CLOSE-UP : Electric Debut in Sherman Oaks

Even in blase L.A., people enjoy seeing their numbers--if not their names--in lights.

In the Sherman Oaks Little League, this particular brand of stardom starts early--with an electronic scoreboard complete with flashing lights, stereo system, and numerous numerical displays.

The pubescent players owe their top billing to an actor-director-producer named George Bookasta.

League baseball boosters had tossed around the idea of a scoreboard at Eagan Field for several years, but the cost was always considered way out of the car-wash-and-bake-sale ballpark.

Then Bookasta, a Little League coach and manager, hit upon an idea.

No stranger to publicity and promotion, the director of more than 300 commercials, television shows and films decided to ask Sherman Oaks-based Sunkist Growers Inc. for a donation.

After touching that base, getting the little league scoreboard was child’s play.

“They OKd it within 24 hours and we had it within days,” he said.

The $2,500 scoreboard, the first of its kind for a little league in Southern California, has been a smash with the little sluggers. The portable unit, which is dismantled after games to prevent vandalism, plays the national anthem, announces batters, and even flashes lights for home runs. It is also home-run proof: a hard plastic shield protects its microprocessors from mayhem.

“The response has been fantastic, simply overwhelming,” Bookasta said. “It lends enthusiasm to both sides for the parents and spectators. The kids love to hear their names and see the board when they come up to bat . . . It’s exciting when they hit a home run and the lights flicker.”

A star is airborne.