BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Teams Make an Emotional Visit to Hall

The Dodgers and Cleveland Indians, emotionally linked in a baseball season beset with tragedy, gave up a rare day off Monday to play in the Hall of Fame game in Cooperstown, N.Y. And perhaps befitting of the way things have gone for the two teams this year, the game was rained out.

It was a hectic 24 hours for the Dodgers, who experienced flight delays after their game Sunday in Chicago and arrived in Utica, N.Y., at 1:30 a.m. Monday, five hours late. The bus to Cooperstown left at 8:15 a.m. and the game was scheduled for 2 p.m.

During the home run contest, it started to rain. About an hour later, the Dodgers were put back on a bus and traveled two hours to the Syracuse airport. They arrived in Houston about 8:30 p.m. Monday night for a three-game series that begins tonight.

But the silver lining came before the rain, when the team was able to tour the Hall of Fame and stop by the plaques of Don Drysdale and Roy Campanella.

“I think people close to Don and Roy were looking forward to going to Cooperstown in their honor,” said Jay Lucas, the Dodgers’ director of publicity.

Indian Manager Mike Hargrove said seeing the Dodgers brought back memories of that day during spring training when pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed in a boating accident. The Indians’ Bob Ojeda--like Crews a Dodger last season--was seriously injured in the accident and is on leave from the team while undergoing psychiatric treatment.

“For a while, everyone has realized that life just has to go on,” Hargrove said. “But being here today with the Dodgers makes you aware once again.”

Perhaps Don Newcombe, a teammate of Campanella and Drysdale, put it best: “You want these tragedies to stop. You want to say, ‘Hey, God, hold on a minute. What are your plans for us?’ You want an answer, but there is no answer.”

Manager Tom Lasorda said his players will come back again to pay their respects to Campanella and Drysdale.

“This is one of their homes,” Lasorda said. “They came here many times through the years, and now we’ll come back whenever possible to say hello.”

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The Dodgers called up prospect Raul Mondesi about two weeks ago, but Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president, says he doesn’t know at what point he will start bringing up more prospects.

“We are playing a number of young people already--Mondesi and Henry Rodriguez are getting playing time,” Claire said. “It’s not as if a major shuttle will take place at any time. At a given point, we’ll see.”