Dodgers Players & Manager Well Positioned To Win Back Fans (Videos)

Tuesday night, an agreement was reached to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers to a group led by Guggenheim Partners executive Mark Walter and LA sports/business icon Magic Johnson. The group, which also includes longtime baseball executive Stan Kasten and Hollywood producer/Golden State Warriors co-owner Peter Guber, paid embattled owner Frank McCourt a reported $2.15 billion for the legendary American sports franchise.

After a 2011 season marred by fan discontent over McCourt's stewardship of team, the first order of business this new ownership group has in front of them involves rebuilding what had been 53 years of goodwill between the ‘'Boys in Blue” and the baseball fans of Southern California. Year 54 of the Dodgers existence in LA saw an attendance drop of nearly 20 percent, this from a fan base that has reached the three million mark in yearly attendance more often than any other team in baseball history.

With Magic Johnson, perhaps the most beloved figure in the Los Angeles area, leading the charge, the Dodgers should be back where they belong in very short order.

Luckily for Walter's and Johnson's group of investors, the players who currently wear Dodger Blue will be outstanding partners during the team's road to redemption. iFolloSports.com has witnessed firsthand the level of effort many Dodger players have put forth with fans. Even the men at the very top of team hierarchy have provided time to the baseball paying customer.

During 2011 spring training in Glendale, Arizona, manager Don Mattingly, pitcher Chad Billingsley, first baseman James Loney and now former third baseman Casey Blake went above and beyond for fans, per these links to iFolloSports.com original video.

Even baseball legend Tommy Lasorda sat down behind a table to sign autographs and interact with folks in Arizona.

Amid LA's disastrous 2011 regular season, big names like outfielder Andre Ethier and National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw made a point to mix it up with followers of the game.

Here is iFolloSports.com original video of Ethier hanging with fans in Minneapolis and Kershaw doing the same before a game at Dodger Stadium.   

During the recent offseason, NL MVP runner-up Matt Kemp was seen entering the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation Gala at a Los Angeles hotel. Kemp exhibited the look of a guy who has accepted his role as a budding baseball superstar. Fans may not have been present in this video, but Kemp appeared to carry himself in a public manner befitting of the player that Don Mattingly has anointed the Dodgers version of Yankee legend Derek Jeter.

Based on the Dodgers remarkable history, new ownership group and current roster of players, the team absolutely has a chance to rejoin the Lakers atop the LA sports scene in the very near future.