Dodgers Are Opening but Not Right

Dear Peter O’Malley,

Being but a singular voice among, hopefully, the protestation of tens of thousands, I must write you to express my extreme disappointment in your decision to hold opening day in the evening.

We fans have endured months of everything but baseball. So indulge us. What could be truer to the national pastime than to play the game under a brilliant sky, reflecting the verdant playing field and capturing the prism of colors that paint this festive occasion?

Give the fans what they want. Baseball as it is meant to be played, bathed in sunshine.

Fireworks? What self-respecting fan gives a hoot about them before the Fourth of July?

JOHN R. GRUSH

Mission Viejo

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I’d be willing to bet the next time any organization pays $9 million to Brett Butler for chasing around a little ball over a beautiful grass field sixth months a year for three years, subjects him to traveling around the U.S. and Canada in first-class jetliners, staying in five-star hotels and eating in four-star restaurants on only a $60 daily food allowance, he’ll first show gratitude before shooting off his mouth.

DAVID SHIPLEY

Redondo Beach

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Looking at the cut-rate lineup the Dodgers are going into the season with, if I was Mrs. O’Malley, I’d want to know how much time Peter has been spending with Georgia.

MICHAEL HANNIN

Woodland Hills

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I think it is a sad state of affairs when the Dodgers give Darryl Strawberry a big settlement after his disruptive behavior, then take an offer off the table for Brett Butler, who gave his heart and soul for the term of his recently completed contract.

CRAIG EPSTEIN

Los Angeles

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Is there a curse on Anaheim Stadium that causes the management of professional sports teams to act like brain-dead zombies?

How else can you explain the Angels’ trade of Chad Curtis for Tony Phillips?

With all the cries of poverty among the owners, why would you trade Curtis, who is fairly popular (not to mention productive) for someone who doesn’t have the same drawing power?

The Angels seem to be cursed because this is only the latest in a series of moves over the past decade or so that so define their mediocrity. Joyner, Abbott, Harvey and now Curtis. Quick, call someone to perform an exorcism while there is still a little shine left in the halo.

ZON YEE

Los Angeles

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The old Angels: Dante Bichette for Dave Parker.

The new Angels: Chad Curtis for Tony Phillips.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

PATRICK MALLON

San Luis Obispo

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The baseball players are coming back and the fans are still angry with them. I must admit that I don’t understand why. If my boss was trying to set a ceiling on how much money I could earn, I would probably strike as well.

The fact that players are making $4 million a year rather than $4 an hour is irrelevant. If the player made less money, ticket prices would not go down, nor would the quality of stadium food improve, and owner profits would go up. Players are millionaires and owners are billionaires, but the players are the ones that earn it.

It is odd to see so many fans siding with ownership groups like Blockbuster, Anheuser-Busch and Nintendo instead of their favorite left fielder. Perhaps this is trickle-down fan support.

DOUGLAS STERN

Hollywood

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Now let’s see whether principle was really at stake, or just plain selfishness. The umpires, who do have a union, are locked out by the owners. I challenge Sparky Anderson to refuse to manage any games with replacement umpires. I challenge Don Fehr to tell his players that they should support the umpires’ unreasonable demands to make more than the minimum salary for a major league rookie. I challenge the Mike Downeys of the media to write stories about the incompetent, out-of-shape, inexperienced umpire wanna-bes. I challenge the rotisserie fans to boycott the games because they are not “real” major league baseball games.

In particular, if the players cross the umpires’ picket lines, what possible valid objection can they have had to replacement players? It cuts both ways. Put your big money where your big mouths are, or forfeit what little remains of public respect.

WILBUR SKEELS

Thousand Oaks

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From now on, baseball scores should be moved where they belong . . . to the business section.

MIKE FRANKOVICH JR.

Glendale

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Regarding fans’ possible backlash to the baseball settlement, Yogi Berra may have been prophetic when he said: “If people don’t want to come to the ballpark, you can’t stop them.”

JOHN A. PORTER

Gardena

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In the Sunday Times, a headline read: “Selig Claims Sport Becoming a Two-Tiered Society.”

I don’t mean to be picky, but should that have read “a Too-Tired Society”?

ZACHARY A. CHARLES

Burbank