Baseball Team

I had dinner with Georgia Frontiere , where the Rams' owner chose to tell me about each of her seven husbands — four too many for me to make a newspaper deadline and still explain to the people of Los Angeles how she had just won approval to move her team to St. Louis. I hopped into a waiting limo in Oakland, expecting to find Al Davis , but got a pair of Raiderettes instead. So I never did get around to meeting with Davis to discuss the possibility of the Raiders returning to L.A. Former super-agent Michael Ovitz sent a martini to my hotel room and had Tom Cruise and Jerry West call to talk football and the prospect of bringing the NFL back to town.

Stan Kasten still wears the massive World Series ring he won 17 years ago as president of the Atlanta Braves, and he says there has rarely been a day when someone hasn't wanted to touch or hold it. "I take it off every day," he said Wednesday. "Because I'm asked by a fan, by a staffer, by a player to see it. And I want them to see it. This is why we're here. " Kasten, 60, was standing in front of home plate at Dodger Stadium wearing a crisp white Dodgers home jersey over a blue tie as he spoke about how he, as team president, planned to turn the Dodgers into consistent winners — just as he had done in Atlanta.

Reporting from Phoenix — Adam Kennedy turned 36 in January. He reached the pinnacle of his profession long ago, winning a World Series with the Angels in 2002 and securing his place in baseball folklore as a postseason hero. He is with his sixth team, heading into his 14th major league season. "There's a point in time, after traveling cross-country for so long, where it is a little more of a job than a pleasure," Kennedy said. But Kennedy said his inner child was awakened this winter when he signed with the Dodgers.

In one corner sat Magic Johnson. He talked. He laughed. He smiled. In another corner sat Larry Bird. He spoke only when prompted. He sounded stoic. He usually looked serious. Yes, the former Lakers and Celtics stars, and rivals, showcased once again how different their personalities are when they appeared Wednesday night on "Late Show with David Letterman" to promote "Magic/Bird," a Broadway show that debuted at Longacre Theatre in New York. Even if their personalities remain different, though, their mind-sets remain the same.

In one corner sat Magic Johnson. He talked. He laughed. He smiled. In another corner sat Larry Bird. He spoke only when prompted. He sounded stoic. He usually looked serious. Yes, the former Lakers and Celtics stars, and rivals, showcased once again how different their personalities are when they appeared Wednesday night on "Late Show with David Letterman" to promote "Magic/Bird," a Broadway show that debuted at Longacre Theatre in New York. Even if their personalities remain different, though, their mind-sets remain the same.

Henry Owens, Huntington Beach Edison, Sr., Pitcher: The 6-foot-7 left-hander was the most dominant pitcher in Southern California, going 12-1 with a 1.15 ERA. He was chosen as the 38th pick overall by the Boston Red Sox in the amateur draft. Lucas Giolito, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, Jr., Pitcher. A no-hitter in a second-round playoff game against Arroyo Grande signaled that Giolito, a UCLA commit, is ready to become the 2012 version of Henry Owens. He finished with a 9-1 record, gave up only 42 hits in 70 1/3 innings and had a 1.00 ERA. Justin Garza, La Verne Bonita, Jr., Pitcher.

Reporting from Berkeley On that bleak day in September, the day when university officials handed the California baseball team a death sentence, it just so happened the players were scheduled to practice. They arrived at the ballpark to learn their storied program — more than a century old — had fallen victim to state budget cuts and would be disbanded at season's end. "I was really angry," sophomore pitcher Justin Jones said. "I was upset, disappointed in the university and kind of ashamed, all at the same time.

This college baseball program is a bit different. Walk into the UC Irvine baseball office and be greeted by a dog pile of Anteaters — not a photograph but a watercolor painting by former player Aaron Lowenstein, an art major. Different. Step into Coach Mike Gillespie's office and notice there are no photos of him. At 71, he has a bit of a Dorian Gray complex. "I don't like pictures of me because they remind me how old I am," he said. Different. But when it comes to the best college baseball programs in a region where there are several accomplished ones, Irvine blends right in. The Anteaters proved that again this season, a victory over UCLA on Sunday moving Irvine to within two victories of a trip to the College World Series.

Cal State Fullerton's hitters led the Titans into a new college baseball season. Then last weekend at Arizona, the pitching staff gave every indication that it also plans to keep up. The Titans, who won two of three games against Stanford in the first week of the season despite allowing 23 runs, gave up only five runs in a three-game sweep of Arizona after allowing only two in a victory over UCLA.

With their out-of-nowhere winning streak, the Colorado Rockies are reminding us what sport can be at its best: exhilarating, uplifting, even inspiring. The Rockies enter the World Series tonight after 21 victories in their last 22 games. One might even call such a streak miraculous, a description much of the team would happily accept. The Rockies have become known as the closest thing Major League Baseball has to a faith-based club.

