DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

Some people are never satisfied. Ken Levine, for example, already has a resume that lists such stellar past jobs as story editor for “MASH” for four years, head writer for “Cheers” for seven, a couple of movies, a few TV specials--nothing most of us wouldn’t kill for. Something, he felt, was missing. Finally, Levine will be doing what he really wants to do, what he’s dreamed of since he was 8 years old. This spring, he enters the mythical land of peanuts and Cracker Jack. . . as the new radio play-by-play announcer for the Baltimore Orioles.

Levine admits that it’s about the only way he could get into the ballpark in a professional capacity. As a child, he says, “I wasn’t the last kid picked for teams. I was picked after they said, ‘But we got everybody.’ ”

An L.A. native, Levine grew up listening to Vince “the Voice of the Dodgers” Scully, whose oratorical prowess convinced Levine that his lack of athletic ability didn’t mean he could never be part of the game. Baseball announcing became his main hobby, and he dabbled in radio for 10 years as a disc jockey and talk-show host. “When writing for ‘MASH,’ I was doing a Saturday-night DJ show as Beaver Cleaver for a Top-40 station,” he says.

In the summer of ‘87, Levine took himself a little closer to heaven--he visited the upper deck of Dodger Stadium 60 times, broadcasting his own version of the games into a small tape recorder and generally annoying everyone sitting around him. “People would throw nachos at me,” he says. He sent his tapes to ballclubs across the country and wound up spending one summer in Syracuse and two in Tidewater Virginia, broadcasting minor-league games.

The big break came a year ago. A chance meeting with Orioles announcer Jon Miller led to Levine’s getting his tape in to the general manager of the 33-station Baltimore Orioles Radio Network. There was an opening, and now, at 41, Levine has launched a second career.

But Hollywood hack-hopefuls shouldn’t break their legs rushing to call their agents. The baseball season conveniently coincides with “Cheers’ ” hiatus, so Levine will be trading the microphone for the keyboard as soon as the last of the season’s 162 games is played.

Meanwhile, he and his partner of 17 years, David Isaacs, have just sold a screenplay about, guess what? A TV comedy writer who goes to Syracuse to become a baseball announcer.

“It’s semi-autobiographical,” Levine says. “But he’s funnier and more charming than I am.”