Central Los Angeles : Donations Help Save Park for Ballplayers

The Helen Keller Park in the Athens neighborhood near Inglewood was a hangout for drug dealers and the bottle-in-the-bag set before a determined baseball fan decided to take the park back for kids. Now it is the site of a youth baseball program with 200 players.

If it sounds like a Hollywood ending, that’s because it is. Stan Brooks, a television producer who says his “life began when I saw my first Red Sox game,” raised the money for the program.

Brooks sent letters to 25 entertainment industry peers asking for donations. He said the response was surprising: 14 donations totaling more than $14,000.

The youngsters have been playing at the park since June 3, with new uniforms, bats and balls bought with money from such industry bigshots as Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.

There was even a gala opening day ceremony. Actor Corbin Bernsen--whose part as a lustful divorce lawyer on “L.A. Law” is a less-than-pure role model--threw out the first pitch.