Maybe Dr. Kevorkian Likes Baseball

Can baseball get any better than this? It’s playoff time. There are four exciting series being played. One has the mighty Cleveland Indians. One has Greg Maddux, who may be the best pitcher of all time. Still another has Don Mattingly in his first postseason. How could it possibly get any better?

I just thought of a way. Let us see some of it.

What kind of television coverage is this? Tell them to stagger the game times. Tell them to put the Braves on TBS and the Yankees on PIX. Tell them to do something right for once.

Oh, forget it. Better yet, why don’t they just go back on strike? At least that way I wouldn’t feel as though I was missing something.

JEFF GOULD

North Hollywood

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I’m baffled by the confusion of your reporters regarding the size of the crowds for the division series games. As a season-ticket holder who attended Game 1, and who had trouble finding fans to share my tickets with this strike year, I can quickly cite a number of reasons.

This wasn’t the World Series and it wasn’t even the league championship series. It was only the first round of the expanded and diluted playoffs.

It wasn’t held in expansion Colorado or 41-years-without-a-postseason Cleveland. It was held mid-work-week at 5 p.m.

Tickets were double regular-season prices and painful to acquire.

As for the 16 or 18 (pick your reporter) regular-season games with bigger crowds, how many of those were promotion nights?

MICHAEL J. FITZSIMONS

Torrance

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It’s getting old to hear Mike Downey and others claim that attending local pro games is a civic responsibility. Sports is a private business, not jury duty. It’s one of many entertainment alternatives, which includes watching TV at home for free with a better view than the best seat I could buy at the box office. Does Martin Bernheimer rag on us when there are empty seats at the opera?

Any ticket broker can give Downey a lesson on supply and demand. If I want the feel and flavor of a stadium or arena, I’ll go. If the tube and a six-pack seem the better buy than a day’s pay for parking woes and a nosebleed seat, I’ll pray for Downey’s forgiveness.

RON BELL

Bellflower

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I have before me Mike Downey’s column of Aug. 28. He displays an intense dislike for the Dodger organization and especially Tom Lasorda. How could he be so stupid to state that, “No way will the Dodgers win their division”? And no mention today [Oct. 2] of congratulations or an apology.

FR. HAL FUMO

Mission San Juan Capistrano