He Won’t Get Historical if They Tear Stadium Down

The Dodger Stadium operator put me on hold, enabling me to hear this recording: “Home run! Piazza wins it for the Dodgers, 8-5.”

It brought back fond memories of a time gone by, a player too.

Now we hear that the biggest Dodger institution of them all might soon be gone as well.

Dodger Stadium.

Bob Graziano, Dodger president, said in Tuesday’s Orange County Register that the expense of renovating the stadium could run as high as $200 million, causing team officials to ponder whether it might be more cost efficient to build a new one on the same site.

I know Dodger fans who will be saddened if that happens, feeling that another tie to the franchise’s proud past and Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Maury Wills and Steve Garvey has been severed.

I won’t share their sentiment, which is a tribute to Dodger management past and present. They have done such an outstanding job maintaining the 37-year-old stadium, the National League’s second-oldest, that I don’t consider it old. It doesn’t seem like a historical landmark that must be preserved like Wrigley Field, Fenway Park or the Coliseum.

This would be like replacing an old Mercedes with a new one.

“Dodger Stadium looks new, but, economically, it’s becoming more and more obsolete every year,” Graziano said in an interview Tuesday.

With the addition of luxury boxes, dugout suites and club seating, the Dodgers could take advantage of their status as a big-market team, maintaining and perhaps even increasing their $61-million payroll to put a more competitive product on the field.

Maybe they could even afford to bring back Mike Piazza.

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I keep remembering Jim Murray stories, like the time last May when he was considering writing a John Stockton column after a Laker-Jazz playoff game. . . .

I advised him against it, telling him Stockton was a reluctant interview subject. . . .

The advice seemed sound when reporters entered the dressing room and saw that Stockton had barricaded himself behind a wall of chairs in the corner while icing his ankle. . . .

Whenever a reporter tried to approach him, Stockton waved him off. . . .

I figured Jim would change courses, until I noticed he had slipped behind the barricade and was standing next to Stockton. . . .

Stockton was chatting like Joan Rivers. . . .

“Stockton can find an open man in a New Year’s Eve mob scene in Times Square,” Murray wrote the next day. . . .

The Kings have established a $2,500 scholarship in honor of Michael Jund, a media relations assistant for the team who died in May of a heart attack at 22. . . .

The annual scholarship will benefit a college student who plans to pursue a career in sports communications. . . .

Of course, outgoing U.S. Soccer President Alan Rothenberg favors Bruce Arena as the national team’s next coach. . . .

Rothenberg, who recently became an owner of the San Jose Clash, no doubt would like to lure Arena away from his job as coach of D.C. United, which has won two consecutive MLS titles. . . .

I have one word for Rothenberg: Bora. . . .

Marla Messing, president of the 1999 Women’s World Cup organizing committee, gave birth Friday to 6-pound 4-ounce Samantha Rose. . . .

I figured the name would be Mia. . . .

Did you see Sandy Alomar’s comments about Cleveland fans and media not appreciating his defense? He was spitting mad. . . .

How bad is the relationship between Tom Lasorda and Bill Russell? . . .

“I’ll never talk to that . . . as long as I . . . live,” Lasorda told Doug Krikorian of the Long Beach Press-Telegram last week. “If God himself got on the ground and begged me to talk to that . . . I wouldn’t do it.” . . .

In an earlier Krikorian column, which appeared on the day after Russell was fired, the former Dodger manager accused Lasorda of stabbing him in the back. . . .

The call has gone out to “dye-hard” Angel fans. If you want your hair dyed red, white and blue in support of the team, go to the Terrace Pavilion at Edison Field before tonight’s game against Detroit. . . .

Michael Irvin will be available to give haircuts. Just kidding. . . .

Those who laughed at L.A. Councilman Nate Holden when he suggested in January that Al Davis might return to town as owner of an NFL team owe him an apology. . . .

The NFL is increasingly anxious about Davis’ lawsuit claiming he maintains control of the L.A. territory. . . .

The latest rumbling is that he would come back without the Raiders, as owner of an expansion team. . . .

But look for the NFL to postpone any settlement of the L.A. issue until after November’s elections. . . .

If a referendum for a new football stadium in Denver doesn’t pass, Bronco owner Pat Bowlen is threatening to sell the team and move to Los Angeles as owner of an expansion team. . . .

The NFL won’t do anything to cost him leverage. . . .

ON, the magazine for DirecTV sports, ranks USC first in the Pacific 10 Conference for traditions but has Washington second, ahead of UCLA and the rest. . . .

Yes, it’s a sight to see when 70,000 fans at Husky Stadium raise their umbrellas in unison. . . .

Ohio State linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer will be eligible to play this fall if he can pass summer courses in golf, music and AIDS awareness. What career is he preparing for, social director at Club Med?

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While wondering if it isn’t time for Chris Webber to call a timeout, I was thinking: Ryan Leaf will be as good as he thinks he is, congratulations to Phil Mickelson for retaining his title as the best player never to win a major, the Clippers should move fast on Rambis.