This Writer Thinks Claire Should Make Some Deals

I don’t know what Dodger Executive Vice President Fred Claire was thinking when he began his career as a sportswriter. It obviously wasn’t his calling.

Unlike sportswriters, he doesn’t advocate reckless trades, frivolous spending of the owner’s money or firing the manager at the drop of a doubleheader.

Some say Claire has too much patience, although I admit that most who say that are sportswriters. Whatever, don’t look for Mo Vaughn, Deion Sanders or anyone else linked to an alleged deal for Eric Karros to be wearing Dodger blue in the season’s second half.

What you see with the Dodgers is what you will get. Claire has been telling us all season that this team is good enough.

I have my doubts. They have too little left-handed hitting and too much right-handed pitching, they are no better than average defensively, and they don’t have enough speed to manufacture runs, although Bill Russell has been trying lately to resurrect Billyball.

We’ll begin finding out who’s right tonight, when the Dodgers play the first of four games at Chavez Ravine against the San Francisco Giants.

Even though it’s not normal to place much importance on a series beginning the day after the All-Star break, I suspect we’ll look back at the end of the season and determine this one was crucial.

The timing might be wrong, but at least the teams are right.

In this season of tributes to Jackie Robinson, we shouldn’t forget he disliked the Giants so much he retired instead of playing for them when the Dodgers tried to send him to the Polo Grounds.

I think too highly of guys like Dusty Baker, Barry Bonds, J.T. Snow and Jeff Kent to have anything but respect for this year’s San Francisco team.

But if you’re a Dodger fan, you should be at Dodger Stadium for this series to give the Giants a hard time. Do it for Jackie.

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Mike Tyson’s failure to appear before the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday is another example of what we saw in him against Evander Holyfield. . . .

Tyson won’t stand up for himself under fire. Not unless he can get close enough to bite. . . .

He was foolish not to try to persuade the commissioners that last week’s apology was sincere. Now he has to prove it through his behavior over the next 12 months. . . .

I wouldn’t bet on him, any more than I would in another fight against Holyfield. . . .

John Beyrooty, publicist for Forum Boxing, says he hasn’t noticed a decline in interest for the next card there on Monday night, when Juan Manuel Marquez meets Catalino Becerra in the main event. . . .

“Like a lot of people have said, this is not a boxing problem,” Beyrooty says. “It’s a Tyson problem.” . . .

If Tyson isn’t the “baddest man on earth,” who is? . . .

It’s not Roberto Alomar. He donated $50,000 to the fund for research into the rare nerve disease that took the life of umpire John Hirschbeck’s son. . . .

Neither is it Bonds, as much as I’d like to think so when he disses sportswriters for being untrustworthy. . . .

Bonds paid for a 13-year-old leukemia victim from Oakland to attend the All-Star game, then made a public appeal for bone-marrow donors to come to the aid of all victims of the disease by calling 1-800-MARROW2. . . .

But don’t believe me. I’m not trustworthy. . . .

Speaking of politicians, the state senate subcommittee established to look into L.A. football stadium proposals postponed the hearing scheduled for Friday until July 25. . . .

City officials such as Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas would like the NFL to think there is overwhelming support here for the Coliseum as the best site. . . .

Whether that’s so, the subcommittee chairman, Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), wants to make sure proponents of stadiums at Hollywood Park, South Park and Chavez Ravine are heard. . . .

After signing Gary Galley, the unrestricted free agent most coveted by the Kings was Florida’s Brian Skrudland. . . .

It’s clear the Mighty Ducks didn’t have a plan when they let Ron Wilson go. . . .

Now they might have to wait until three days before the season to bring in the coach they want, Pierre Page. . . .

Aren’t they the team that blamed Wilson for the team’s slow start last season because he missed training camp to coach the United States in the World Cup? . . .

Go figure.

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While wondering if George Steinbrenner will direct traffic in the parking lot again tonight, I was thinking: Maybe that will be Kenny Rogers’ new job, or Mariano Duncan’s, all will be forgiven if Hideki Irabu is another Hideo Nomo.