PLATT'S WORK A SITE TO BEHOLD.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

His classmates at Beverly Hills High went on to become successful doctors, lawyers and real-estate brokers. A few are even hot shots in the movie and TV industry.

But when Ben Platt, who runs the Dodgers' Web site, helped bring them together at the Stadium Club for their 20th reunion last September, he was surprised by their reaction when they discovered how he turned out.

``They'd come into my office and look around, then finally say, 'You've got the coolest job in the world ... anyone would kill for this,' '' said Platt, sitting at his computer in a personally decorated room wired with DSL, near the back of the Dodger Stadium press box.

It's an hour before the Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers play on a Wednesday night and, so far, Platt's job seemed far from glamorous.

He had arrived at about 3 p.m., first to troubleshoot a problem with a laptop. He then ran up and down from the press box to the field, and between both clubhouses, gathering audio, video and digital photos to put up on the site. Things as simple as getting a new mug shot of recently recalled pitcher Dennis Springer had to be done.

Platt knew he'd be there probably until midnight, putting captions on a new batch of game photos, linking in a game story and finding fresh player and manager quotes, before he turned right back around for Thursday's day contest.

Yet, why complain? When he realizes the access he has to every part of the team, from CEO Bob Daly to every stadium usher, and the ability to convey what he wants about the team through the window of cyberspace, life is sweet.

And with all he's orchestrated over the last five seasons - creating the team's first Web site (www.dodgers.com) in April 1996, molding it into an award-winning venture, getting everyone in the organization up to speed on the computer, becoming a multimedia maintenance man for Major League Baseball Advanced Media, Inc. - Platt's long hours have been rewarding.

With a price.

``You've got to sign six months of your life away to the Dodgers, and a personal life isn't going to happen,'' the 39-year-old admitted. ``It was no coincidence that my girlfriend broke up with me two days after Piazza was traded.''

Yet it's no coincidence everyone hooked up to a modem relies on him to be there in an emergency.

``He makes things hum for all of us connected to the computer,'' Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully admitted. ``The Dodgers' site has been his baby and he's done a terrific job.''

``(Platt) basically built my system, otherwise it'd still be in a box,'' said Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros, one of the first Internet-savvy athletes in the mid-'90s, when he did a weekly online journal for the fledgling America Online and Athletes Direct.

Graduating from Cal State Northridge with a major in theater and film history, Platt thought he'd gravitate toward a roller-coaster ride in the entertainment field. He started as a personal assistant to actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, began producing entertainment news for a Miami TV station and eventually came to work for CNN cable channel.

But growing up a Dodgers fan, Platt wouldn't stray far from following the team.

He first made a connection as a writer for a Dodgers fan publication. But his familiarity with computers led to him being picked to operate the Dodgers' Web site when they decided to go ahead with the project in 1995. There were only a handful of clubs that had them at the time.

Quickly, the Dodgers' cyberhome became the envy of baseball, published in five languages and far more than just a computer home for team press releases and publicity photos. Year after year, the site pulled away as one of the best in all of sports produced by a pro organization.

``I just kept listening to what the fans said they wanted and just tried to deliver,'' said Platt, who had the encouragement and financial backing of then-owner Peter O'Malley at the start. ``It was just like producing another TV show, just finding the right mix on the net and then seeing how far we could push it.''

During the last offseason, though, baseball's elders decided to consolidate all the team Web sites into one company and make them all look pretty much the same. Platt went from a Webmaster to a site manager, an employee for MLBAM to help provide content for not just the Dodgers but to share it with teams they were playing.

He still gets to do cool things, such as travel to the All-Star Game in Seattle recently to produce multimedia coverage. Part of his job was to follow around 14-year-old Don Drysdale Jr. with a video recorder as he interviewed players and coaches.

And not all his work was lost. From the Dodgers' site he built, Platt was able to salvage much of his previous work - particularly the multimedia 3D tour of the stadium, sound bites of Scully reciting baseball poetry and other team-history areas. He put it all on a second Internet server, with a link at the bottom of the team's current home page.

The change to MLBAM involved hiring a full-time Dodgers Internet beat writer, Josh Rawitch, who competes daily against the local TV, radio and newspaper reporters, yet also can pull a scoop without becoming what many would perceive to be a house man for the team.

``It's a constant battle because readers assume we can't be critical of the team,'' said the 25-year-old Rawitch, whose mother, Cynthia, heads the journalism department at CSUN and whose father, Bob, was a longtime Los Angeles Times editor in the San Fernando Valley. ``I'm not looking to spread trade rumors, put it that way. But I can, and do, become critical when it's justified.''

Platt has a similar dilemma, one that is helped by the fact he and Rawitch are not paid by the team but by MLBAM - even though the team owners fund the new media venture.

``It's a fine line,'' Platt admitted. ``I've always wanted journalistic autonomy. But I also want to help this organization. My job is to be the eyes and ears for all the fans around the world, make them feel a part of the team.''

The Internet's immediacy gives all team Web sites an edge over their newspaper counterparts. As wireless Palm Pilots become more accessible, the reality is that sites such as these can provide information much more quickly across the world.

Which makes Platt's job not only cool but important.

``The Dallas Cowboys' philosophy is everything comes through their Web site, good or bad,'' Platt said. ``That's the way things seem to be going, eliminate the middle man. The reality is the Web is here to stay.''

And an envious position to be the man in charge, too.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--During Monday's KCAL Channel 9 telecast of the Angels-Padres game, play-by-play man Steve Physioc and analyst Rex Hudler were marveling at the talents of San Diego outfielder Rickey Henderson. ``Is there anything he hasn't done?'' Hudler asked. ``He's never been an Angels broadcaster,'' Physioc replied. To which Hudler, who earlier this season was hospitalized with an aneurism, deadpanned: ``He's only a brain cramp away.''

--Fox Sports Net's hour-long ``Best Damn Sports Show Period'' finally debuts Monday at midnight featuring the motley mix of fledgling comedian Tom Arnold with former star athletes John Kruk, Deacon Jones and Reggie Theus in a ``Politically Incorrect'' format. Lisa Guerrero provides news updates. It's scheduled for a 13-week run.

WHAT CHOKES

--The Angels make their only trip to Baltimore this weekend - rumor has it Cal Ripken Jr.'s days are numbered - and there's no TV coverage for Southern California? By the way, Time Warner Cable's anti-Fox Sports Net campaign pulls the Angels' coverage into the dragnet starting next week, which includes one of the last three Ripken games in Anaheim.

By Tom Hoffarth

E-mail: sptmedia(AT_SIGN)aol.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Ben Platt, left, the Dodgers' Web-site manager, has helped people in the organization such as Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, right, become more comfortable finding information on the Internet.

Photo by Josh Rawitch/MLBAM

Box: SOUND BYTES (see text)