Another Rescue Operation for the Dogs of Summer

Iwas watching the damn Yankees take the World Series again when a friend expressed sadness at how long the doggone Dodgers have gone without winning one. Oh, those inept, wretched Dodgers. Oh, how their fans have suffered.

For 11 years.

What unendurable torture.

St. Louis, 17 years without winning a World Series championship. Philadelphia, 19 years. Baltimore, 16. Detroit, 15. Kansas City, 14. Pittsburgh, 20. Milwaukee, 42 years. Cleveland, 51. Boston, 81 years. Chicago White Sox, 82. Chicago Cubs, 91 years.

Anaheim has never won one. San Francisco, never. Dallas, Houston, Montreal, San Diego, Seattle . . . never.

But when the Dodgers announced--on the same day that the Yankees were celebrating their 25th championship of the 1900s--that they were making a former Warner Bros. movie maker their new boss, you’d have thought that this organization hadn’t scored a run since Jackie Robinson was going to high school in Pasadena.

Why, Los Angeles has gone three whole years without even making the playoffs!

Do you know how many Dodger teams in the 1990s have lost more games than they won? Two: 1992 and 1999.

But people talk as if Bob Daly is taking over the biggest bunch of dogs this side of an Alaska sled race.

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Daly’s films for Warners included “Batman,” “Lethal Weapon,” “The Killing Fields” and “Unforgiven,” each of which could have been a story about the Dodgers’ trading of Mike Piazza.

As chairman, CEO and managing partner--doesn’t anybody get just one job title anymore?--Daly’s task will be to win a World Series that 29 other teams are out to win. Hey, piece of cake, Bob. See you at the Series in 12 months.

Daly is investing in the Dodgers as well. He is trying to buy something like 10% for himself, saying, “Not only is my heart in this, but so is my wallet.”

Right. Just like Batman.

Well, it’s Bob’s job now, and we hope that he enjoys being in the 21st century spotlight for Fox. Somehow he became a baseball Player--capital P--overnight.

Anyone can run a baseball team. If you’re rich, you can go from fan to owner with no other qualifications. After Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves, he once tried to manage them in the dugout himself. Cincinnati’s dotty Marge Schott let her dog on the field. Turner’s and Schott’s teams each won a World Series.

Entertainment figures don’t always have hits in baseball. TV executive Tom Werner nearly ran the San Diego Padres into the ground. CBS had some lean years owning the Yankees. Under Disney’s rule, Anaheim’s baseball park has turned into the Unhappiest Place on Earth.

Sometimes, good teams just go bad. Many baseball fans forget that the Yankees recently went 18 years (1978-96) without winning a World Series.

Selective memory is our national pastime. Take Pete Rose’s situation this week. He has become baseball’s most beloved ex-convict. Fans now discuss Rose’s gambling background without even mentioning that he went to prison in August 1990 for two counts of income tax evasion, failing to report $350,000 in earnings. It’s as if the worst thing poor Pete ever did was place a bet.

Here’s another memory dysfunction: The Dodgers promising (since Al Campanis’ mental error) to put more minorities in positions of authority. Funny, two new Dodger general managers since Campanis, four different Dodger field managers since 1996, so many new Fox faces . . . they sure do seem to have a lot of pale complexions.

Well, don’t blame Bob Daly.

He just got here.

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Many have been mocked for Dodger woes, including a Fox executive who said upon taking charge that his favorite team was the Yankees. As if only Dodger fans need apply.

It should be noted that Yankee boss George Steinbrenner is originally from Cleveland, that the owner of the Chicago Bulls’ six-time NBA champions is from New York, and that Vince Lombardi was not from Wisconsin.

Bob Daly’s being a lifelong Dodger fan is irrelevant. Mike Piazza wasn’t dumped by men ignorant of Dodger tradition; his own greed was responsible. Piazza rejected a huge Dodger offer. He could have stayed to play for his fans, if they meant so much to him. But no, more money meant more.

What was that baseball movie called: “For Love of the Game?”

Let’s see, did Warner Bros. make that one?

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Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to him at Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com

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