BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Statistics Become the Height of Folly

There was a time when Brett Butler cared about how tall he isn’t, but he says never lied about his height. “People said I was too short and too little and didn’t have enough weight on me (to be a major leaguer), “ Butler said. “So when they asked me how tall I was, I said around 5 foot 10. Actually, I’m 5-9 1/2, but the hair makes me 5-10.

“Now, about the 160 pounds. I was just under 160, so I said around 160. I’m over (160) now, my weight has vacillated between 157 and 162 the last 10 years.

“But now I don’t care what I’m listed at,” said Butler, who has played 12 years in the majors and is making $3.5 million this season. “You can list me at 5-3 if you want.”

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Jim Gott, on what he believes is the best explanation of why some baseball fans resent players making so much money: “People hate us for that because they can relate to us swinging a bat, making the double play or catching a ball, because everybody has done it.

“We are talking about a pyramid where there are 750 at the top and it tapers all the way down to the population of our whole country and maybe the world. As opposed to a tennis player, maybe, where that pyramid is a lot steeper and people can’t understand how tennis pros can hit those little corners out on the tennis court in a three-set match.”

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For the record: The Dodger game on Monday will begin at 2 p.m. PDT. . . . There is no game scheduled today because Mile High Stadium is being used for a Denver Bronco-Atlanta Falcon game. Pitchers scheduled for the remainder of the series are Orel Hershiser (5-6) vs. Greg Harris (3-11) Sunday at 2 p.m. and Pedro Astacio (6-8) vs. Marvin Freeman (10-2) on Monday.

Darren Dreifort has recovered from shoulder tendinitis and is starting again for the double-A San Antonio Missions, for whom he has a 2-0 record, 21 strikeouts and a 1.64 earned-run average in five games and 22 innings. . . . During the baseball strike in 1981, Tim Wallach unloaded trucks for Dart Trucking, a company owned by former USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux. “I made $7 an hour there,” said Wallach, who was in his first season with the Montreal Expos when the strike hit. “I was making the minimum baseball salary--I was supposed to make $30,000 that year and ended up making $20,000.”