By Ron Kantowski

Fri, Mar 28, 2008 (2 a.m.)

When he was eulogizing his brother, Bobby, Ted Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are and ask, ‘Why?’ I dream dreams that never were and ask, ‘Why not?’ ”

I was 11 years old in 1968 and that poignant quote has stayed with me. I thought Ted Kennedy was brilliant for saying it, until I learned it was George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, who said it first. Then I thought Ted Kennedy was brilliant for lifting it.

I’m always reminded of that quote when Big League Weekend rolls around and I have my annual chat with Don Logan, the president of the soon-to-be-renamed Las Vegas 51s, about spring training in Las Vegas. Not that spring training and the passing of a great statesman are ... well, in this case, in the same ballpark.

Logan and I see things as they are — a Big League Weekend featuring two games between the Chicago Cubs and the Seattle Mariners. And dream dreams that never were — like five Big League Weekends, and games on weekdays, too, featuring all of the Cactus League teams — and ask, Why not?

We think spring training would work here, albeit for different reasons. Logan, because he’s an astute baseball man and thinks Cactus League West would create the perfect lead-in for the Las Vegas Miss the Cutoff Men, or whatever the 51s will be called next year; I, because spring training is one of those sports where you can drink lots of beer and don’t really have to pay attention to what’s going on to have a good time.

This would also explain in large part why we have so many bowling alleys.

Unfortunately, we don’t have spring training and we won’t be getting it. Soon or ever. Logan said that horse left the barn when the Dodgers announced they would be leaving Vero Beach, Fla., their spring training home since 1948, for new digs in Glendale, Ariz., in 2009. They’ll be taking the Chicago White Sox with them.

Throw in one more team unhappy with its lease or the size of its dressing room and add a little forward thinking and some big public dollars and, Logan says, we could have had spring training here.

It would have been a perfect fit. Las Vegas has a short attention span when it comes to live sports, but even we could support a “season” that lasts just five weeks. Because the games are played during the day, the casinos wouldn’t mind. Plus, we’d have a lot of help from out-of-towners. If you’re a baseball fan who can afford the gas for an RV, where would you rather park it, Peoria, Ariz., or Las Vegas?

But without the Dodgers, the dream is gone. Elvis has left the building and the Mighty Casey has struck out. Without the Dodgers, the parent club of the 51s — er, Players to Be Named Later — it ain’t happenin’.

“You need that big draw ... now that is gone without them,” Logan said. “They’re the only high-profile brand in the West and now that they’re going to Glendale, all it means is they’re not coming here. You have to have a big draw.”

What about the Kansas City Royals? Surely Surprise, Ariz. — which also explains that town’s reaction when they showed up in the first place — has got be tired of them by now.

No, “I think we’re done,” Logan said.

So it looks like the ’09s, or whatever the 51s will be called, won’t be getting a new stadium, either. That, of course, would have been the chief byproduct of spring training in Las Vegas. Because not only would you need a minimum of three or four teams to make spring training work in Southern Nevada, you’d need a minimum of two stadiums.

What you get in Florida and Arizona that you don’t get here is a lot of suburbs and municipalities interested in Grapefruit and Cactus League baseball. Here, if you don’t count Boulder City (and we don’t, because where would they park all those RVs?), it leaves Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. OK, it leaves Las Vegas and Henderson, because there’s always a more pressing concern in North Las Vegas, such as roads that go all the way through.

As for Las Vegas, well, Mayor Oscar Goodman is a basketball guy and maybe a hockey guy but he’s not a baseball guy, even if the 51s have handed out 51 bobblehead dolls in his likeness. That leaves Henderson.

Once upon a time, Henderson was interested in putting a baseball stadium and practice diamonds on land fronting the Galleria Mall at Russell Road and U.S. 95, which would have been ideal, with an infrastructure of shops and restaurants and sports bars already in place.

Logan said at that time, around 2000, the Dodgers, Rangers and Astros all were interested in Southern Nevada, and the Reds and Royals weren’t wedded to their spring training homes. But that window closed a long time ago. Those teams have negotiated new deals and Henderson keeps growing without pitchers running wind sprints in the outfield while games are being played.

So in spring, when a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love and taking the extra base on a ball hit in the gap, baseball guys like Don Logan and me will continue to dream dreams that never were.

And, unfortunately, never will be.