Hollywood Stars Step Up to Plate

Even in the unlikely event that it’s overcast, the stars will come out at Dodger Stadium tonight as a host of Hollywood notables don the blue and white to slug it out during the annual Hollywood Stars Night game.

This event, which begins at 6 p.m. before the Dodgers’ regularly scheduled 7:30 game against the Montreal Expos, is a tradition that fans and stars have enjoyed since before Dodger Stadium was built--indeed, since before there were Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Celebrities in Action

The game is strictly for fun and is an opportunity for Dodgers fans to see the celebrities in action, as well as to appreciate just how good the professional players really are.

The stars get a real kick out of hitting and running on the field for an evening. Said comedian Billy Crystal: “It’s my favorite day of the year. I keep thinking that they’ll sign me, but with my luck there’ll be a strike!”

Joining Crystal will be about 20 celebrities of movie, TV and athletic fame. Among those scheduled to play are comedian Norm Crosby, Kevin Dobson of “Dallas” and “Kojak,” actors Gregory Harrison and Erik Estrada, John Larroquette of “Night Court,” comedian Garry Shandling, Alan Thicke of “Growing Pains” and actor Stacy Keach.

“This is my second time,” Keach said. “I played, I think, six or seven years ago. I flied out, but made a play at second base.”

Keach seems to like athletics. He recently played in a celebrity softball game to benefit TEAMM House, an adolescent drug-rehabilitation group in Malibu. He’s looking forward to tonight’s game at Dodger Stadium.

“I think it’s a great tradition. A lot of credit (for organizing the games) has to go to Jack Gilardi at ICM (International Creative Management Agency).”

And sharing the credit is Joe Siegman of Heritage Entertainment. He and Gilardi have been organizing the game ever since the late Danny Goodman, who was the Dodgers’ director of concessions, asked them to help out in the ‘60s.

According to Siegman, it all came about like this:

Goodman, who, before the Dodgers arrived here in 1958, had been with one of the area’s two AAA minor-league teams, the Hollywood Stars (the other being the Los Angeles Angels). He had enlisted singer Nat King Cole to set up a stars night for the triple-A team.

When the Dodgers arrived, Goodman and Cole carried the celebrity idea to the major leaguers. Then in 1963, when the Dodgers had just moved into the new stadium, Cole was on the road, so Cole’s agent, Jack Gilardi, was asked to work with Goodman in rounding up talent for the games. Gilardi in turn asked his friend Joe Siegman to help out.

And the two have been at it ever since, organizing not only the team members and lineup, but the various stunts and humorous bits--and, of course, the rules.

“Danny told me once,” Siegman said, “that at the very first Hollywood Stars game, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart and George Raft drove out onto the field dressed as gangsters with machine guns. Of course, that wouldn’t go over now, but that was the kind of movies they were all making back then.”

So, does this mean that Keach will be showing up as his TV character, Mike Hammer?

Keach: “You’re going to have to come to the game to find out!”