Production Takes Swing at Baseball and History

In a popular parlor game, players are challenged to name people in history with whom they would like to share an evening. An excellent answer would be Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Paul Robeson, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Branch Rickey.

That is now possible. Sort of.

In “Mr. Rickey Calls A Meeting,” a play opening Sunday at the Pasadena Playhouse, actors portraying those giants of the day meet in April 1947, to discuss whether the time is right for the Dodgers to break the color barrier.

Fifty years later, we are certain they arrived at the correct conclusion. Robinson was in a Brooklyn uniform for the season opener. But the answer was far from unanimous at the time, even among blacks.

The play, set in Rickey’s Manhattan hotel room, written by Ed Schmidt and directed by Sheldon Epps, captures an important moment not only for baseball but the civil rights movement.

Whether the meeting actually occurred, however, is questionable. Schmidt read about it in Louis’ autobiography but concluded after considerable research that the men were not all in Manhattan at the same time during that period.

One thing for sure is that the timing for the opening in Pasadena couldn’t have been better, considering Peter O’Malley’s decision to sell the Dodgers.

“I’m seeing Branch Rickey’s name in the paper every other day,” Epps said. “That wasn’t happening two years ago.”

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We should have seen this coming. Rehearsing at the Culver City Ice Arena in the fall of 1995 for an exhibition, Oksana Baiul revealed she had recently driven from her home in Simsbury, Conn., to New York in an hour and 40 minutes. “Normal people take 2 hours and 30 minutes,” she said. . . .

Police alleged that Baiul, 19, had a blood-alcohol level of .168 when she crashed her automobile last weekend. KABC radio’s Michael Jackson says one judge gave her a .180. . . .

Tiger Woods, who turned 21 on Dec. 30, remembers the night life way back when he was a teenager. “I did so many extracurricular activities, I put 3 1/2 years into two years of college,” he said. “If I had stayed any longer, I would have done harm to my game.” . . .

Richard Nixon’s presidential library in Yorba Linda includes volumes about Watergate. But Jimmy Carter’s presidential library in Atlanta has not one word about the 1980 Olympic boycott. . . .

Oscar De La Hoya, in the main event Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Arena against Mexico’s Miguel Angel Gonzalez, says he’s serious about his boxing career now. How serious? “I’m not playing as much golf anymore.” . . .

Anyone following the chaos in settling the estate of Robert Irsay, the Indianapolis Colt owner who died Tuesday, has a clearer understanding of O’Malley’s decision. . . .

Congratulations to Kobe Bryant and Travis Knight on their selection to play in the NBA’s rookie game during the All-Star break. But Derek Fisher has been more valuable than either for the Lakers. . . .

The Clippers’ Brent Barry isn’t going to defend his slam-dunk championship. “It’s too cold in Cleveland, and my body won’t take it,” he says. . . .

Three members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, including UCLA Coach Joy Fawcett, missed last weekend’s training camp because they’re pregnant. . . .

As part of its endorsement contract with basketball star Sheryl Swoopes, do you think Nike gets to name her firstborn? Heir Swoopes. . . .

While on the subject, Andre Dawson is paying child support to one flight attendant and has been named in a paternity suit by another. . . .

“How can somebody get two flight attendants pregnant?” Jay Leno asks. “I can’t even get an extra bag of peanuts.”

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Michael Tabor made his fortune operating British betting shops, but made his best gamble last winter when he bought a horse named Thunder Gulch for a reported $500,000. Six months later, Thunder Gulch, a 24-1 longshot, won the Kentucky Derby.

Not every story, though, has such a triumphant ending. Tabor and partner John Magnier bought another colt, Just A Cat, last November for $2 million and began prepping him for this year’s Derby. Last Sunday, the horse broke a bone in his leg during training at Santa Anita and was retired to stud.

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While dreading the fallout if Mike Piazza has to go to arbitration with the Dodgers, I was thinking: Sheldon Kennedy is the NHL’s most courageous player, Rich Pilon should have to spend some time as Bruce McNall’s cellmate, Mike’s a better bet than Henry in the battle of the Bibbys, the NCAA isn’t always wrong.