Dodgers’ Oldies Honored--Angels’ Oldies Report : 1955 Brooklyn Team Set to Join Less Famous Crew at Vero Beach

One of the greatest Dodger teams in history will assemble here this weekend in Dodgertown.

The 1985 Dodgers are headed this way, too, with pitchers, catchers and non-roster players due to report today.

The team for the ages, the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, is being brought back for a reunion of world champions. Pee Wee, Duke, Skoonj and that gang. The Boys of Summer, awash in nostalgia, rhapsodized over by poets.

The team for the funny papers, the fourth-place Dodgers of 1984, is being reunited, too. Pedro, Fernando, Saxie and that gang. The Boys of (a) Bummer, a washout in the National League West, who inspire a rhapsody only by Dodger Vice President Al Campanis, with Manager Tom Lasorda still to be heard from.

Campanis appreciates history, but he is not averse to taking an occasional flight of fantasy, especially when it’s almost spring. That seems to be the most plausible explanation for Campanis’ contention that the team that finished four games under .500 last season can rebound to win the West in ’85.

“Woe to them who misplace the Dodgers this year because they’re going to be surprised,” Campanis said.

Far be it from Campanis to be dismayed because the defending champion San Diego Padres have added pitcher LaMarr Hoyt, a former Cy Young Award winner. Or because the ever-dangerous Braves have added Bruce Sutter, the league’s best relief pitcher.

“You see the negative side of things that fans don’t see,” Campanis said, admonishing a reporter for bringing up Hoyt and Sutter.

Besides, it’s not as if the Dodgers sat on their hands all winter. They may have lost the outfielder and leadoff man they coveted, Rickey Henderson, to the New York Yankees, but they did add 38-year-old Al Oliver--”a real wood man,” Campanis said--and pitcher Bobby Castillo, who was here previously, before he injured the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

Another transaction was in the offing, too, until Alejandro Pena’s shoulder injury scuttled Campanis’ plans to trade a starting pitcher for a third baseman.

So the Dodger third baseman of the immediate future comes unhappily from the immediate past. It’s Pedro Guerrero, who ended last season by announcing that he wanted to be the team’s center fielder in 1985.

Lasorda has since gone to the Dominican Republic to convince Guerrero of the merits of playing third, and anybody who’s ever eaten a certain brand of frozen pizza can attest to Lasorda’s powers of persuasion.

Campanis believes that the Dodgers can win with Guerrero at third base. There are those--Guerrero among them--who would have preferred to take their chances with Buddy Bell or Tim Wallach or Larry Parrish, but the only alternative at this point is German Rivera. Which is to say, no alternative at all.

Guerrero’s home run production last season was halved from ’83 (32 to 16). “But I think attributing that to third base is a lot of hooey,” Campanis said.

Therein lies the root of Campanis’ optimism. Just as he believes Guerrero can rebound from an off-year, he also believes that such key performers as center fielder Ken Landreaux and second baseman Steve Sax, can rebound, too, which is why the Dodgers are going into the season with essentially an unchanged hand. The pattern of injuries that wiped out the team in ’84 can’t possibly be repeated, can it?

“If these guys have their normal capacity years, I feel we’ll be right back where we were in ‘83, except for one thing: I think our young players have gained another year of experience,” Campanis said. “I look for improvement from within.”

He may get it, too, especially if Steve Howe can come back after a year’s absence to demonstrate that he not only has beaten a drug habit and elbow surgery, but still can be the best left-handed relief pitcher in the league, which he was before he went down.

Such a comeback seemingly would be best approached cautiously, but not by Campanis. Ask him if Howe’s a question mark, and Campanis replies: “Why? Dr. (Frank) Jobe said Howe is ready to pitch effectively as of April 1. This is Dr. Jobe talking.

“He’s clean. I’ve seen him right here. I would bet he’s clean. I saw him when he wasn’t and I’ve seen him now, and he looks great. And he’s cockier than ever.”

So, if the season were to begin today, the 1985 Dodger lineup most likely would be:

First base--Greg Brock

Second base--Sax

Third base--Guerrero

Shortstop--Dave Anderson

Left field--Mike Marshall

Center field--Landreaux

Right field--R.J. Reynolds

Catcher--Mike Scioscia

Starting pitchers--Fernando Valenzuela, Jerry Reuss, Orel Hershiser, Bob Welch and Rick Honeycutt

Bullpen--Howe, Ken Howell, Tom Niedenfuer

A look at the team by position:

FIRST BASE--Brock, though bloodied by a .225 average and a trip back to the minors last season, is still the incumbent. “I just hope he starts hitting consistently,” Campanis said. If he doesn’t, Oliver would appear to be the man. Sid Bream remains a longshot, and Franklin Stubbs, his confidence destroyed by being rushed to the majors prematurely in ‘84, is at least a year away.

SECOND BASE--At .243, Sax dropped nearly 40 points in average, and his 34 stolen bases were 22 fewer than the year before. Guerrero’s agent, Tony Attanasio, maintains that his client’s decline in production was directly related to Sax’s failure to get on base more often. Campanis said that was ridiculous, but improvement here is essential.

THIRD BASE--Guerrero. It should be an adventure.

SHORTSTOP--Anderson performed creditably as a rookie and will be backed up by Bill Russell.

OUTFIELD--Marshall, the left fielder, has a bet with Campanis that he’ll play 160 games this season after two injury-marred seasons. He hit .229 after the All-Star break last season but projects as a 30-homer man. Landreaux was a bust in ‘84, but center field remains his. “We’ve got to motivate him, shake him up,” said Campanis, the man who signed Landreaux to a lucrative four-year deal in ’87.

Right field is wide open, with the switch-hitting Reynolds seeming to a have the edge over Maldonado, who played primarily against right-handers last season and has yet to show he can do the job every day. A longshot is rookie Ralph Bryant, who hit 31 home runs for Class AA San Antonio.

CATCHER--Mike Scioscia, who dropped 12 pounds over the winter, is entrenched as the No. 1 catcher after being perhaps the team’s most consistent performer last season. Steve Yeager, who broke his leg last September, is the backup.

STARTING PITCHING--Still the team’s strength, assuming no one joins Pena on the sidelines. Honeycutt, coming off shoulder surgery, is a question. Jerry Reuss had surgery on both heels but should be OK. Bob Welch--”You wonder why he hasn’t won 20 games,” Campanis said--might have been headed elsewhere had Pena not gone down. Not counting Dwight Gooden, the Mets’ phenom, Orel Hershiser was the league’s most impressive rookie pitcher. And Fernando Valenzuela doesn’t figure to lose 17 games again in ’85.

RELIEF PITCHING--The focus is on Howe, of course, but the Dodgers are ecstatic about the progress of Howell, who was voted the most valuable player in the Dominican Winter League and prompted some comparisons to Lee Smith, the Cubs’ monster reliever. Tom Niedenfuer, who has blown out his elbow three times, may depart in a trade if Howe is healthy.