Tuesday, May 6, 2003 | 9:44 a.m.
Anyone traveling to Chicago in early June or Boston when the Red Sox are home this season will be challenged to obtain some of the summer's choicest tickets.
There are better seats at Fenway Park, baseball's oldest and smallest stadium, but the newest are on a cantilevered porch atop the Green Monster.
Offseason construction moved rapidly, as part of a $20 million renovation plan, so the three rows of seats -- 280 total -- in front of an SRO row could be used on opening day, April 11, against Baltimore.
The seats, mostly in group packages, have a face value of $50 and have reportedly been sold out for the season. Fetching one for twice that sum would be considered a coup.
Onto the sexier, and more expensive, ducat.
The Yankees visit Wrigley Field, from June 6-8, for the first time since they beat the Cubs in the first two games of the 1938 World Series. New York used those 3-1 and 6-3 victories to return to Yankee Stadium and sweep Chicago.
The best thing the Cubs did in that series was hold Lou Gehrig to four singles and no RBIs.
For the two teams' reunion in a month, two first-row, field-level seats are available from one local broker for a total of $3,250 for that Friday night opener.
Behind the Cubs' dugout? Four seats are available for a total of $3,260. Two in a field box can be had for a total of $690. Four bleacher seats will run a total of $1,180.
From an informal search, it appeared anyone showing at Addison Street without a ticket will have to fork over a minimum of $100 just to get in the gate. That would yield an SRO spot along a stadium wall back by ramps along the first- and third-base sides.
The atmosphere for those three days in June? Priceless.
The choice here is Wrigley over Fenway.
The team has averaged only 69 victories a year since that shift preceded the 1998 season. That's even worse than 1970-74, when the Pilots left Seattle to become the Brewers.
When the Braves were there, from 1953-65, they never had a losing season.
The Brewers are working on their fifth manager -- Ned Yost is now on the hot seat -- as the slide continues. They dropped to 10-22 at Wrigley on Monday, a pace in which they would finish a Suds City-worst 50-112.
"I don't think the situation is murky," said Dodgers roving minor-league infield instructor Jerry Royster, who was fired after relieving Davey Lopes last season.
"They made some wholesale changes for this season, with a new president, a new GM, a new assistant GM, a new manager ... new everything. So they're doing that again. Phil Garner was there eight years, and nothing really worked well for him."
Garner only experienced one winning season, his first.
"He was there for eight years. You have a chance to do something in eight years," Royster said. "Everyone has to be on the same page, which, hopefully, they are now. Maybe they can develop a team that can actually win. Right now, they don't have it."
Royster said the city is bubbling for a baseball winner, as evidenced by the 1.97 million fans who attended games last season at Miller Park. He said he was amazed how locals reminisce about the good ol' days of 1982.
That was the only year the Brewers participated in a World Series, and they lost it to St. Louis after winning the first game 10-0 and having a 3-2 edge in the series.
"I just wish, I hope, they do it for the people," Royster said. "I'm going to tell you, the fan base there is really good, and they're starting to lose them. It would appear they weren't doing anything to make the team better.
"I loved it there. That new stadium is some kind of place. You put one winner in there, and that will have an effect."
Bud Selig recently said he will step down from his post as commissioner in 2006, coincidentally the year contraction chatter will heat up again. If it keeps spiraling, the team he once groomed will be a ripe candidate for dismissal.
Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad and Troy Percival were just a handful of players who were Angels when Collins managed the club from 1997 through part of '99.
"I was really excited for those guys," Collins said. "They played so hard for me. You just sit there and you're thrilled to death for the organization. To finally see them have success was great. I had a blast there. I had a good time."
He hesitated when asked about his desire to get back into managing.
"Well, I got a pretty good thing here," Collins said. "Yeah, I had a great time managing. I just got caught up at a bad time. But I don't ever look back or have to apologize for anything. But this is a great situation. I have a great field staff, and we will produce some players."
At two stops in the Dodgers' farm system last year, Collins knew opposing managers who told him how impressed they were at how (ital please) hard (end ital) the Dodgers' lower-level teams played.
"We will produce some players," Collins said. "Last year, we had a good year. When you look throughout our organization, we want you to see Dodgers ... so we don't have to keep filling in spots with other people. We do that, we'll be successful."
At least, ahem, Hendrickson, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound lefty who is the tallest player in Blue Jays history, looks more like Johnson than any other major leaguer.
Sunday, Hendrickson (2-4) yielded two runs on four hits in a six-inning outing against the Angels in a game Toronto won, 8-2. In their past four games, Blue Jays pitchers have allowed only 10 runs.
Hendrickson, 28, improved his major-league record to 5-4. Remember, Johnson did not take off until he was 29 going on 30, when he went 19-8 for Seattle in 1993. That was the first season the Unit busted the 300 mark in strikeouts, with 308.
Not that Hendrickson will turn into the second coming of Johnson, but he might blossom into more than just a novelty.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hendrickson was the 10th player to compete in both the NBA and Major Leagues when he was called up from Syracuse by the Jays in August. Gene Conley played for two title teams (Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Braves) in 1957.
However, locals never cottoned to the nickname, preferring the one (Senators) that was used for the National League club that was folded in the 12-8 contraction of 1899.
"In 1956, after more than 50 years of insisting the team was officially called the Nationals," wrote the Almanac, "the team finally changed its nickname to the more commonly called Senators."
Hundreds of e-mails and phone messages were left regarding last week's lead item on the history of baseball in the District and the possibility of the sport returning to the Capitol.
(OK, there were only two inquiries. And they were probably from the same person.)
Hope the above gives the nickname issue clarity.
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