Scorecard

Artless Dodgers

Ever since Walter O'Malley yanked his Dodgers out of Brooklyn and planted them in the greener pastures of Los Angeles nearly 35 years ago, Brooklynites have fought to hold on to mementos of their beloved Bums. Last week the latest round in the fight—Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. v. David Senatore, Richard Picardi and Kevin Boyle—came to a federal courthouse in New York City. Senatore, Picardi and Boyle are owners of an establishment they call the Brooklyn Dodger Sports Bar and Restaurant, which is located in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. The Los Angeles Dodger organization would like them to call the bar something else.

The owners' first choice for a name was Ebbets Field, but that moniker was being used by a caf� in Hicksville, N.Y. So, says Senatore, they decided to name it after the denizens of Ebbets Field to "conjure up fond memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers."

Senatore points out that "we got lots of letters wishing us luck, including one from [ L.A. Dodger owner] Peter O'Malley in September of '87." The bar opened on St. Patrick's Day, 1988, and the owners registered the name with the Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., the next month. It wasn't until March 1990 that the Dodgers filed a lawsuit accusing the owners of trademark infringement.

"These guys did a trademark search for Brooklyn Dodger," says Ronald Russo, the bar owners' lawyer. "As far as they were concerned, that organization was a memory." But Robert Kheel, the attorney for Major League Baseball and the L.A. Dodgers, says, "This is a simple, garden-variety trademark-infringement case. It's very important for us to protect our name and trademarks."

In the trial, both sides rested on May 21, but Judge Constance Baker Motley isn't expected to rule until July or August. If the judgment doesn't go their way, the bar owners are prepared: Brooklynites will then be able to quench their thirst at O'Malley's Folly.
—JAMES RODEWALD

The Pitcher King

This just in: Presley is alive and well and making records in his hometown of Tupelo, Miss. The strapping righthander led Tupelo High into this week's state Class 5A baseball championship series against Meridian High by throwing three of the Golden Wave's national-record-tying eight no-hitters, five one-hitters and 10 shutouts en route to a 13-1 record. Going into the three-game series against Meridian, he had pitched 85 innings, struck out 125 batters and walked only 11. His ERA was 0.24, and his fastball was clocked at 92 mph.

No, not that Presley. Elvis left Tupelo in 1948 when he was 13. These days his third cousin Kirk is king in Tupelo. And like his kinsman. Kirk, who's a junior, has had his share of hits. When he isn't pitching, he plays third base, and at week's end he was batting .388 with 31 RBIs.

Last fall he was the quarterback on the Tupelo football team, which lost the state championship game. Kirk completed 102 passes on 224 attempts and threw only three interceptions in 14 games. Indeed, with his sandy-colored hair and prowess on the baseball diamond and the football field, Kirk seems more like Elway than Elvis. Unfortunately, he also sings more like Elway than Elvis.