At my first professional journalism job, at the San Bernardino Sun, in 1976, one of the biggest and brightest influences on me was Paul Hagen, whom I considered a wise old sports writing veteran. He might have been 25. Paul covered the Dodgers for us, and he did it well and loved the beat. The […]

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I’m not quite sure how I feel about the San Francisco Giants winning the World Series. Having grown up a Dodgers fan, I came to loathe the Giants, and their shifty ways and their awful ballpark. Ah, the memories. Juan Marichal beating John Roseboro over the head with a bat; Willie Mays’s whining when Don […]

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A nine-player deal, the Dodgers taking on hundreds of millions in salary commitments, including those of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett. And the takeaway? Los Angeles has just rediscovered it is a major sports market.

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As a displaced fan of most Los Angeles sports teams, I will take some time out from the latest travelogue to give credit where it is due: To the veteran management team of the Lakers. And to the new management team of the Dodgers. Both franchises have been proactive, and imaginative, and as fans of […]

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I love bobbleheads. I have confessed to this several times. At this minute, I have two bobbleheads on my desk at The National, here in Abu Dhabi. Duke Snider and David Eckstein area a little worse for wear, given that late-night cleaners handle them roughly, but they still nod at me, and make me smile. […]

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Consider these two baseball lineups: Gwynn Jr. cf, Herrera 3b, Ethier rf, Van Slyke lf, Sands 1b, DeJesus Jr. 2b, Treanor c, Sellers ss, Capuano p. Sax 2b, Stubbs 1b, Hatcher lf, Marshall rf, Shelby cf, Davis dh, Dempsey c, Hamilton 3b, Griffin ss (Hershiser p). Both are pretty limp collections of players, no? The […]

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The Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher yesterday. Lots of “oh, what a great guy” stuff out there, particularly from those in the sports journalism community. And I say … bosh!

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This was how it was supposed to work: That weasel Frank McCourt would sell the Dodgers and I would immediately resume a powerful interest in the club. I would again know the identities of every man on the roster, with opinions on all of them, and my moods could be least be slightly brightened or […]

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I find Frank McCourt (and his ex-wife, for that matter) as repellant as just about anyone. I’m confident of that. And my initial reaction to a group “led” (“fronted” is a better word) by Magic Johnson buying the Dodgers was, “Our long baseball nightmare is over!” But the more I read about it … the […]

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Someone in the Dodgers marketing department deserves a raise. This is just plain brilliant: A Hello Kitty “mini bobblehead” night at Dodger Stadium.

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