Friday, November 25, 2016

2016 Topps High Tek - The Dodgers Base Cards

Topps 2016 High Tek Baseball card set came out this past Wednesday, and it includes
six different Dodger players.  Go here for a complete checklist.

Like in years past this set features acetate (plastic) and foil cards with numerous different background patters to chase after.  At this point a complete list of the different backgrounds is not entirely known yet.    From I understand, though, there should be at least 14 different designs available and at least nine different parallels.  For a player collector this set will be a challenge to complete.  Below, I've included two pics for each player.

Base

#HT-CK Clayton Kershaw

Dodger Ties to the Irish Independence Movement and Great Irish Tenor John McCormack


I keep running into fascinating Dodgers ephemera at Lelands most recently closed auction, and as long as that continues I'll be sure to share what I find.  Featured here is a vintage leaflet/program detailing various upcoming events at Ebbets Field for the latter months of the 1919 year.  It did not sell at Lelands recent auction.  (Auction Link)

As you will recall, 1919 has a spacial place in Baseball history -- and not for the right reason.  This was the year of the infamous Black Sox scandal -- when a clearly superior Chicago White Sox team lead by Shoeless Joe Jackson and Eddie Collins surprisingly lost to the Edd Roush and the Cincinnati Reds in what we now know was a fixed match.  Eight ballplayers; including the great Shoeless Joe, would subsequently be banned from the game a couple years later.

As for the Dodgers, they were bad... Really, bad.  They finished the season in 5th place (69-71) and a full 27 games behind the Reds.  The season had an inauspicious start when they traded away one of their most productive and popular players, first baseman Jake Daubert, to the Reds before spring.  He would eventually help lead the World Series bound Reds to a championship. 

Blog Kiosk: 11/25/2016 - Dodgers Links - Cash, Sheffield and Ralph Branca


Here's a fantastic International News press photo, dated April 3, 1950, Ralph Branca while warming up on the mound during spring training at Vero Beach.  Pic above via eBay (link here).

Below are more links to check out:
  • This Day in Dodgers History:  In 1972 first baseman Wes Parker won his sixth straight Gold Glove Award.  He would retire at the end of this season.
  • Happy Birthday, Octavio Dotel, Gene Bailey, Ben WadeGrant Dayton!