Dodgers web musings: Ever-changing cast of would-be owners

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Keep those scorecards handy, your favorite to become the next Dodgers owner could change which each exhale.

A few hours after Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman wrote that former Dodgers trustee Tom Schieffer was a potential bidder, The Times Bill Shaikin spoke to Schieffer, who quickly shot down the report.

‘I don’t anticipate bidding on the Dodgers,’ he said.

Heyman also said Hollywood producer Burt Sugarman and a ‘mystery New York moneyman’ were also interested in pursuing the Dodgers. Sugarman has produced films (‘Children of a Lesser God’) and TV shows (‘The Midnight Special’) and is married to Mary Hart of ‘Entertainment Tonight’ fame.

If true, you’d have to add these names to a swelling list: Peter O’Malley, Fred Claire, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, Dennis Gilbert, Magic Johnson, Mark Cuban, Ron Burkle, Eli Broad, Alec Gores, Alan Casden, Joe Torre, Larry King, Oscar De La Hoya, Donald Trump, Casey Wasserman, Tom Golisano, Time-Warner, Fox, the public, the two guys in suits having lunch in the next booth and the still-hanging-in-there Dilbeck Investment Group.

If you live in Los Angeles and don’t personally know someone who wants to buy the Dodgers, you don’t know anybody.

Also on the web:

-- ESPN/LA’s Ramona Shelburne thinks those interested in buying the team with ties to the team -- O’Malley, Claire, Garvey and Hershiser -– would be better served merging. And she adds this painful thought: ‘Bidding against each other serves only Frank McCourt and his creditors.’

-- The South Bay Daily Breeze’s Larry Altman profiles Gilbert, a former Gardena High star, by talking to some lifelong area friends.

-- Hall of Fame baseball writer Ross Newhan, who previously came out in support of Gilbert’s bid, said he also welcomes O’Malley’s entry. Newhan wrote: ‘It can be said with a degree of certainty that one of his investment partners will be the renowned Eli Broad.’

-- Here’s a link to a Bloomberg News interview with Sal Galatioto, president of GPS Capital, which brokers deals for professional sports teams, saying he expects there to be 16-18 groups initially making a bid on the Dodgers.

-- The Register’s Howard Cole is miffed that Times writers have written disparagingly about the condition of Dodger Stadium. Cole, however, did email to say he would add his Honda Civic to the Dilbeck Investment group’s bid.

-- Fox Sports’ Joe McDonnell thinks Matt Kemp is the frontrunner for National League most valuable player. I think not.

-- Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown doesn’t have the Dodgers on his list of teams interested in Cuban outfielder Yoennis Cespedes.

-- Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness doesn’t want to hear any talk of the Dodgers trading for the New York Mets’ David Wright.

-- For you stat wonks who can never get enough, Chad Moriyama at True Blue L.A. has a value that compares the salaries of the Dodgers versus how they produced. (Hint: Rafael Furcal wasn’t worth $12 million.)

-- Roberto Baly has a sneak preview of the patch the Dodgers will wear this year in celebration of their 50th anniversary of Dodger Stadium, even though next season will be its 51st season.

-- And just in case you were wondering, Jamie McCourt apparently still has a heart for sports, a mind for business and a voice for the community. Says so right on her website.

-- Steve Dilbeck