Blog Kiosk: 10/8/2015 - Dodger Links - Seager, Porter and Bill Dahlen

"Lookin' pretty chill."

Staff aces Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke take a moment to rest their weary legs during yesterday's workout at Dodger Stadium in the photo above tweeted by Dodger photographer Jon SooHoo.  Go here to see more pics from yesterday's workout from Jon.

Below are more links to check out:

• Via Steve Dilbeck at The LA Times, "Dodgers call a halt to their Jim Johnson experiment."  He will not be in the postseason.

“I feel, out of respect, we didn’t feel like Camelback Ranch was a place for him as a veteran,” Mattingly said. “He just had a baby. We didn’t see him as the next guy up if somebody was hurt. Didn’t feel like it was fair to ask him to go Camelback.”

• Three Dodgers make Baseball America's 2015 Texas League Top 20 Prospects, here.  They are Julio Urias, Jose De Leon and Jharel Cotton.  (Hat Tip: Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider)
• Former Brooklyn Superbas/Dodgers shortstop Bill Dahlen is being considered for induction into the Hall by the 2016 Pre-Integration Committee at the Hall of Fame.  Ten folks are on the ballot.  Check out the story here.  Dahlen is often considered one of the best 19th century ballplayers not already in the Hall of Fame.  In fact, SABR selected him as the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend for 2012, here.
• Eric Stephen at True Blue LA take an early look: "Dodgers 2016 salary arbitration preview."
• Via Bill Shaikin at the LA Times, "Rob Manfred Q&A: topics range from Dodgers TV debacle to Pete Rose."

Q: At the root of the dispute – and the Dodgers are not the first team to have their games blacked out in this way – is that cable and satellite distributors are reluctant to raise rates for fear that subscribers will cancel their service entirely. You don’t need a cable or satellite subscription to watch TV any more. How worrisome is that for you, given the substantial percentage of revenue clubs get from the local cable television contracts?
A: I think the market in L.A. has been particularly difficult, with the fragmentation of the RSNs [regional sports networks]. I think the ability to pass on additional costs to consumers is a concern. But I think the RSN business is a fundamentally sound business. Occasionally, there are going to be blips in terms of getting distribution. This is not the first one, and it probably will not be the last one. But the fundamentals of the RSN business, the strength of live sports programming, remains solid.

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Seager motors from NASCAR country to bigs."
  

  "I wore cleats until I went to kindergarten, and they wouldn't let me wear them anymore and apparently I bawled my eyes out for days just because they wouldn't let me wear cleats to school," Seager said. "I wore cleats everywhere, literally, but they wouldn't let me wear them. I don't even remember it, but I've seen pictures and they tell me. They said I bawled my eyes out."

• Via Paul Francis Sullivan at Sully Baseball, "VIC DAVALILLO – Sully Baseball Unsung Post Season Hero of October 7."  Vic is an often forgotten Dodger.
• I would just blame McCourt, and his penny pinching, lets fleece and squeeze the club for everything they're worth actions.  Via Houston Mitchell at The LA Times, "Former Dodgers announcer Ross Porter still doesn't know who fired him."

I was less than an hour away from guest-hosting a radio sports talk show. Asked if they planned to notify me before I went on the air, the Dodger executives not only said, "No," but reported they were releasing the story at the same time I was going on the air. My agent said, "So, Ross may learn about this from a caller to the show? This isn't right." He raced to his car and drove 30 minutes to reach me before airtime and give me the news.

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Blog Kiosk: 12/13/2013 - Dodgers Links - MLB to Ban Home Plate Collissions, the Hairston Legacy and Dodgers Phase II

The above photo was taken during the first ballgame at Ebbets Field, April 5, 1913.  Dodger Manager Bill Dahlen is seen looking out towards the field.  Pic via @Dodgers_History on twitter.

• Watch the Dodgers Season's Greetings Holiday message right here.
• ICYMI: Via David Brown at Big League Stew, "MLB will outlaw crashes at home plate".

"This is, I think, in response to a few issues that have arisen — one is just the general occurrence of injuries from these incidents at home plate that affect players, both runners and catchers," Alderson said. "And also the general concern about concussions that exists not only in baseball but throughout professional sports and amateur sports today. It's an emerging issue, and one that we in baseball have to address as well as other sports. So that's part of the impetus for this rule change as well."

• Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA, "What will Jose Dominguez’s role be in 2014?"
• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Dodgers reportedly add Sam Demel on minor league contract".
• This is great.  Via Alex Remington at FanGraphs writes, "Jerry Jr. and The Amazing Hairstons".

Jerry’s actually from one of the great baseball families — his grandfather Sam, father Jerry Sr., uncle Johny, and brother Scott all reached the major leagues — and Jerry Jr. had more plate appearances than the rest of them combined. As a matter of fact, as Red Reporter points out, “The Hairston family is the biggest baseball family ever.” His family is one of only four three-generation families in major league history, along with the Boones and Bells, and, most recently, the Colemans (Joe Sr., Joe Jr., and Casey).

• Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports writes a great piece on the Dodgers plans - "Rosenthal: Will Dodgers stick to Phase 2 plan or keep adding payroll?"  I don't quite know what to think of this:

The Dodgers still could trade Kemp before then — he seems to have ticked off someone in upper management, though few seem to know who or why. 

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Some Dodger Goodies at Legendary Auctions

Legendary Auctions is about to open their newest sports offering next week, but you can take a look at a preview right now.  There are some great Dodgers related items to look through.  Check out some of my favorite memorabilia items below.  I'll have a separate post focused on some vintage Dodgers' photos up tomorrow.

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Checkout this great advertising poster below.  It features Don Drysdale promising "Free Baseball Trading Cards" on boxes of Post Cereal.  As you may know, from 1961 to 1963 Post Cereal printed up sports player cards on their boxes for young fans.  BTW, I ran into a great vintage commercial featuring Mickey Mantle also pitching Post's cards on youtube.  See that here.

(Auction Link)

This Banana Bongo looks tasty,.  Heck, after having to deal with high temperatures in SoCal recently, I think you'll might think the same thing.  This frozen delicacy is a banana milk sherbet on a stick and in the 50's it would only cost you 5 cents.  What a deal!

This advertising poster also lets everyone know that for the price of a quarter and 5 wrappers of his mouth-watering confection you can sit in the grandstands at Ebbets Field. What a deal!

(Auction Link)

Another game-used Sandy Koufax jersey is about to hit the auction block.  As I've written previously, less than 10 real gamers are known to exist, so this is quite a rarity.  Over the past year there are been at least 2 other Koufax jerseys sold (both for approximately $130,000 - here and here), so it's likely these recent values have forced owners to consider a sale.  The other two jersey's were both road uniforms, so this home white jersey might sell for a little more.

(Auction Link)

(Auction Link)

I just love this magazine.  It is of an issue of Golden Hours and features:

(the) rival Brooklyn Superbas and New York Giants raising the National League championship flag as background for an article inside "New Yorks vs. Brooklyns; or, The Battle for the 1900 Pennant". As it turns out, Brooklyn did win the pennant that year by fully 23 games over their cross-town rivals. A small chip is visible on mid-right edge and a larger one on top right edge but the display qualities are still excellent. Includes smaller inset illustrations of Brooklyn stars like Wee Willie Keeler, Bill Dahlen, Deacon McGuire, Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelly and more.

(Auction Link)

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Collection: Vintage T202 Superbas (Dodgers) - Scanlon, Dahlen, Daubert & Hummel

With winter here, I though it was time to scan and share some more Dodger cards from my collection.

As I was looking through my binders I came across a small grouping of vintage T202 Dodgers cards, and was surprised when I looked that I had yet to share them on this blog.So, here they are.

I love these old vintage tobacco cards.  They have a great look and feel to them.  They harken back to the days when Baseball was played in the afternoon and watching a game from afar meant standing on a street corner as a giant scoreboard displayed the days results.

As Ty Cobb would say, Baseball was a war back then, and the ballplayers were the soldiers. Heck, check out the action B&W photos in center of the two cards above.  Those infielders are covering the bag like they're the catcher.  They are ready to put their shoulder into the runner.

The T202 set was produced in 1912 and are commonly known as Hassan Triple Folders.  The two end cards can fold over the B&W center panel like a little booklet. It measures 5 1/4" wide and 2 1/4" tall.

The top card above features Doc Scanlan and Bill Dahlen on the edges.  While Yankees infielder Roy Hartzell is at the center trying to make a play on the runner - "Hartzell Covering Third".  The bottom card shows Jake Daubert and John Hummel on the edges.  Birdie Cree of the Yankees is in the B&W center photo scoring at home - "Cree Rolls Home".

Below is a look at the reverse of the cards.  As you can see, there are player biographies, as well as, an advertisement for Hassan cork tip cigarettes.  Click on any pic to embiggen.

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T206 Brooklyn Dodgers: Bill Dahlen

"Bad Bill" Dahlen was a mean gruff. He was unruly, abrasive and had a natural unfriendly disposition. Often, he would argue with umpires and get tossed from ball games. Bad Bill is also probably one of the greatest players not already in the Hall of Fame.

Dahlen was a phenomenal defensive infielder, playing both third base and short stop. But, he is more well known as one of the finest short stops to ever play the game. Currently, he is 4th all time with 8138 assist, ranks in the top 4 in both assist and putouts by a short stop all-time, and has the 6th best range factor at short stop. Ironically, he has the most errors of all-time at 975. Bad Bill could also swing the bat. In 1894 he hit safely in 42 consecutive games for the Chicago Cubs- a record that stood until broken by Wee Willie Keeler three years later. Currently, his 42 hits is 4th all-time. He finished with 2461 hits, 413 doubles, 163 triples, 1590 runs and 548 stolen bases.

Bill Dahlen finished off his Baseball career as manager of the Brooklyn Superbas from 1910 to 1913. He recorded a record of 241-355 for a .414 winning percentage.