Brooklyn Dodgers: Back to the Future?

NEW YORK —  Gov. George E. Pataki called on leaders of New York’s business community Tuesday to present a “realistic bid” for the Dodgers to return to Brooklyn.

“The Dodgers belong in Brooklyn, just as the Yankees belong in the Bronx and the Mets belong in Queens,” he said. “The Dodgers’ temporary stay on the West Coast should come to an end.”

Pataki added, “Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella were legends who made Brooklyn a special place for generations of New Yorkers.

“Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale belong in Cooperstown as Brooklyn Dodgers, and it is only fitting that the Dodgers return home.”

The governor pledged cooperation with an effort by Brooklyn’s borough president, Howard Golden, who called for a six-member commission to examine the financial aspects of “bringing the team back to its home borough.”

“The commission would also identify sites in Brooklyn for the possible development of a first-class stadium,” Golden wrote in letters to Pataki and New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

“We must not miss the opportunity to explore all options for returning the Brooklyn Dodgers to their rightful home,” Golden urged.

Golden said investors already had come forth and shown interest in a Brooklyn bid. He declined to name them and said he had not spoken with Peter O’Malley, Dodger owner who announced Monday that the team was for sale.

“I am sure New York could support three teams,” Golden said.

Giuliani, however, was less enthusiastic than Pataki and Golden.

The mayor said he would favor campaigning for the Dodgers to return to their original venue only if the Mets and the Yankees remained in New York.

The city and Yankee owner George Steinbrenner are at odds over the team’s future. The lease on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx will expire in five years, and Steinbrenner has threatened to move the team to New Jersey.

“My No. 1 team in the National League is the New York Mets,” Giuliani said.

“If the prodigal son wants to return, we would work very hard to get the prodigal son back to Brooklyn without risk to the teams we have.”

Roger Kahn, whose memoir “The Boys of Summer,” chronicled the great Brooklyn Dodger team that defeated the Yankees in the 1955 World Series, was not optimistic.

“On the day that Camelot reappears in England, the Dodgers will return to Brooklyn,” he said.

“Brooklyn is not a prime market, to use those awful terms that make baseball a business and not a game. The site in Los Angeles is favorable to all kinds of profit.”

Kahn said both the Yankees and Mets would be in a position to block the team from returning to New York.

“It could be viable, but I don’t think it is very likely,” he said. “I hate to knock it down because it is a lovely fantasy, and maybe I am wrong.”