Just Your Average Monday Morning at Chavez Ravine

I meant to call the Dodgers on Monday morning to ask about their players starting workouts at Chavez Ravine on Wednesday, the contract negotiations with Mike Piazza and Eric Karros and, oh yeah, whether Peter O’Malley was selling the team.

I ask that last question often, about as often as I ask whether the sun rises in the West.

O’Malley’s decision to sell the Dodgers might have been the best-kept secret in sports history, coming as such a shock when it was announced Monday afternoon that it probably registered at Caltech.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized this is the best thing for the financial futures of both the O’Malley family and the Dodgers.

Don’t misunderstand. O’Malley has been the best owner in sports, providing a team that is competitive almost every season and a clean, safe ballpark at prices families can pay without having to refinance their houses.

But whereas a family can still afford to see a baseball team play in Los Angeles, a family cannot still afford to own one.

“Family ownership in sports today probably is a dying breed,” O’Malley said. “You need a broader base than an immediate family to carry through the storms.”

O’Malley no doubt heard the thunder when Albert Belle signed with the Chicago White Sox for $10 million a year.

During a conversation in Fred Claire’s office a few days after Belle had signed, the Dodger vice president noted that his team has a number of young players, such as Piazza and Karros, who will expect to be among the highest paid at their positions and a ballpark that, however pristine, has had all the revenue squeezed out of it. In other words, there are no lucrative luxury boxes, as in the new stadiums.

In a collective-bargaining age that favors big-market teams, O’Malley and his family do not have big-market pockets. His $42-million payroll is not even half what the Florida Marlins recently spent within two weeks.

O’Malley is getting out at the right time, searching for a consortium or corporation that has the financial wherewithal to maintain a Dodger tradition that has been, no matter what any other professional sports owner might tell you, the genuine commitment to excellence.

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Financial World magazine ranked the Dodgers as baseball’s fifth-most valuable franchise at $147 million. But that did not include prized assets such as the 300 acres surrounding Dodger Stadium, Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., Campo Las Palmas in the Dominican Republic and Vin Scully. . . .

Vince Piazza once put together a group that tried to buy the San Francisco Giants and move them to St. Petersburg, Fla. Maybe he would like to own his son’s team. . . .

Look for USC junior Darrell Russell to announce today that he’s turning pro. . . .

Just as we were beginning to see what all the fuss was about when Kobe Bryant was drafted, he’s probably going to lose some playing time. Cedric Ceballos returns to practice today and could be activated in time for Friday night’s game at the Forum against Miami. . . .

Break up the Clippers. They’re jeopardizing Donald Sterling’s annual lottery party. . . .

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Rosalynn Sumners, appearing at the Pond of Anaheim on Jan. 17 and the Forum on Jan. 19 with Discover Stars on Ice, are skating at the Forum on Thursday with families from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. . . .

After training almost exclusively with Coach John Nicks, the figure skating pairs team of Jenni Meno and Todd Sand of Costa Mesa are benefiting by also working with Irina Rodnina this season. Third in the World Championships the last two years, they have emerged as the first U.S. title contenders since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979. . . .

When Gardner’s injury cost him and Babilonia a chance to win the gold medal in 1980, Rodnina, skating for the Soviet Union, emerged with her third Olympic title. She also won 10 World Championships with two partners. . . .

Thoroughbred trainer Bob Baffert says of In Excessive Bull, his top 3-year-old prospect, “He reminds me a lot of Michael Johnson, in terms of speed, muscularity and running grace. We might even paint his hooves gold.” . . .

The Chicago Bull game on Christmas tied for 41st in the Nielsen ratings for that week with “Dennis the Menace.” It’s not the same thing? . . .

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While wondering if Michael Ovitz has the sense of humor to take that $90 million from Disney and invest it in the Dodgers, I was thinking: We already have the sports story of the year in L.A., the O’Malleys are selling 38 years too late for Brooklyn, Phil Niekro was a good Hall of Fame choice, but Don Sutton would have been a better one.