Dear Frank

This piece originally appeared on the Frying Pan <fryingpannews.org> in a slightly altered form.

Mr. Frank McCourt
Los Angeles Dodgers LLC
1000 Elysian Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012


Dear Frank,

In my 17 years, I’ve been to over 150 Dodger games. I’ve never seen them better than in 2009, when they defended the National League West title and played the Phillies in the NLCS. You were owner then, remember? Remember Mannywood? We swept the Cardinals in the Division Series. So much promise, so much hope.

Of course, it didn’t last. The day before we played the Phillies in Game One, you and Jamie announced you were getting divorced. I never understood how you thought that was a good idea, to announce it that day. We lost to the Phillies in five games.

And the unraveling began. You fired your wife. We found out neither of you paid any income taxes from 2004-2009. You had the Dodger Dream Foundation pay your friend $400,000 in one year. A fan was brutally and mercilessly attacked in your parking lot. You tried to scrape it together with a loan from FOX, but Bud Selig sent them packing. And finally, the inevitable. The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, where the Dodgers are incorporated. Distance from home works out for you, too – all the Dodger fans around here would make a McCourt case hard to argue.

Anyway, now that you’re on your way out, on the cusp of perhaps the biggest business deal in the history of baseball, I’d like for you to consider something: L.A. will never like you, but you have a chance to be hated just a little less. You could be the guy who gave us Magic Johnson or Joe Torre. We’re not big on O’Malley after he sold us to NewsCorp. But please, for once, do right by the city, the team and the fans, even if that dings your wallet just a little bit.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Arnold

Reserve Level, Aisle 5, Row E, Seat 4.