Letters to sports: Dodgers should not get free pass in Trevor Bauer saga

Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer leans back to throw a ball before a game

Aug. 22, 2021 6 AM PT

Whatever becomes of this sad Trevor Bauer story, no one should be giving the Dodgers a free pass through all of this.

The Dodgers are paying $30+ million a year on a “key man” and they don’t do enough due diligence to find out that he had another similar suit pending from a few years back in top of everything he himself posted on the very public Internet?

Every administrative job I ever applied for and received ran a background check complete enough to know everything, including my favorite ice cream flavor. Either the Dodgers didn’t want to know about it or they need a new HR department.

Robert Goldstone
Corona del Mar

Re: Trevor Bauer. If a woman stood in front of him and asked to be shot, and he did it, he would be a killer. Men, and the Dodgers organization, use your brains!

Steve Belinski
Santa Barbara

Bill Shaikin is now the second columnist to try and convict Trevor Bauer in the press; malign his attorney; and denounce the Dodgers as being insensitive to sex crimes.

I am not a Bauer apologist, but with the disclosure of evidence and the court ruling this week, the columnists have painted themselves into a corner: do we continue bashing Bauer, his attorney, and the Dodgers or, maybe, see what the facts are?

Mario Valvo
Ventura

‘Ohtani is the MVP’

I don’t care where the Angels finish, Ohtani is the MVP

I don’t care if his season ended today, Ohtani is the MVP

I don’t care how many homers Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits, Ohtani is the MVP

I don’t care what Jack Morris thinks, Ohtani is the MVP

By the way. I’ve ripped up all my Jack Morris baseball cards

Fred Wallin
Westlake Village

Hall of Fame pitcher and color analyst Jack Morris of the Detroit Tigers apologizes for mocking an Asian accent while describing how to pitch to Shohei Ohtani. This type of behavior has happened with other broadcasters, and their apologies are often weak and insincere. Their apologies are similar to Morris’, “I apologize if I offended anybody” or “I did not intend to be offensive.” There is no “if or did not intend,” you were offensive! For once, I would like to hear a clear apology for a deed misdone.

Wayne Muramatsu
Cerritos

Where are the women?

Wednesday’s sports section, as always, was basically articles about men. There was one story on the Sparks game with no photos of the players, and a reference to a woman who is accusing an athlete of sexual assault. Show us more women. Write more about women. They are doing amazing things, working hard. Show them, please. Commit to include. Thank you.

Liz Cangelosi
Agoura Hills

Missing Bruins

Eric Sondheimer’s annual preview of Southland high school top football players highlights one glaring reality. A common denominator among these lists for the past few years is an almost total absence of commits to UCLA.

I know hopes are high but I’d be shocked if the Bruins reach .500 this year even if everything breaks their way. It’s time to replace the imposter posing as Chip Kelly with someone motivated to win and up on current football trends. For now Bruin football fans will have to be satisfied that we recruited a top goalie for our women’s water polo squad.

Allan Kandel
Los Angeles

Foul ball

Nomar Garciaparra had a great career as a player and I‘m sure that he has some valuable insights about the game. But I’m also pretty sure that the Dodgers’ color analyst is not supposed to say five times as many words as the main broadcaster.

Dave Stuart
Westlake Village

A fateful trip

Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehle is very amusing. I used to think he played the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song when a game reached the three-hour mark as a nod to the “three-hour tour.” However, now I think he plays it because so many Dodger base runners wind up being stranded.

Brian Lipson
Beverly Hills

Priceless pictures

In last Sunday’s Sports, the unique vertical photo by Wally Skalij capturing the expression on the face of the Olympic pole vaulter as he clears the bar is outstanding! Also, the photo by Robert Gauthier of the upside down BMX rider high in the air whose wheel in the photo makes one of the five Olympic rings is amazing! I appreciate the efforts of these two excellent photographers as they explained in their own words the challenges they faced filming the Olympics during a pandemic — daily testing, shuttle buses, social distancing, arriving three hours early to get a spot, the heat and more. A picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Sarah Sneider
Arcadia

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