Support From Ministers For the Dodgers Isn’t Bad, but….

In this article from Saturday, the LA Times reported that a group of over 20 ministers wrote a letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, urging him to be nice to Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt.

And so the bizarre McCourt drama continues.

A few things struck me as I read this:

1) Good for Frank that the clergy likes him, but what does it have to do with anything related to the Dodgers?… which brings me to my second point:

2) I’d rather have a “new” ownership group buying a majority of the team express their support from the Dodgers. Having God’s support is fine, but it would take an act of God to repair McCourt’s image and credibility in Dodgertown.

3) Who are these ministers and what is their angle? Times reporter Abby Sewell obviously asked some questions of the clergy members amounting to, “What are you getting out of this from the Dodgers?” but we still have no real answer.

Part of their reasoning was the Dodgers’ history in the African-American community — Jackie Robinson, etc…

But here’s where the clergy are wrong and McCourt supporters need to change their thinking. The clergy said that McCourt has been a “faithful steward” of the franchise. I know plenty of Dodger fans who would argue that McCourt has been the worst owner the Dodgers have had since before World War II. Based on the information available, I would tend to agree with that assessment.

Here’s the other thing I have to keep in mind: It’s OK to like and root for the Dodgers and their players while at the same time rooting against their owner. McCourt and the Dodgers heritage are not intertwined in any other way than the fact that McCourt has failed fans in nearly every way including (but not limited to)

* Trying to get a contender “on the cheap” with Paul DePodesta as the GM and then deflecting blame and putting it on DePodesta and others when “on the cheap” wasn’t good enough for the fans.

* Price of fansmanship: It’s really expensive to be a Dodgers fan. I got a seat at Coors Field for $40 on Thursday night that was in the 11th row directly behind home plate. Not something easily found at Chavez Ravine. Parking was only $5 in a downtown lot too.

* Fan Safety: This has been relentlessly covered by the media and it will take years of better experiences to start getting some of the lost fans back. Just look up “Dodger Stadium Brawl” or “Dodger Stadium Fight” on YouTube.

* Fan Experience: Dodger Stadium is great, but little things I used to be able to do, I can’t do anymore. Even when there is nobody there, the “Straw Hats” are more strict than ever. For a job where your goal should be invisibility, they have been doing a progressively worse job. People follow the lead from their management.

I have to just keep telling myself that the Dodgers are bigger than McCourt, and that it’s OK to root for the Dodgers without rooting for Frank.

Personally, I’d be much happier if a group of bankers or investors decided that the Dodgers were OK — at least until God can make payroll without jeopardizing the viability of the organization for the next twenty years.