Orel Hershiser

Orel Hershiser wants to save Dodger Stadium by double-decking the right-field pavilion? Not exactly, even if that might be the most striking feature of a stadium renovation rendering he released Friday. Hershiser, the pitching star for the Dodgers' last World Series championship team in 1988, said he hoped to use the drawing to share with prospective new owners a vision for the preservation and enhancement of Dodger Stadium. "People don't know how heartfelt I am about keeping Dodger Stadium," Hershiser said in an interview Friday.

BASEBALL URBAN LEGEND : Orel Hershiser was cut by his high school baseball team. Orel Hershiser's tale of success as a Major League pitcher is certainly one of an underdog succeeding against great odds. When the Dodgers drafted Hershiser out of Bowling Green in the 17th round of the 1979 MLB Draft, he was the 440th player taken overall and the 195th pitcher. That is well past the time a team would realistically expect to find a quality Major Leaguer and yet after Hershiser retired in 2000 he ended up winning more games than any other pitcher taken in that draft.

BASEBALL URBAN LEGEND : Orel Hershiser was cut by his high school baseball team. Orel Hershiser's tale of success as a Major League pitcher is certainly one of an underdog succeeding against great odds. When the Dodgers drafted Hershiser out of Bowling Green in the 17th round of the 1979 MLB Draft, he was the 440th player taken overall and the 195th pitcher. That is well past the time a team would realistically expect to find a quality Major Leaguer and yet after Hershiser retired in 2000 he ended up winning more games than any other pitcher taken in that draft.

[Corrected Aug. 14, 3:48 p.m.] Absolutely. That's not to say he's currently the leading candidate, but he has put himself back in the hunt. It could yet happen. A few weeks ago when Kershaw was melting in the St. Louis heat and left with a 7-6 record and a 3.14 ERA, maybe it seemed it was getting out of reach. To that point, Kershaw was having a strong season, but something below the dominating 21-5, 2.28 season he turned in last year. But last season he won it with an incredible finish (13-1, 1.22 in his last 15 starts)

Orel Hershiser and Steve Garvey joined forces in a Dodgers bidding group that had plenty of star power but not enough money. Hershiser and Garvey failed to survive the first cut in the Dodgers' ownership sweepstakes. On a conference call to promote his ESPN Sunday night baseball broadcasts, Hershiser said his group did not have the resources to compete at the $1.5 billion range. "I think that we were knocked out at our $1.2 billion range.  And then we weren't really able to go any higher," Hershiser said Wednesday, according to a transcript provided by ESPN.

Orel Hershiser, a picture of perfection on and off the field, was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year today, finishing far ahead of his Olympics competition. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher became the first non-Olympian to win the honor in an Olympic year since Denny McLain in 1968. Hershiser, who set a record with 59 consecutive shutout innings, is the 22nd baseball player to win in the 58-year history of the award and the first since Dwight Gooden in 1985.

It's hard to gaze at the sun, or Orel Hershiser, for too long. Everybody is looking at him. But how many can see him through the blaze of his brilliance? Every Dodger, of course, breaks his vocabulary to do justice to Hershiser in this Year of the Bulldog. Both his athleticism and competitiveness are praised to the nth degree. In just a few weeks, he has grown superhuman.

Pepperdine's Patrick Ahearne has heard all the comments and comparisons. For years--it started when he was a high school freshman in than Albuquerque, N.M.--he has heard them. He doesn't mind. He doesn't flinch. And like the Dodgers' Orel Hershiser, the man Ahearne is always compared to, Ahearne doesn't lose much, either.

Last week, when Orel Hershiser was asked to name the biggest game in which he had ever pitched, he scrunched his face for a moment, then said: "The no-hitter I threw against Ball State when I was at Bowling Green." That game passed so unnoticed that even Hershiser said later that he wasn't sure who the opponent was. So much for fading memories.

He is, in no particular order: --The only pitcher to beat Rick Sutcliffe (16-1) in a National League regular-season game last season. --The last Dodger pitcher to retire Johnny Bench of the Reds, getting him to pop out to Pedro Guerrero. --The only big-leaguer whose four-month-old son has a Roman numeral V after his name and an official nickname, Quinton, to go with it.