Are you ready for the stark contrast in the Dodgers' ownership groups? Maybe I should ask if you're ready for the value of your IRA to quadruple. It is hard to imagine more contrasting owners than the guy who is leaving and the group that is readying to replace him. Frank McCourt never appeared at ease in the spotlight. He always looked sweaty and nervous and uncomfortable. Like at any moment, he might be exposed. He went through more image-makers than a presidential candidate.

NEW YORK — For Magic Johnson and his partners, a long day and a surreal night spilled into the wee hours of the morning. Johnson and Co. awoke Tuesday morning as one of three remaining bidders for the Dodgers, with a final auction set to start Wednesday. Baseball's owners approved all three bidders Tuesday afternoon. Frank McCourt then threw a curveball. The Johnson group's last offer was so much more lucrative than the others that McCourt wanted to take it right then and there.

The former payroll manager for the San Francisco Giants baseball team was sentenced to nearly two years in prison after admitting that she stole more than $2 million from the team. Robin M. O'Connor pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud. She had been accused of transferring team money to her personal bank accounts from June 2010 to June 2011. U.S. District Judge James Ware sentenced O'Connor on Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison and ordered her to reimburse the team nearly $1.5 million.

Reporting from Phoenix -- Andre Ethier is paying for new uniforms for the baseball team at inner-city Camelback High. Ethier attended nearby St. Mary's High in Phoenix. “I've been pretty excited and choked up about this,” Camelback Coach Todd Goertzen said. Camelback reached the state finals in 1985, but the baseball program declined as the surrounding neighborhood changed. Most of the players are sons of Mexican immigrants who didn't play baseball before high school because of the high cost of equipment.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are on the brink of a season to remember. This summer should be a game-changer, a franchise-maker, a preview of rosy things to come. All things considered, the Big A should become the Huge A. The second-fiddle role, the little-brother-to-the-Dodgers stuff that has plagued the Angels for so long, should begin to change with this springboard season. Years ago, in his TV commercials for a camera, a long-haired tennis star, Andre Agassi, confirmed a societal axiom: Image is everything.

Jim Abbott made a lasting impression not only on Angels fans, but also those who celebrate a validation of the human spirit. Born without a right hand, Abbott won a gold medal with the 1988 U.S. Olympic baseball team, was a first-round draft pick, won 54 games for the Angels in 1989-92 and 1995-96 stints and threw a no-hitter for the New York Yankees in 1993. Abbott, who is now 44 and resides in Southern California, and former Times and current Yahoo Sports baseball writer Tim Brown have produced an autobiography of the pitcher's journey: "Imperfect: An Improbable Life," due in bookstores on April 3. Brown noted that beyond Abbott's accomplishments, "why he's choosing to tell his story" is appetizing.

Six teenagers giggle and debate how to move a bush on a trolley without dropping it. Others, wearing batting gloves, lift bricks and wipe away ants and spiders crawling up their arms. Another tediously rolls his rake along a dirt field looking for rocks and nails. All are members of the San Juan Capistrano JSerra baseball team. Carrying shovels instead of bats and wearing shorts instead of sliding pants, they spent three days in September helping clean horse stalls and move heavy materials while sprucing up the Shea Center, which was founded in 1978 to serve as a therapeutic riding center for individuals with disabilities.

OMAHA -- Rosenblatt Stadium and the Titan House are only about three miles from the Qwest Center, where Cal State Fullerton will open the NCAA basketball tournament Thursday against Wisconsin, and the Titans are hoping some of the baseball karma reaches that far. "We're going to talk to some of those guys and find out the secret to Omaha," guard Frank Robinson said of the baseball team. "I heard it's Titanville over there so I'm going to call someone and see what they did." The baseball team has appeared at the College World Series at Rosenblatt so often that a group of alumni in 2003 swung a deal to rent out a house across the street every time they came and they have been back in 2004, 2006 and 2007, winning the title in 2004.

It's sad indeed when a respectable business organization gets so puffed up by its own reputation that it decides there's no downside to treating its customers like chumps. Here's the latest example of such corporate arrogance in action: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Advance ticket sales for Angels soared after the team announced its 10-year, $250-million contract with slugging superstar Albert Pujols in December. That's the good news. The bad news is that over the last week, they've squandered considerable fan goodwill through an execrable display of contempt for their paying customers.

Reporting from Phoenix — Adam Kennedy turned 36 in January. He reached the pinnacle of his profession long ago, winning a World Series with the Angels in 2002 and securing his place in baseball folklore as a postseason hero. He is with his sixth team, heading into his 14th major league season. "There's a point in time, after traveling cross-country for so long, where it is a little more of a job than a pleasure," Kennedy said. But Kennedy said his inner child was awakened this winter when he signed with the Dodgers.