David Friedman

With the immediate shock of the Sept. 11 attacks subsiding, restarting the stalled U.S. economy is a critical priority. Unfortunately, the stimulus package under consideration on Capitol Hill is simplistic, politically timid and incapable of fueling a sustained recovery. What's needed instead is an approach that builds consumer and investor confidence in the economy's long-term prospects. Toward that end, income and payroll taxes should be slashed by 10% to provide an immediate $170 billion boost to the economy. At the… more

Sun broke through the Bay Area's chilly October overcast, illuminating the final Dodgers loss of the season. "That," said Rick Monday, the team's infamously inarticulate announcer, "rings down the curtain call." His fractured metaphor almost perfectly captures the team's uninspiring last weeks.

Even before the terror attacks, chronic pitching and hitting woes were undermining the Dodgers' championship chances. The season's weeklong delay after September 11 did nothing to stop the slide. When play resumed, the ghastly visions from New York and Washington seemed to sap the players' spirit.

Stalwart Paul… more

On a cool September evening six days after the terrorist attacks, Brooklyn returned to the Dodgers. The city's first baseball game since the season paused in sorrow could have spawned yet another mawkish, made-for-TV display. Instead, with a brilliant stroke of insight, the Dodgers magically blessed the crowd with the languid memory of a softer, nearly forgotten past.

Nothing of the sort seemed in the offing on the way to the ballpark. Cheap-talk bravery filled the airwaves. "Those guys selling flags for twenty bucks in front of Save-On,"… more

As August ends, so does the frivolity of summer. Kids go back to school. Stockbrokers start trading in earnest. For the Dodgers, who still have a shot at the playoffs, the season's last 30 games will make the difference between post-season immortality or an October fishing trip.

Baseball is the most habitual of sports. Each of the season's 162 contests pit more than 20 players to a side, all of whom are serviced by a cadre of coaches, trainers and front-office… more

My son celebrated his tenth birthday last week. I gave him a choice between a baseball game or a day at Anaheim's new Disney Resort complex.

My son's pretty shrewd. The Dodgers were mired in a painful-to-watch late season swoon. So off we went to Disneyland and its freshly minted, eagerly anticipated sibling, Disney's California Adventure.

When I was kid, I built haunted houses in my back yard. These were billowing, tent-like structures made of old blankets, tape and cardboard. I could pull a string and a… more

At the end of the 1980s, when it seemed inevitable that our technological superiority and important production capabilities would be lost to Japan and possibly the Asian "tigers," many observers argued that manufacturing in the United States mattered. Production fed other economic sectors, sustained the nation's defense and assured that no country could gain an edge in a key technology that might cripple our economy or military advantage. Losing manufacturing was akin to hollowing out the core of the U.S.… more

Unlike much of modern society, baseball still keeps score. Each pitch, play and swing of the bat is meticulously judged and forever recorded.

But nothing counts for sure until the fifth inning. That's when baseball rules provide that even a rainout, earthquake or power failure can't wipe the record clean.

"I'm just a small thread in the tapestry of baseball," says Dan Hartack, tonight's official scorer for the series opener against the struggling Cincinnati Reds. "I consider it an honor."

Clearly it's not about money. Hartack, like his… more

It's a rare mid-week day game for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the finale of a brief two-game home stand against the hapless Milwaukee Brewers. Surveying the scene from the very top of the upper deck, just where the press gate is located, I find myself thinking back to the last sunshine-blessed affair I saw here.

The Dodgers were beginning a playoff series against the Cincinnati Reds. Television demanded a mid-afternoon start. But the date was October 4, 1995, just 24 hours after a Downtown jury had acquitted… more

Three is a magic baseball number. It was worn by Babe Ruth and a handful of other legends, including titanic homer-hitting Harmon Killebrew, and Bill Terry, the Giants' magnificent first baseman and championship manager. Three on the back of a jersey is an instant reminder of transcendental greatness.

A different kind of stardom is on display in tonight's game with the league-leading Seattle Mariners. Journalists swarm about the field for a glimpse of Ichiro Suzuki, a leadoff batter imported from Japan. Defying an angry coach--"Hey! We're stretching here!"… more

If outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan were a Democrat, he would be hailed as one of the city's greatest political leaders ever. Under his tenure, Los Angeles rebounded spectacularly … more