Any Change Would Be Good for the Dodgers

Daryle Ward’s comments sound as though he sees himself as some sort of victim, because “they won’t play me.” Ridiculous!

At the start of the season I watched Ward make halfhearted jogs toward first after grounders, swing worse than a rusty gate, saw him tagged out at the plate after nubbing a ball fair, run the bases as though he wasn’t sure which game he was playing, and watched the ball roll through his legs in the field. After that I always used his batting “appearances” to refill the dip bowl or make a sandwich, and very seldom missed any contribution.

Alan Bryant

Morro Bay

Whenever The Times mentions Rickey Henderson, it seems that the words “future Hall of Famer” always appear in the same paragraph. “Rickey,” as many baseball fans, including himself, refer to the gentleman, certainly has the credentials to gain admittance to the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. The only problem seems to lie in the definition of “future.”

The Hall of Fame requires that any inductee must have been retired for a minimum of five years. They waived that requirement for Roberto Clemente, but it applies to everyone who’s running the bases these days. Henderson is 44 years old, but he seems to show no sign of retiring any time soon. If he sticks with the Dodgers for a while and steals a few more bases in the minors, the man will be drawing Social Security before he gets his own plaque at the Hall.

Allen E. Kahn

Playa del Rey

With each tough loss, the Dodgers’ pursuit of a playoff berth appears to be a cause that has no hope of success. I even noted that only 17 inches of print copy were used to report about the Dodgers’ 5-2 win over Colorado this Tuesday, while 24 inches of copy were allocated for the story about the destruction of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand in a Japanese slaughterhouse.

It’s a sad day indeed when the Dodgers can’t even beat a dead horse.

Robert M. Ostrove

Westlake Village