The world according to Jim:
• Even when he messed up – and there were times, including one big trade that backfired – Fred Claire was always a favorite of This Space for one specific reason.
Well, two actually, but they were intertwined.
• Claire, who passed away at home on Monday night on his 91st birthday, began his professional journey as a sportswriter for the Whittier Daily News, Pomona Progress-Bulletin and the Long Beach Press-Telegram, before moving from journalism to the Dodgers’ public relations staff, and ultimately – unexpectedly – becoming the team’s general manager in April of 1987.
And with Claire and later former hockey writer/turned baseball GM Ned Colletti, if they could ascend to the game’s highest levels, there was hope for the rest of us. (Alas, any trades I suggest are purely unofficial and destined to remain that way). …
• The other reason we – or at least I – appreciated Fred? He never shied away from accountability and, while he might not tell us everything, he never ducked a question and was generally very candid. (That got him in trouble toward the end, as we’ll discuss.) …
• Consider that one stinker of a trade noted above: Pedro Martinez, a future Hall of Famer, to the Montréal Expos for Delino DeShields in November, 1993. It was a trade made out of necessity because the Dodgers needed a second baseman after incumbent Jody Reed, overestimating his value, turned down a three-year, $7.8 million offer from the Dodgers – hey, times were simpler then – and left in free agency, only to get nowhere near that amount on the open market. …
• Martinez, the younger brother of Ramon Martinez, was eyed with skepticism by some in the Dodger organization because, at 5-foot-11 and 164 pounds, there was a feeling – held, among others, by Tom Lasorda and team doctor Frank Jobe – that he might be too frail to hold up as a starting pitcher. Claire said he offered both Lasorda and Ralph Avila, the team’s scout in the Dominican Republic, a veto before he made the trade, but both signed off on it.
And a decade later, in his first autobiography written with Steve Springer, “My 30 Years in Dodger Blue,” Claire put it this way: “There are no mulligans in baseball.” …
• I prefer to think of Claire as the guy whom owner Peter O’Malley implored to take the GM job in April of 1987 after Al Campanis’ firing over racially insensitive remarks on the TV news show “Nightline”. Claire methodically put together a roster that would shock the world the following autumn and bring the Dodgers a World Series championship, their last until 2020.
In the immediate aftermath of that 2020 title, Claire gave me this line, and it was perfect: “Thirty-two years is more than enough.” …
• The candid part that got him in trouble: When Mike Piazza was dealt to the Florida Marlins as part of a seven-player deal in May of 1998 (a temporary stop on his way to New York and the Mets), the trade was consummated by the new Fox ownership behind Claire’s back. He told the world as much, and that got him fired a month later. …
• So, two suggestions: The Dodgers’ uniforms, at least for the rest of this postseason, should have a patch honoring Claire for his service to the club. And at the same time the ballcub should right a wrong and add a memorial patch for Davey Lopes, which they should have done months ago after he passed away. …
• This week’s quiz: Who was the first player Claire obtained after becoming the club’s general manager? Answer below. …
• Mike Ditka’s passing, announced Friday, reminds us that the memory of the tight end turned Bears head coach turned Chicago icon will remain vibrant as long as those old “Saturday Night Live” sketches lauding “Da Bears” can still be seen on YouTube. You think the current “SNL” cast could replicate one of those sketches this week in Da Coach’s honor? …
• Evidently LeBron James is going to commute from New York to Philadelphia for 76ers practices and games via helicopter. Knowing what we know and seeing what we’ve seen, are you sort of queasy about this, too? …
• The helicopter, by the way, is owned by Fanatics. LeBron will have use of that company’s aviation fleet as part of his endorsement partnership. But before you ask … that deal was signed in 2024 when he was still a Laker. Given that LeBron has a two-year, $8 million deal with the Sixers – way below market value – but lucrative deals not only with Fanatics but Polymarket, and given that he has a net worth of $1.4 billion according to Forbes – no salary cap circumvention here, right? …
• But seriously, with the number of current and former athletes as well as teams with endorsements or partnerships with Polymarket and Kalshi, as well as other gambling interests, how close is the next big scandal?
And how tired are you, the viewer, of not only gambling ads on seemingly every broadcast but of frequent graphics offering gambling information? I don’t want to know what a team’s “win probability” is. I want to see for myself if they actually do so. …
• Meanwhile, FS1 carried the Dodgers-Atlanta National League Division Series last week. For the NL Championship Series with Milwaukee, Games 1 and 2 and a possible Game 7 will be on the big network (Channel 11 in L.A.), and the rest again will be on FS1. Wouldn’t it make more sense for all concerned – fans, networks, leagues – if these games were guaranteed to be on over-the-air stations in the participating teams’ markets? It seems to work for the NFL. …
• The Rams face the Buffalo Bills on Monday night at SoFi Stadium. The last time the Bills were in town, Sept. 8, 2022, the Rams hung their Super Bowl LVI banner as champions, along with the banner they won as a St. Louis team for Super Bowl XXXIV.
But there are two Rams championships still unaccounted for from the pre-Super Bowl era. Shouldn’t the L.A. Rams’ 1951 NFL championship – and, while they’re at it, the 1945 Cleveland Rams’ title – also be commemorated with banners? …
Quiz answer: Mickey Hatcher. Two days after O’Malley told Claire, “I need you to take this job,” the new GM signed Hatcher as a free agent after he had been released by the Minnesota Twins – and in the process he began to assemble the Stuntmen, the reserves and leftovers who played such a critical role for the 1988 championship team.
The corresponding move showed decisiveness as well. To make room, Claire released veteran left-hander Jerry Reuss, whose $1 million salary had became guaranteed on Opening Day. Never let it be said that Fred was afraid to make a move.
jalexander@scng.com