by City News Service

Other scheduled participants in the game include "Extra" host Mario Lopez, comedian Tom Arnold, boxing champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley, television personality Melissa Rivers and San Diego Chargers All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates. Dodger second baseman Orlando Hudson and pitcher Randy Wolf will serve as the honorary captains of the two teams.

The softball game will begin at 5 p.m. and be followed by the Los Angeles Dodgers -Florida Marlins game, which begins at 7:10 p.m. Parking and stadium gates will open at 4:40 p.m.

The Hollywood Stars Game was conceived in the late 1930s as a promotion for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League by Danny Goodman, the team's concessions manager and advertising director. Goodman joined the Dodgers when they moved to Los Angeles in 1958 and continued the game.

The game has been played each year since the Dodgers have been in Los Angeles, except for 1994, when it was wiped out by a Major League Baseball Players Association strike.

The game originally matched entertainers versus a team of sportscasters and sportswriters but was changed in the 1980s to two teams of celebrities.

In 2004, the game was switched from Baseball to softball and an auxiliary outfield fence installed to provide a greater opportunity for home runs and to give fans a chance to be closer to the action by letting them sit on the outfield grass and on the warning track.

Past participants have included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin,Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Bob Newhart and Robin Williams.

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