Dodger Experience Turns Ugly, and Not Just on Field

It was supposed to bathe visitors in the warm glow of nostalgia, bringing together generations of Dodger fans to enjoy the baseball team’s rich history. Instead, the Dodger Experience, an exhibit on display at Dodger Stadium since April, is the subject of a bitter dispute that seems headed for court.

Executives at Orange-based SportMark Inc., which designed the Experience’s mix of memorabilia, photos and film clips, got a restraining order last week against an Arizona man who helped curate the show. Disagreements over money and the installation’s makeup led Robert Hennkens, 57, to threaten to have one SportMark executive’s knees broken and to come at another with a bat, court documents allege.

“Tempers got frayed, words were exchanged,” said Robert Gyemant, SportMark’s attorney. “I think Mr. Hennkens said and did some things he wishes he hadn’t.”

Hennkens, in a statement submitted June 16 in Los Angeles Superior Court, denied he threatened SportMark executives verbally or physically. “I do not know a martial artist who breaks knees. I did not threaten [SportMark employee John Jay] Swainback with a bat.”

Nevertheless, a judge ordered him to stay 100 yards away from the executives and from the Dodger Experience.

Other potential legal action between SportMark and Hennkens’ company, Powerplay Sports Ltd. of Prescott, Ariz., ultimately could threaten portions of the exhibit, which occupies an 8,000-square-foot area in the right field corner of the stadium’s club level. It includes more than 1,000 artifacts--most owned by the Dodgers, some acquired by Hennkens for SportMark--among them the team’s 1981 and 1988 World Series Championship trophies and Roy Campanella’s 1955 National League Most Valuable Player plaque.

Both SportMark and Powerplay have applied to register the “Baseball Immortals” trademark with the federal government. The phrase is used on merchandise sold as part of the Dodger Experience.

Hennkens contends that he has used the phrase for 15 years at more than 40 exhibits he has presented nationwide. Even though he never registered it, he believes he is entitled to its exclusive use, said Dennis Reuter, Hennkens’ attorney.

Hennkens is asking SportMark to stop marketing products that bear the trademark or images of baseball greats whose likenesses Powerplay has a contractual right to use. He also contends that SportMark owes him more than $160,000 for consulting fees and expenses.

Gyemant countered that SportMark has an equal claim to the Baseball Immortals signature and that Hennkens has been paid what he was owed.

Dodgers executives declined to comment on the dispute.

The hostilities could taint one of the only hits in a season of misses for the Dodgers. While the team’s latest edition has struggled to win, the old-time Dodgers are a smash.

The Experience draws about 3,000 fans on game days.