VIEWING SPORTS : ANGELS, DODGERS TAKE THE SPOTLIGHT

Now that the Boston party’s over and the Lakers can mothball their equipment for a few months while counting their winnings, the Angels and Dodgers have center stage all to themselves, and especially this weekend.

The Dodgers, on the road for another series of telecasts back home, started Friday on Channel 11 with the Astros. Today at 10 a.m., NBC has the Dodgers-Astros over Channels 4, 36 and 39 in the first of a doubleheader. Then Sunday the Dodgers-Astros conclude their series at 4 p.m., back on Channel 11. Come Monday, ABC picks up the Padres vs. Dodgers live from Chavez Ravine at 5 p.m. over Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42.

The Angels today get that doubleheader spot on NBC at 1 p.m., their big game with the White Sox over Channels 4, 36 and 39. And on Sunday, the Angels-White Sox wrap their series at 2 p.m. over ON / SelecTV.

It was only a short item Tuesday: “Bob Prince, popular Pittsburgh Pirate announcer, dies.” But what he leaves is a long, long legacy with baseball fans and players. Prince, 68, was in the mold of Casey Stengel and Dizzy Dean . . . crazy and wild happenings lie in their wake on earth.

Sportscaster Jim Woods, who worked--and had fun--with Prince for 12 years in Pittsburgh, and now is retired living in Florida, has fond memories of “The Gunner,” as his friends called him.

“He was an Army brat born in Los Angeles, but because his dad was out of West Point, he lived everywhere,” Woods said by telephone from Florida. “He lived in the fast lane, lived life to the fullest in every way. The first year I was with him, we were in Ft. Lauderdale for spring training. It was 4 a.m. one morning. We were half-gassed. Staggering across a hotel balcony, next to a pool, I said to Bob--recalling his famous dive in St. Louis (out of a hotel window)--’How would your act go here?’ ‘Let’s find out,’ Bob replied, and over the rail he went with all his clothes on.

“He played tricks on players and they on him. One time Warren Spahn heard Bob was to do a pregame TV show on the field. The moment Bob went on the air, Warren touched a match to the lawn where he’d poured gasoline. Spahn and (Lou) Burdette roared in laughter as Bob skipped around the flames.

“There was the time he called a black player with the Braves a ‘hot dog, who was always showing off.’ The guy came up to Bob and said, ‘Did you call me that on the air?’ ‘Yes, I did because that’s what you are,’ Bob fired back. ‘I think I’ll whip you -- -- -- right now,’ said the player. Then Lou Burdette, who was no lightweight, stepped between them and told his teammate, ‘You’ll have to come through me to get to him.’ He had that kind of relationship with some players.

“Bob could talk his way out of any situation, tickets for speeding, anything, but not one time when we were flying from Houston to San Francisco. We stopped off in Dallas for a couple of hours. I saw Bob board the plane. Then saw the airline people hustling him off the plane.

“I asked Roberto Clemente what happened. He said a stewardess wanted to take Bob’s tape recorder off his shoulder and put it away. Bob clutched it and said, ‘You can’t! It’s a bomb!’ He spent the night in a Dallas jail. We went on to San Francisco, and when Bob finally arrived, he wandered into the booth as if nothing happened. There was a guy with him I didn’t know.

“ ‘Who’s that,’ I asked. ‘The FBI. He’s waiting for me to make a public apology to Delta Airlines, and I’m gonna do it.’ ‘Geeez, Bob,’ was all I could say. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Bob laughed, slapping me on the back. ‘It’s just another saga in the life of the old gunner.’ ”

ROUNDUP: Today, Golf, U.S. Open, 11 a.m. (7)(3)(10)(42) . . . World Cup Soccer, Austria vs. Hungary, 4 p.m. (34) . . . Baseball, Mets vs. Expos, 4:30 p.m. WOR . . . Baseball, Reds vs. Braves, 4:30 p.m. WTBS . . . NCAA Track and Field, men’s and women’s championships from Austin, Tex., 5 p.m. (2) (8) . . . USFL Football, New Jersey vs. Oakland, 5 p.m. ESPN . . . Boxing, Pinklon Thomas vs. Mike Weaver, 6 p.m. HBO.

SUNDAY: Auto Racing, Canadian Grand Prix, 9:50 a.m. ESPN . . . Auto Racing, Michigan 400, 10 a.m. (2)(8) . . . Baseball, Mets vs. Expos, 10:30 a.m. WOR . . . Baseball, Reds vs. Braves, 11 a.m. WTBS . . . Golf, U.S. Open, 11 a.m. (2) (8) . . . Baseball, Cardinals vs. Cubs, 11:15 a.m. WOR . . . World Cup Soccer, Colombia va. Argentina, 11:30 a.m. (34) . . . Baseball, doubleheader, Padres vs. Giants, noon (39) . . . SportsWorld, 1:30 p.m. (4)(36).