Letters: Fame is the name of the game

Halls of Fame start out celebrating the best of the best and over time add the best of the good, causing bloat. But Houston Mitchell’s fanciful attempt to downsize Cooperstown to only the best only shows why that’s a matter of opinion. Methinks he’s been beaned by too many metrics.

For one example, consider his declaration that Luis Aparicio is “seriously overrated.” Aparicio was a seminal Latino big league star, a difference-making shortstop and baserunner. He was instrumental in the Chicago White Sox winning their first pennant in decades and the Baltimore Orioles winning their first one ever.

And other ballplayers were in awe of him. Ralph Houk, longtime Yankees player-manager, once said to me, “Luis Aparicio beat the Yankees more games than Ted Williams.” Pre-bloat, I voted for both of them first ballot.

As that eminent baseball statistician Albert Einstein put it, not everything that’s counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.

Larry Merchant

Santa Monica

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It’s called the Hall of Fame. Not the Hall of Statistics.

Paul Jackson

Chatsworth

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For someone to claim that Don Drysdale should not be a member of the Hall of Fame who never saw him pitch is ignorant of his dominance in his era.

Bruce Rockwell

Pasadena

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If Houston Mitchell wants to eliminate Don Drysdale from the Hall, then I want Ty Cobb. In recent years, some baseball scholars have attempted to repair Cobb’s racist image. Whether or not he had a “come to Jesus” meeting after his playing days, there are a number of incidents during his heyday that are at least questionable.

If Pete Rose can’t get in, and Big D goes, then so must Cobb.

Rodney K. Boswell

Thousand Oaks

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If Big D were to pitch to Mr. Mitchell, he would only need one pitch.

Kim Bueltel

Palm Springs

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Chris Dufresne’s rebuttal article on Don Drysdale is the only reason I did not cancel my subscription.

Carma Gale

Eastvale, Calif.

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The Hall of Fame story was great fun. But wasn’t it really supposed to run on April 1?

R.C. Price

San Clemente

Blue mood

How very disappointing that the Dodgers didn’t do anything at the deadline. We at least hoped they would trade Time Warner Cable.

Mel Powell

Sherman Oaks

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Using Bill Plaschke’s logic, it’s safe to say that Clayton Kershaw wouldn’t be pitching for the Dodgers today. How many times did Kershaw’s name come up in trade deadline talks when he was a top prospect? I’m sure Ned Colletti had numerous opportunities to make an “upgrade” using Kershaw as the central piece.

Steve Buffalo

Quartz Hill

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I was skeptical when those Guggenheim billionaires overpaid for the Dodgers, knowing full well they would cash in on a multibillion TV deal and leave the fans footing the bill. They masqueraded a minority owner and beloved sports figure as the face of the new owners. “Welcome to the greedy billionaire club. We are the good guys taking your money, not bad guy Frank McCourt.” The good guys gave McCourt an extra billion in the deal and a luxury suite for life. He can still make millions more from any parking lot development. How much did tickets go up this past year? One hundred forty percent and also parking prices if you don’t buy online. And now fans can’t watch the Dodgers on TV. When this is settled who do you think is going to foot the bill? The good guys?

Richard Miller

Los Angeles

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Plaschke got it half right in the dispute over Dodgers’ broadcast fees, which is better than his usual average. Arbitration makes no sense. However the fault for this fiasco lies with Time Warner Cable, not the Dodgers.

TWC reportedly bid $2 billion more than the second high bidder, which Plaschke calls “a bit,” How many times has a seller in an auction said “Gee, the high bidder bid too much, maybe I should accept the second bid or ask him to lower his bid?”

More important, Time Warner is supposed to be the cable expert. It should know what the market could bear. It overbid and now wants all of Los Angeles to pay for its mistake. Cable subscribers throughout the country are tired of paying for channels they never watch. Why should those not interested in the Dodgers have to pay for it? Time Warner could just let the other providers put the Dodgers on a separate tier so only those who watch have to pay, but that is not its plan.

I would say Plaschke needs to get some business education, but anyone who thinks $2 billion is “a bit” must already be a very rich man.

W. Richard Fay

Palos Verdes Estates

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Once again, Plaschke demonstrates his ignorance of basic economics. It’s simple, Bill and here’s how it works. The Dodgers have a product, the right to televise the team’s games. Time Warner Cable purchased that right at an agreed-upon price and in attempting to resell the right, is meeting market resistance based upon price. Nothing new here, happens all the time. The market should be allowed to resolve the issue, not the government, not an arbitrator, unless the parties agree, and certainly not Plaschke.

Clearly Plaschke loves that the Dodgers have placed a highly competitive and entertaining team on the field. That happened because the club spent money, tons of it, acquiring and paying the people who put on the show. Econ 101 requires they recoup those dollars and more if possible. That’s why they are there, Bill, to put on a show, sell it and make a profit. It’s the American way.

Skip Nevell

Los Angeles

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Way back when, before this present-day evolution of greed, Dodgers fans could count on one certainty: Dodger-Giants games were always televised. Now, for the first time in my 64 years, the season is almost two-thirds complete and I have not seen one game. Not one. With all the money piled up in Dodgerland coffers, they could have, had they wanted to, made at least some of their games accessible to those of us who don’t have SportsNet LA.

I coined a little something:

Greed is a game that foolish men play. And oftentimes its with their lives they pay.

When will one of the foolish decision makers wake up and peek around that wall of money, and see what all that profit is going to ultimately cost them?

Milt Pappas

Los Angeles

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Please tell me that Vin Scully negotiated that TWC could not use his voice in their broadcasts, unless they paid the other cable companies $5 per subscriber.

Dave Eng

Thousand Oaks

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I’m glad that Vin Scully will return to the broadcast booth next year. Is the incessant pounding of a bass drum through the Dodgers public address system that drowns Scully out returning too?

David Hawkins

Anaheim Hills

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Actually, this works out great. If the Dodgers play crummy who wants to watch them? If they play great, we watch them in the postseason games on free TV. Everybody wins, except SportsNet LA.

Richard Dennison

Goleta

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How does a Dodgers fan of 56 years become an Angels fan?

SportsNet LA.

Ken Ramey

Garden Grove

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Breaking news! Vin Scully announces that he will be broadcasting again in 2015. Well, 30% of Los Angeles was overjoyed to hear the announcement. He was actually thinking about also doing all of the road games, because it would be the only way he could see the Dodgers play.

Jeff Hershow

Woodland Hills

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Now that the Dodgers have acquired Dwight Barney, they need to call up Stephen Fife from the minors so they can have a Barney-Fife lineup.

Darryl Thomson

La Canada

Case closed?

There is an old joke about a lone attorney living in a small town. Business was bad. But another attorney moved to town, and they both got rich.

When you consider Donald Sterling’s own trust is indemnifying the NBA against a lawsuit, I wonder whose best interest his attorneys are looking for by advising him to continue to sue.

Clay Wells

Balboa

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I am no fan of Donald Sterling, but I have to wonder how he can be declared incompetent yet be held responsible for the racist comments that got him in trouble in the first place. Am I missing something ?

Bert Bergen

La Cañada

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Now that the Donald Sterling “sanity” trial is over, when does the Steve Ballmer sanity trial start?

Bob J. Epstein

Woodland Hills

Take your pick

I guess it’s safe to say that UCLA’s basketball program, after losing Zach LaVine, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams to the NBA, is now officially watered down.

Marty Foster

Ventura

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The UCLA football season is not underway, but there are early indications of the offensive strategy: flooding the zone.

Ted La Mothe

Long Beach

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