Life may begin at 40, but baseball will end

When I walked into the Dodgers clubhouse, I noticed Dwyre was talking to Luis Gonzalez, and thought how nice it was to see two old guys still plugging along. I looked to see if maybe they were playing checkers.

They were sitting down, of course, to conserve energy, and it got me to thinking what it must be like to know the end is really near.

That’s why I thought I’d check in with Jeff Kent.

I wanted to ask the old guy if he was prepared to announce his retirement.

But I couldn’t find him. The Dodgers’ lineup had already been posted and Kent’s name was missing, just like it had been earlier in the week, and knowing Thursday is a day off and the team also intends to give Kent Saturday off against the Angels, I thought maybe Kent had already called it quits.

Manager Grady Little apparently gave Kent permission to show up after batting practice so he could rest his aching ankles and maybe get in an afternoon nap.

Kent will be 40 before the start of next season, and while that’s still young enough for him to be Dwyre’s grandson, the Dodgers seem to be intent on giving their youngsters -- like James Loney, Matt Kemp and second baseman Tony Abreu -- more playing time.

“I know this,” Kent said upon his arrival in the clubhouse, “I won’t play beyond 40. That makes next year my last year. As for coming back next year, that will probably come down to how the team finishes this year.

“When I left Washington’s stadium this year, I asked myself, should I be sad since I might never be back here? I felt the same thing when I left Pittsburgh’s stadium. Should I take some dirt, a base, a dirty sock? But you know what, there’s just not that attachment for me. I won’t be one of those guys who find it hard to leave.”

There’s still a chance this might be Kent’s final season, but the Dodgers probably will have to win the World Series. He admits, though, it’s becoming increasingly difficult as a family man to dedicate himself solely to baseball as he did as a younger man.

“My 11-year-old innocent daughter was wearing a bathing suit,” Kent said, “and my wife was talking about how our daughter is starting to have curves. ‘You’re scared, aren’t you?’ my wife said. That’s my 11-year-old daughter and I don’t want to mess that up. Once you leave the game you’ll be forgotten real quick, but that’s your daughter who is going to live to be 100 and I want to be there for her.”

Kent, while very much the phony grouch when surrounded by reporters, is the pushover father when his kids are around. A few weeks ago the family had to return home to Texas, and as Kent admitted, “that’s when my slump started.”

Kent is still pounding the ball, leading the Dodgers in home runs with nine, but for the most part pounding the ball right at somebody. He’s hitting .261, which isn’t what you would expect from someone who appears headed to the Hall of Fame.

“This game has been frustrating my whole life,” Kent said. “It’s no more frustrating at age 39 than it was at age 23. I was probably naive at 23 and thought I could solve the game, but now that I’m 39 and ready to announce my retirement, I know I’m never going to solve it.”

The Dodgers and Kent have a “mutual option,” he said to continue their contractual relationship next season, but why hang around any longer? Why not return to Texas with the family and oversee the two motorcycle shops he owns?

“I’m still clinging to it,” he said. “I was there in 2002. We [the Giants] were six to seven to eight outs away from winning the World Series. They had taken the plastic off the lockers and brought the champagne in. The guys on the bench were giddy, going back and forth to the clubhouse and it was all taken away from us by the Angels.

“That allure remains there -- that chance to win it all, and then I will be happy to go the way of the Sopranos.”

SO ROBERT SHAPIRO, you know, O.J.’s guy, represents Mr. HGH, but he doesn’t return a phone call weeks ago to discuss the Gary Matthews situation.

But a few days ago he comes on the morning father/daughter radio show with Roggin to talk about his boxing match with Danny Bonaduce. That’s attorney Robert Shapiro getting in the ring with Danny Bonaduce.

Shapiro doesn’t figure to have a chance and someone says so, and a day later a message is left on my cellphone. Now I can’t shake the guy.

“Bob Shapiro here,” he says, “and against all your predictions, I clearly won the fight. The audience voted at the end and I was the overwhelming winner, but [the promoter] came back and said both did such a good job -- how about calling it a draw?

“I broke his nose in the second round and they gave him more than a minute to rest between rounds and stop the bleeding. I hit him much harder and hurt him much more than he hurt me. I doubt he’s able to even chew today because of some of the uppercuts.”

I can see why people are interested in having Shapiro defend them.

“We raised $1 million for [Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services],” Shapiro concluded, “and I came out victorious as I told you I would.”

I thought about calling Shapiro to ask if he got any extra help from Mr. HGH, but I’ll just wait and talk to Mr. HGH at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

MARSHALL FAULK, Keyshawn Johnson, Jim Mora, Peter King, Andrea Kremer and Amy Trask, who runs the Raiders, will all be part of this year’s NFL 101 presented by the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission.

The July 12, 5 p.m. event, the first NFL gathering in the Coliseum since the departure of the Rams and Raiders in 1994, will include the “Play like a Pro” experience with guests participating in various football drills and doing radio play-by-play. Those interested in attending and asking Trask exactly when Al Davis lost it, can email Ashley Lampe at alampe@lasec.us.

T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.