Iwas watching the damn Yankees take the World Series again when a friend expressed sadness at how long the doggone Dodgers have gone without winning one. Oh, those inept, wretched Dodgers. Oh, how their fans have suffered.
For 11 years.
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What unendurable torture.
St. Louis, 17 years without winning a World Series championship. Philadelphia, 19 years. Baltimore, 16. Detroit, 15. Kansas City, 14. Pittsburgh, 20. Milwaukee, 42 years. Cleveland, 51. Boston, 81 years. Chicago White Sox, 82. Chicago Cubs, 91 years.
Anaheim has never won one. San Francisco, never. Dallas, Houston, Montreal, San Diego, Seattle . . . never.
But when the Dodgers announced--on the same day that the Yankees were celebrating their 25th championship of the 1900s--that they were making a former Warner Bros. movie maker their new boss, you'd have thought that this organization hadn't scored a run since Jackie Robinson was going to high school in Pasadena.
Why, Los Angeles has gone three whole years without even making the playoffs!
Do you know how many Dodger teams in the 1990s have lost more games than they won? Two: 1992 and 1999.
But people talk as if Bob Daly is taking over the biggest bunch of dogs this side of an Alaska sled race.
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Daly's films for Warners included "Batman," "Lethal Weapon," "The Killing Fields" and "Unforgiven," each of which could have been a story about the Dodgers' trading of Mike Piazza.
As chairman, CEO and managing partner--doesn't anybody get just one job title anymore?--Daly's task will be to win a World Series that 29 other teams are out to win. Hey, piece of cake, Bob. See you at the Series in 12 months.
Daly is investing in the Dodgers as well. He is trying to buy something like 10% for himself, saying, "Not only is my heart in this, but so is my wallet."
Right. Just like Batman.
Well, it's Bob's job now, and we hope that he enjoys being in the 21st century spotlight for Fox. Somehow he became a baseball Player--capital P--overnight.
Anyone can run a baseball team. If you're rich, you can go from fan to owner with no other qualifications. After Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves, he once tried to manage them in the dugout himself. Cincinnati's dotty Marge Schott let her dog on the field. Turner's and Schott's teams each won a World Series.
