No Letting Them Slide in Bid for Extra Base

There were more than 50,000 fans in Dodger Stadium on Saturday, all with the opportunity to bid on four bases decorated and autographed by Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca, Kevin Brown and Manager Jim Tracy to benefit “Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities.”

By the sixth inning the $500 maximum bids had been accepted on Green’s base, the first to sell out. Then Lo Duca’s, followed by Tracy’s.

That left only Brown’s base available, two Dodger employees sitting there patiently hoping and begging someone would be excited about getting an autographed base from the only player on the team who doesn’t play but has use of a private plane, making it a collector’s item.

After eight innings and repeated promotional announcements on the scoreboard, Brown’s base still sat there--fetching a high bid of only $200 for such a worthy cause.

With one out in the ninth, I bid $250, figuring it’d make a great conversation piece--probably the only way I was ever going to get to first base with Brown.

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SOMETHING MIGHTY strange happened, however, and I’m not talking about the Dodgers winning a game. Someone stole my base.

I went to the clubhouse thinking I had tendered the highest bid--with the rules to the auction stating it’d be open from first pitch to last. But I noticed the Dodgers were still holding the auction open after the game, which made me wonder if someone called Brown in the clubhouse and told him he’d better call one of his friends to make a higher bid, or I’d be wiping my shoes on him.

I figured I was still safe, knowing how tough it’d be for Brown to find a friend.

A young Dodger employee had promised to inform me about the final bid after the game, but I never saw her again. That happens to a lot of Dodger employees after they’ve been seen talking with me. Later, another Dodger employee said the base went for $275 to someone unknown. I hear Brown’s wife was at the game.

I’m just disappointed. I had plans to put Brown’s base by the front door, and step on it every day for inspiration, maybe get a lead and write another column.

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WHEN DAVEY Johnson was the manager of the Dodgers, I found a good deal in the book “Baseball for Dummies,” to help him. Tracy seems more advanced than Johnson, but he’s still prone to making dumb mistakes like juggling Marquis Grissom and Dave Roberts in center field.

Roberts has shown speed, improved bunting and even an ability to hit left-handed pitching. Yet Tracy still goes with a strikeout-prone Grissom when a left-handed pitcher starts the game for the opposition.

Why not just make Roberts the Dodgers’ every-game leadoff hitter and center fielder? “I’ll sleep on it,” Tracy said.

My response: It’s time to wake up.

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ERIC KARROS took a pitch to the chin, and the Dodgers rallied to beat the Giants. “When something like that happens,” Tracy said, “it will spur you on.” How come someone didn’t think about having Karros lead with his chin a week ago?

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A TV note during Friday’s game said Karros had no sacrifice bunts in his 12-year pro career. “I’ve never been asked,” he said Saturday. “The only time I was asked was during winter ball in Venezuela, and I did it.”

Tracy said he didn’t consider having Karros bunt. Karros struck out, and Green was thrown out trying to steal. I wonder if Johnson left that book behind.

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THE DODGERS continue to show Lo Duca’s photo on the scoreboard with a mustache, as if he really needs a reminder of how awful he looked when he had one.

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IF I asked you what sport Tommy Haas plays, many of you might answer golf, thinking the British Open. But I read where he will be the No. 1-seeded player in this week’s tennis tournament at UCLA. That’s how obscure men’s tennis has become.

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HENRY WINKLER, a.k.a. “The Fonz,” was a guest in the box of Dodger chairman Bob Daly. A reminder, I guess, of Happy Days.

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THE UMPIRES stopped the game after Jeff Kent complained of a glare behind home plate. Once they discovered it was only silver-tipped Stu Nahan, the game resumed. (Jim Healy would have gotten a kick out of that.)

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ERIC GAGNE needed only 13 pitches to strike out Benito Santiago, Shawon Dunston and Tsuyoshi Shinjo on Friday night, prompting Tracy to say, “That was as devastating an inning as I’ve seen in 27 years of professional baseball. I’ve never seen three major league hitters dominated like they were.” I guess you would have to consider them “three major league hitters.”

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THE GIANTS have lost Barry Bonds because of a sore hamstring, apparently much to the delight of Kent, who homered in the first inning and crossed the plate without having to worry about shaking Bonds’ hand.

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THE GRACIOUS, good-natured TV interview Tiger Woods gave with no excuses after the worst round of professional golf he has played should be duplicated and given to every pro athlete. As for sports editor Bill Dwyre, who I’m sure said, “I could do that,” after hearing Woods fired an 81, I’d make a copy of that and send it to Woods; the guy probably needs a good laugh.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Ruben Rodriguez:

“As a LOS ANGELES police officer, I support the LOS ANGELES Dodgers, through good times and bad times. As a so-called LOS ANGELES sportswriter, I suggest you do the same. Or, may I suggest moving to a city whose team you may actually like?”

Are we talking a police escort out of town?

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.