Letters: Dave Roberts can do great things for the Dodgers

I was very disappointed to see the hiring of Dave Roberts. He is clearly a class act, fan favorite, well respected by the players, intelligent and a consummate team leader. I will find it very difficult to root against him. However, as a lifelong Giants fan, I will find a way.

Mitch Shatzen

Irvine

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Dave Roberts is the first minority manager in Dodgers history. It’s ironic that the MLB team with the first black ballplayer took so long to break the color barrier when it comes to managers. Though Al Campanis was fired by the Dodgers in 1987 for his comments that blacks may not have some of the necessities to be a manager, it took them 28 years to give a nonwhite an opportunity to do the job. Coincidentally, the monumental hiring came a year after they hired their first nonwhite general manager. While most people only associate them with its spending power, the current Dodger ownership’s biggest legacy will be its diversity in its hiring practices.

Steve Chesney

Tarzana

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Why do you deem it necessary to describe the Dodgers’ new manager, Dave Roberts, as “the first minority manager in its history”? What does that have to do with anything? Then you go on to say that saying his heritage was a large factor in his hiring is an insult to Roberts’ achievements. But you still say it. You just can’t stop yourself can you? Does being African American make him more or less qualified? You published a photo of Mr. Roberts on the front page of the sports section. We can see he is African American. What’s sad is it didn’t even cross my mind that he was “black.” He was simply the new Dodgers manager.

Candy Carstensen

Los Angeles

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Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey are looking down at Chavez Ravine from heaven and smiling.

Paul Shubunka

Santa Clarita

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Dave Roberts will have some very big shoes to fill. Don Mattingly had a winning percentage of .551. Of the recent significant Los Angeles Dodgers managers, only Walter Alston, at .558, had a higher winning percentage than Mattingly. Joe Torre had a winning percentage of .533, and Tommy Lasorda had only a .526 winning record. Besting Mattingly’s Dodger record will be difficult. Dodgers fans have high expectations. Best of luck to Roberts.

Roy Fassel

Los Angeles

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Maybe Roberts can spark the Dodgers the way he sparked Boston in 2004.

Vaughn Hardenberg

Westwood

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Now that baseball fan and Mayor Eric Garcetti has approved the managerial choice of Dave Roberts, perhaps he could finally do his job and get TWC and the Dodgers to do something about the TV blackout that hits 80% of his constituents!

Fred Wallin

Westlake Village

A second opinion

It seems clear after the first 15 games that the Clippers are not only not going to contend for the NBA championship this season as was expected, but they are going to have a very hard time even making the playoffs. The blame for this unfortunate turn of events falls squarely on the shoulders of the de facto general manager and coach of the team, Doc Rivers. Doc seems like a wonderful person and has had a wonderful career, but it’s time for Mr. Ballmer to fire him from all his positions forthwith.

Alvin S. Michaelson

Los Angeles

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The worst basketball coach in Los Angeles isn’t Byron Scott; it’s Doc Rivers. Scott has an aging Kobe Bryant and some front-office blundered draft picks to work with. Rivers has three All-Stars in Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, but has consistently failed to get the Clippers past the second round of the playoffs. This year with a very deep bench, many expected the Clippers to be near the top in the West, but instead they are struggling to stay above .500. Rivers has been given a pass for years after winning a championship in 2007-2008 with a Boston Celtic team loaded with future Hall of Famers. I think it’s time that pass gets revoked.

Gary H. Miller

Encino

Give him a chance

Why should winning out be the final criteria for whether Clay Helton is worthy to be the next USC head football coach? Perhaps there are more important factors that make him qualified. For instance, he has stepped up twice to save USC from the disaster of losing its head football coach. He has been an assistant coach at USC for six years. He has returned a feeling of joy and purpose to the Trojans locker room. He knows intimately the value and importance of the idea of “Trojan Family.” In his time as interim head coach his teams have been competitive in every game including playing a red-hot Oregon team in a packed, hostile stadium without his starting center (the most under-appreciated position in football). In his first two seasons at USC, John McKay won three games and then five before taking the Trojans to the national championship and a legacy of football glory. Pete Carroll was the second or third choice for head coach. Sometimes winning isn’t everything. It is what else you bring to the table like character. Give him a three-year deal and let’s see what happens. I’ll bet it will be good.

Paul L. Hovsepian

Sierra Madre

Stay classy

The Golden State Warriors set a record unequaled in NBA history, and The Times steps all over this accomplishment the next morning by suggesting the current Warriors could never have taken the Lakers of the ‘80s in a seven-game series. What a loser Byron (2-12) Scott is. OK, a reporter asked the question, but he’s not the guilty party. Reporters, particularly sports reporters, ask dumb questions every day. But Scott, whose team just got their butts kicked by 34 points by the Warriors, was apparently absent the day gracious manners were handed out. Mr. Scott, the correct answer to the question about whether the Warriors could have taken a seven-game series from the Showtime Lakers is: “Who cares? What does it matter? Right now they are the best, and my hat is off to them.”

Dave Riley

Laguna Woods

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Message to Kobe. Would you rather go out like Willie Mays or go out with dignity like Elgin Baylor, who even though he knew he was on a great team, unselfishly retired nine games into the 71-72 season because he realized he was done.

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

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I started to get excited thinking the Lakers just might hold onto their pick in next year’s draft by finishing in the bottom three. Then I remembered Jim Buss would be making the pick. So much for my excitement!

Chuck Templer

Yorba Linda

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Turn out the lights, the party’s over. One heck of a career. Naismith Hall of Fame, first ballot, unanimous, five rings. But the fat lady has sung, the eggs are chilling, the butter’s getting hard and the Jell-O’s jiggling. Time to go off into that sunset. Kobe, thanks for the memories, which at this point, is all they are.

Marty Foster

Ventura

So long to a scribe

Congratulations to Bill Dwyre on his retirement. He has been one of the best writers and editors in Los Angeles and we are fortunate to have been his readers for so many years. He is a real class act.

Sol Bialeck

Van Nuys

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