Less than two weeks after being released by the Angels, Bobby Abreu is making his presence felt with the Dodgers. The 38-year-old outfielder entered Tuesday batting .296 (eight for 27) since joining the Dodgers on May 4, with four doubles and four runs batted in. That included a bases-clearing double that helped lead the Dodgers to an 11-5 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. "I feel comfortable at the plate, no problems, and I've been swinging the bat OK," said Abreu, a left-handed batter.

Orel Hershiser wants to save Dodger Stadium by double-decking the right-field pavilion? Not exactly, even if that might be the most striking feature of a stadium renovation rendering he released Friday. Hershiser, the pitching star for the Dodgers' last World Series championship team in 1988, said he hoped to use the drawing to share with prospective new owners a vision for the preservation and enhancement of Dodger Stadium. "People don't know how heartfelt I am about keeping Dodger Stadium," Hershiser said in an interview Friday.

Orel Hershiser and Steve Garvey joined forces in a Dodgers bidding group that had plenty of star power but not enough money. Hershiser and Garvey failed to survive the first cut in the Dodgers' ownership sweepstakes. On a conference call to promote his ESPN Sunday night baseball broadcasts, Hershiser said his group did not have the resources to compete at the $1.5 billion range. "I think that we were knocked out at our $1.2 billion range.  And then we weren't really able to go any higher," Hershiser said Wednesday, according to a transcript provided by ESPN.

Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser have attracted more than enough financial backing to bid competitively on the Dodgers, the banker representing the former Dodgers stars said Wednesday. "It's a matter of picking the partners we want," said Darren Lowe of RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada. For the first time, one of those partners has identified himself. Joey Herrick, president of Pacoima-based Natural Balance Pet Foods, said Wednesday that he has agreed to become a minority investor in the Garvey-Hershiser venture.

We're putting together a little group to buy the Dodgers. You in? Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser have their partnership, we'll have ours. Instead of ex-players and MBAs, it'll be run by the fans. Parking will be free. Leaving early will cost 15 bucks. Of course, this investment is not for everybody. What we're looking for are investors with deep pockets. In fact, lots of pockets. Deep and plentiful pockets are a requirement, as is a love for the game. Can you pitch? That would be a definite plus as well.

Reporting from Cincinnati Juan Uribe is supposed to be activated from the 15-day disabled list Monday for the Dodgers' opening game of a three-game series in Philadelphia. So are Marcus Thames and Blake Hawksworth . But Manager Don Mattingly was measured when speaking about their anticipated returns. "I'm not going to get excited yet," he said. The last time the Dodgers were expecting a player to be activated, the player in question didn't make it back.

It hit him when surgeons stuck that first needle into his right shoulder on the morning of April 27: Orel Hershiser realized his life was changing. Lying in a hospital bed, with his wife, Jamie, nearby, and feeling the anesthetic enter the muscle, he suddenly saw how this impending surgery would affect more than his shoulder. And he began to cry. From what he was told--because he was soon too woozy to remember--he cried for an hour.

The torch is carried every morning, around a felt-covered card table in the Dodgertown lounge--several pups and a Bulldog. "How do you handle pressure?" the pups ask. "How do you win without your good stuff?" they wonder. The torch is carried every afternoon on a Dodgertown field, during drills, when the oldest Dodger pitcher is the liveliest one, slapping backs and spreading ideas. "Anything he has to say, you want to listen," rookie Jeff Williams says.

My town? Stick around Eric Gagne announced his retirement last week, not with a Dodger Stadium farewell ceremony but in an interview with a Quebec website. With Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera in town to play the Angels this weekend, that got us thinking: Who was the last great Dodger to go out as a Dodger? The New York Yankees will make sure Jeter and Rivera go out as Yankees. And what of the Dodgers so cherished by the fans of Los Angeles? Gagne had a bad arm for two years, then left for a better offer in Texas.

Orel Hershiser, standing on the field at Dodger Stadium and looking up at the seats, soaked in memories. "Yes, a lot of fond memories," he said. Hershiser would throw out the ceremonial first pitch on this night and hear the cheers one more time. There was a time, particularly in 1988, when he was probably the most popular Dodger. That season, he led the National League with 23 wins, and had only eight losses.