HERE AND NOW

Here's the pitch: Put 'Bears' in right field

A baseball diamond in Westwood is named for "The Bad News Bears," even though neither version of the film was made there.

By Dog Davis
Special to The Times

August 18, 2005


An Open Letter to the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks:

Dear LADRAP:

I'm outraged, truly outraged.

Recently I saw the new "Bad News Bears" movie, and, frankly, all it did was make me nostalgic for the original. You see, I'm a huge fan of the 1976 version to the point I once held a film festival called "Luttermania!," celebrating the career achievements of Alfred W. Lutter III, who played Ogilvie, the team's nerdy, bench-warming statistician. The four people who attended really loved it.

Anyway, a friend told me that, a few years back, you guys at the Department of Recreation and Parks christened a baseball diamond "The Bad News Bears Field." Imagine my delight.

Then imagine my dismay when I found out the diamond was not the one used in the original "The Bad News Bears" movie.

That's right. The park in Westwood on Sepulveda Boulevard that you've named the Bad News Bears Field, quite simply, isn't. The original field, which still exists, is at the MasonRecreationCenter on Mason Avenue in Chatsworth. (The current "Bad News Bears" was shot in Encino, if anyone cares.)

This is an injustice that needs to be corrected immediately.

How did the Westwood field get the name? According to the West L.A. Little League, Bill Lancaster, the movie's screenwriter, played there on a team called the Giants from 1958 to 1960, and after his death, his friends petitioned the city to honor the screenwriter's work.

What kind of crud is that?

If you go to Las Vegas and book the Rainman Suite, would you expect to get the luxurious room you see in the movie or some dinky room that the screenwriter once slept in?

Now I've got nothing against Mr. Lancaster's well-meaning friends, but if they wanted to honor him, they should have named the field after Lancaster himself. Calling it the Bad News Bears Field does nothing but dupe innocent folks into thinking they're having a brush with greatness.

It's like ordering a pair of Daisy Dukes from a "Dukes of Hazzard" EBay auction and getting a pair of cutoff Levi's once wore by the screenwriter. Who wants that?

And the field's lack of authenticity isn't my only problem: You can't take a proud-to-be-suburban tale like "The Bad News Bears" and relocate it to hoity-toity Westwood. Can you imagine Tanner Boyle eating at Tengu? Of course not!

On the other hand, the North Valley neighborhood of Chatsworth — the true, original home of the Bears — is not only the appropriate spot for your sign proclaiming "The Bad News Bears Field," it also might actually benefit from the association. Look up Chatsworth at Wikipedia.com and you mostly learn it's the former home of the Manson Family and sometimes known as the Porn Capital of the World. Talk about an image problem.

With the right promotion, however, the good folks of Chatsworth could capitalize on their cinematic claim to fame, hosting "Bad News" festivals and selling souvenirs. (Hmm, I smell "Luttermania! Part II.")

So please, do the right thing and move your sign to its rightful spot at the MasonRecCenter. Oh, and while you're at it, how about adding a bronze statue of Coach Buttermaker drinking a Schlitz? I'm just saying.

Sincerely,

Dog Davis