THEY’RE OUT: There’s no crying in baseball,...

THEY’RE OUT: There’s no crying in baseball, but nobody said anything against folding. And that’s exactly what an American Legion team in Newbury Park has done (C8). Two reasons: not enough players and not enough money. . . . Meanwhile, American Legion ball is a big deal in the San Fernando Valley. A team from Woodland Hills, in fact, won the World Series in 1989, with alum Ryan McGuire now playing in the Red Sox organization.

BANKS ON IT: First, Glendale. Then, the world. Well, PBS, at least. That’s the home for the new Steven Banks Show, premiering in L. A. on Sunday. Banks, who grew up in Glendale, stars in a sitcom about a guy who procrastinates. . . . But, in real life, Banks didn’t wait to praise his drama studies at Hoover High. “The whole attitude was very professional,” he said.

LAST CHANCE: Thor Lee (above) almost booted himself out of the game he loves--soccer. But he gave it another try when the L. A. Salsa joined the American Professional Soccer League last season, and thank goodness. . . . Lee, an ex-CSUN star, helped his team reach the championship game. The Salsa, he said, has “turned my career around” (C8).

MALL STALL: Other shopping centers hit hard by the Jan. 17 quake got more headlines, but the Laurel Plaza Mall in North Hollywood has had its share of headaches. Now nobody seems to know when it will reopen (B1). . . . Laurel Plaza opened in 1968, but it is not the oldest mall in the Valley. In fact, in 1964, Topanga Plaza became the first enclosed mall west of the Mississippi.

ARMENIANS: Glendale could be called the city of minorities. Altogether, about 65% of its population belongs to one ethnic group or another. So it makes sense that there’s someone assigned to help the different groups get along with the cops. . . . His name is Chahe Keuroghelian, and part of his job is also to help the image of Glendale (B4).