Dodgers Could Join Name Fight

The Dodgers appear to be lining up behind the city of Anaheim in its effort to stop the Angels from changing their name to the Los Angeles Angels, raising the possibility the teams could end up on opposing sides of a lawsuit.

Anaheim City Manager Dave Morgan has gotten no response to a phone call and two letters to Commissioner Bud Selig, city spokesman John Nicoletti said Wednesday. However, according to a source familiar with the issue, the Dodgers have conveyed to Selig their concern over the Angels’ possible name change.

“Los Angeles has a team,” said Howard Sunkin, the Dodgers’ senior vice president of public affairs. “Its name is the Dodgers.”

Morgan sent Dodger owner Frank McCourt a copy of his most recent letter to Selig. The Dodgers also applauded the recent Los Angeles City Council resolution opposing the name change, introduced by Council President Alex Padilla.

“It was terrific that he did it,” Sunkin said.

Padilla and Sunkin said the team did not ask the councilman to introduce the resolution. Sunkin said McCourt was “very surprised” to receive a copy of Morgan’s letter to Selig, which Nicoletti said was sent after city officials heard a radio interview in which McCourt proclaimed Los Angeles belonged to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have not spoken with Anaheim officials about the issue, Sunkin said. Still, although a high-ranking baseball official told The Times this month that Selig believed the Angels’ possible name change “can’t hurt the Dodgers,” the Dodgers appear concerned.

“We’ll continue to study the impact of a name change on this organization,” Sunkin said.

Sunkin declined to discuss what that impact might be and whether team executives had addressed the issue with Selig. Although he speaks regularly with team owners, Selig “hasn’t heard from anybody recently” about the issue, spokesman Rich Levin said.

If the Angels implement the change, the city has pledged to sue the team for violating a stadium lease that requires the team to carry the Anaheim name. If the city sues, the Dodgers could file a “friend of the court” brief in support of the city’s position, said Richard Brown, Angel president from 1990 to ’96 and previously the club counsel.

“I think the Dodgers would get involved,” Brown said. “If the Angels sell Los Angeles and pick up more advertisers, who are they going to take those advertisers away from? Probably the Dodgers.”