner’s office.

“What is this, am I under investigation?” he said. “I hope not. I can’t remember, but you want me to give you a specific date.”

A spokesman for the commissioner’s office said that as a matter of policy, it could not release the date of the Lasorda interview.

“I’m just disappointed, I can’t believe this is happening,” Lasorda said. “I’m just very disappointed.”

There were indications Wednesday that Lasorda may have to curtail his practice of opening his office to the steady stream of celebrities, friends, relatives, former athletes and hangers-on who visit him during the season.

O’Malley said he expects to receive guidelines from Ueberroth within a few days. Last Friday, Ueberroth announced that big-league clubhouses no longer would be open to “jewelry salesmen, friends and agents.”

O’Malley said: “Tommy and I have not talked about it (clubhouse visitors). When we get the guidelines from the commissioner’s office, obviously we’ll talk about it.

” . . . Common sense is the best guideline. I think Tommy has good common sense. If a lesson is to be learned from this, Tommy is smart enough and wise enough to learn it.”

Lasorda said he makes a distinction between the team’s clubhouse and his office. The clubhouse is restricted to “fathers, brothers and sons,” he said. His office visitors often include other friends and relatives of his players, he said.

“If the commissioner doesn’t want me to let anyone in my clubhouse, then there won’t be anyone in my clubhouse.”

A Dodger official said the publicity regarding the Lasorda-DeCarlo relationship might give the Dodgers just the pretext they needed to clamp down on the manager’s visitors.

“This is the best time to bite it in the butt,” the official said. “Now we don’t have to say Peter did it, Fred Claire did it, Tommy Lasorda did it. Now we can say it comes straight from the commissioner’s office. Nobody wants to be the bad guy.”

The official, who also knows DeCarlo, said: “He’s a real nice guy, a lot of fun.”

This is not the first time Lasorda’s name has been linked to a person alleged to have some connections with organized crime. In 1983, Lasorda was reported to have been seen in a Chicago restaurant with Stanley Korshak, a California labor lawyer who has long been described by law-enforcement agencies as a representative of organized crime figures.

“He’s a lawyer--what’s wrong with him?” Lasorda said.

When a reporter said that Korshak was reputed to have organized-crime associations, Lasorda said: “Reputed? What the bleep does that mean? Is there something wrong with him?

“I know he’s a lawyer, I know he is a lawyer for the union. That’s all I know. You’re going to bring this out now? Is he another guy I can’t be around?”