Religion and War; Dodgers' Attendance Declines

"You pray that you get back alive and in one piece," says Spec. 5 Michael G. Johnson of Miami. The Times didn't run any photos with Harry Trimborn's nondupe from Saigon about religious faith among the military in Vietnam.  All we have are the words: "When a man is wounded he is really receptive to religion. But I don't know that their faith is really that much stronger. I think it just gets a little bit more of a workout in times of crisis," says Protestant Chaplain Maj. Richard M. Hochstedler. I asked a couple of retired LATers what became of Trimborn, but nobody seems to know.

Walter O'Malley turned a lackluster game into an economics lesson. The Dodger owner watched his team lose to the expansion Padres, 3-2, and he didn't have much company. The 11,588 was the smallest crowd at Dodger Stadium that season and O'Malley saw it as a sign of baseball's deeper problems. "It is possible we have diluted the market to the saturation point," O'Malley told The Times' John Wiebusch. "The fan only has a limited amount of money to spend and we're not going to fool him by giving him a product that is below the standards it was before. It is flooding the market too. Putting Oakland with San Francisco and putting San Diego and the Angels with us. It's a headache right now for all of us." The Dodgers' attendance was down 79,040 from the previous season. Things were worse in San Diego and Anaheim, where a lousy team and low attendance made Angel officials wonder if pro sports could survive in Orange County. --Keith Thursby