DODGERS NOTEBOOK: CAMPANIS EULOGIZED BY EMOTIONAL LASORDA.

Byline: Matt McHale and Marc J. Spears Daily News Staff Writers

Al Campanis was remembered Wednesday as the architect for a generation of Dodgers success and far from the perception of a racially insensitive baseball executive who was fired by the club in 1987.

Dodgers general manager Tom Lasorda eulogized Campanis, who died last Sunday at 81 of complications from a heart attack, as ``the smartest baseball man I ever knew, who did not see color in his players. He never cared if you were black or white or Latin, just if you could play.''

Lasorda, who now has the position Campanis held from 1968 to 1987 before being forced to resign for unflattering comments about African-American players on ABC's ``Nightline,'' addressed an audience of about 300 in Fullerton, where both men lived.

Pallbearers included broadcaster Vin Scully, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and former Cincinnati and Detroit manager Sparky Anderson, now an Angels broadcaster.

``We used to sit for hours and talk about the '70s when the Reds and Dodgers used to battle it out every year,'' Anderson said. ``Later, he would drive to Anaheim to visit and we would talk about the game. Once he asked: `Is this all we know?' I told him, `Hey, we aren't Harvard professors.' ''

Bill Schweppe, longtime Dodgers farm director, said the Columbia University-educated Campanis often upset rival teams with his unusual savvy of the game.

``It was taken as arrogance by many people,'' Schweppe said. ``But it really was just the supreme confidence and intelligence of a man who had an unusual knack for the game.''

Among his many skills was player evaluation, learned from Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey in the mid-1940s and passed on to Lasorda, who was elected into the Hall of Fame last year.

It was Rickey who signed Jackie Robinson to become baseball's first African-American player in 1947. Campanis and Robinson were roommates the year before at the Dodgers' top minor-league club and remained close friends until Robinson died in 1972.

``It's sad that Al will be remembered more for what he did that one night on television than all his years in baseball,'' said Koufax, who was signed by Campanis in 1955. ``Of all the things he was, that is something he was not.''

Bill Russell, who played his entire career for Campanis, made his first public appearance since last Sunday when he was fired as the Dodgers' manager but refused to comment. Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire was also in attendance, as was new Dodgers manager Glenn Hoffman.

Former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley, who fired Campanis in 1987, was in Ireland and did not attend the funeral.

Shaw talk: The Dodgers are reportedly interested in trading for Cincinnati Reds closer Jeff Shaw, who picked up his 20th save Friday - more than the Dodgers have as a team.

Reports are that Shaw would like to stay in Cincinnati since he resides just an hour's drive north in Washington Court, Ohio. He makes $650,000 this season, $2.8 million in each of the next three seasons and could make more than $3 million in 2000 if he ranks in the top three for the league's top reliever award.

Etc: Right fielder Gary Sheffield sat out of the game because of an upset stomach. . . . Catcher Charles Johnson was given the night off. . . . Right-hander Darren Hall retired all four batters he faced with one strikeout during a rehabilitation start for Single-A San Bernardino at Lake Elsinore on Thursday night. Hall, on the disabled list since April 8 with a torn rotator cuff, is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA in six rehab starts. He may return to the Dodgers after his next start. . . . Lance Parrish was named the manager at Double-A San Antonio to replace Ron Roenicke, who accepted the managerial position at Triple-A Albuquerque. . . . Pete Rose Jr., whose father helped Cincinnati beat the Pirates in three NL championship series, signed a Triple-A contract with the Pirates.

DODGERS vs. PITTSBURGH

Time: 7:05 p.m., at Dodger Stadium.

TV/Radio: Channel 5; AM-1150, AM-1330 (Spanish).

Matchup: In the second of three games, Dodgers right-hander Ismael Valdes (5-7, 4.46) faces Pirates right-hander Francisco Cordova (6-5, 2.73). Valdes is 1-0 with two no-decisions and a 1.69 ERA in his past three starts. In Cordova's last start, he lasted a season-low 3-1/3 innings in a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox on Monday and failed to reach the fifth inning for the first time this season.

--- Marc J. Spears.

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BOX: DODGERS vs. PITTSBURGH (see text)