It Could be Magic For The Dodgers

I’ve observed in a detached manner as candidates emerge as possibilities to purchase the Dodgers.

I say detached because I don’t know some of the groups and am not qualified to recommend one over the others.

But I was jolted the other day by the news that Magic Johnson has entered the competition. And I was intrigued to hear that his group includes Stan Kasten and Mark Walter.

Kasten has been the president of two major league teams, the Braves and Nationals, and has been mentioned as possibly the next baseball commissioner. Walter is the chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm which controls $125 billion in assets and has an office in Santa Monica in addition to its headquarters in New York and Chicago.

I’m not saying this is the best possibility for the Dodgers but if not someone spectacular will have to come along.

Before going further, I need to remind you that Frank McCourt, not Bud Selig, will decide who gets the Dodgers. And that could change what would otherwise would be a logical choice.

But I’ll go on now about Magic Johnson, one of the best known athletes in Los Angeles history.

I traveled with Laker teams as the beat writer for the now-defunct LA Herald-Examiner when Johnson was drafted. That gave me the opportunity to watch and appreciate his basketball talents and also to know him away from the game.

I saw that he was a savvy kid when he came to LA as a teen-ager. And through the years I learned that he was miles ahead of many others in his thinking.

So it wasn’t a surprise to me when Johnson became a successful businessman when his playing career ended.

He was infected by HIV, most likely because of mistakes he made in his private life.

But he treated the disease like a basketball opponent – something he simply had to defeat.

And 20 years later he’s still with us.

I don’t see him on a daily basis anymore but I see him occasionally and was aware he was watching the Dodgers’ situation carefully.

And leave it to Johnson that when he jumped in he did it in a bold way, making sure he had highly respected and well-to-do partners.

Last Friday I was having lunch in Marina del Rey with a friend who also has known Johnson through the years. A casual lunch turned hectic when a cell phone call from a mutual friend revealed that Johnson’s people were trying to reach Selig to inform the commissioner of Johnson’s intentions to bid for the Dodgers.

“I want to make the Dodgers great again,” Johnson said when his bid became formal a few hours later.

I think fans want a new Dodger owner who will upgrade the roster and end the drama about financial problems. Johnson gets it. He says he wants the focus to be on baseball.

Groups interested in buying the Dodgers are expected to receive financial information this week.

Most likely the team will have a new owner when spring training begins in February.