Check out this fantastic vintage photo featuring Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, along with a trolley car in the foreground. Photo via BaseballHistoryNut on twitter.
below are more links to check out:
This Day in Dodgers History: In 1931 47-year-old Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) hurler Jack Quinn becomes the oldest pitcher to start an Opening Day game. He would toss six innings, but give up six earned runs to lose to the Boston Braves, 7-4. In 1964Sandy Koufax threw a six-hit shutout, his ninth complete game without allowing a walk, to defeat the Cardinals, 4-0. This was also his only career Opening Day start. In 1993 Cardinal reliever Lee Smith set the National League record for career saves at 358 when he blanked the Dodgers in the 15th inning to secure a victory, 2-1.
Yimi Garcia is seen hard at work during the off-season signing cards for Topps in the photo above, as tweeted by Yimi. I'm not entirely familiar with the design he's signing, but I'd place my bet on those being an insert from the upcoming 2016 Topps flagship set. I can't wait to find one.
“George was one of the greatest scouts there ever was,” said Hall of
Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, a Dodger scout between 1960 and 1965. “I scouted against George and I scouted with George. He put a lot of guys in the big leagues. He was an exceptional man and one of my best friends. I’m going to miss him.”
...
“Believing in a player you have discovered is really believing in yourself, your judgement, your evaluation and projecting skills,”
Genovese said in his 2015 autobiography, “A Scout’s Report: My 70 Years
in Baseball,” co-written with Dan Taylor. “It can bring a scout
tremendous satisfaction, but he has to be prepared because it can also
bring its share of disappointment.”
On Bellinger: "He's got a loose, athletic, flexible, whippy swing that generates bat
speed and he identifies he pitches he can drive and attacks them,"
Kapler said.
On Verdugo: "With Alex, it's cut and dry. He took huge steps forward -- his ability
to be a good teammate and control his emotions on the field and to
prepare his body and mind every single night on and off the field,"
Kapler said. "He has a strong arm and the ability to play all three
outfield positions.
Black has experience, but if the Dodgers were impressed enough by Kapler
and Roberts to let them get this far, it stands to reason that one of
them would get the job. If the Dodgers were looking for a seasoned
manager, they could have kept their old one. Instead, it looks like
they'll be charting a new course, and Kapler or Roberts would serve as a
good choice to do so. Soon enough, the Dodgers will name their 2016
manager and relieve themselves of the weight of being the last team in
Major League Baseball without a skipper.
Joc Pederson came in 6th place in the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year race, via the BBWAA website. He received one single third place vote from an Agence France Presses (a French news service?) reporter Marcos Enrique Hernández out of the MIA chapter. Kris Bryant, of course, took home the prize.
Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider shares some quotes from Brett Anderson that answer why he took the Qualifying Offer. He just likes it in LA.
“My situation is a little bit unique in the fact that I’m younger than
most to have been offered a qualifying offer,” said Anderson, who will
be 28 next season. “I liked being in L.A., and I liked my teammates and I
liked everything about it, other than the ending to the season.
Everything in consideration, the one-year deal fit myself again, and
hopefully (with) the stigma of a health record off my back, go into next
year and see what happens.”
"It's definitely a learning process," Farmer said. "Especially if you
want to make it to the big leagues, you have to know what the pitcher
has, what he's going to throw, what his put-out pitch is, what he likes
to do behind in the count to a hitter.
"There are so many things, it's like a chess match. Each inning, with
a pitcher you don't know how to catch, it's a different chess match,
and it's a tougher chess match when you don't know how to catch them.
Once you see what they have, everybody's objective is to get the batter
out."
Congrats! Via Chris Cwik at Big League Stew, "Yogi Berra and Willie Mays to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom."
Here's a look at where the wicket is placed on the pitch at Dodger Stadium. Pic above tweeted by Nick @njmiller4. The Cricket All-Stars match is tonight at 6:30 PM and you can go here for ticket information.
You should watch this. Via CBS, "Exclusive Interview: Jim Hill Sits Down With Vin And Sandy Scully."
“What we did Jim, really, in trying to be fair, believe it or not, one
of the guidelines for us was ‘The Brady Bunch’ on television,” Scully
said. “Not so much for Sandy and me, but for our children, because they
would watch ‘The Brady Bunch’, they would relate to that situation of
families melding together.”
The search for a new Dodger manager is narrowing. Via Jim Bowden at ESPN Insider, "Dodgers narrow managerial search to four candidates."
The Los Angeles Dodgers have interviewed nine candidates for their managerial opening and are going to bring back four of them as finalists next week. The four will come from the following five candidates: Bud Black, Darrin Erstad, Gabe Kapler, Kirk Gibson and Dave Roberts. The rest of the field is no longer in contention, according to sources familiar with the search.
One source told me that three candidates, not four, will get second
interviews, and that one of the three might not be from the group of
five ESPN reported. So we’ll see. The Dodgers aren’t confirming a
specific number of second-interview candidates yet.
What do you do when you know that you'll be going under the knife soon?
You go to Disneyland, of course!
Last night we learned that banana-loving infielder-outfielder Kiké Hernandez would be having right shoulder surgery today, via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider. So, the 24-year old, who we all know is just a big kid at heart, spent this past weekend running around the Magic Kingdom with his mother. Just check out the photo tweeted by Kiké above as proof.
There's no word yet on the extend of the injury or the exact procedure being perfomred by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, but Jon wrote that it's minor. Hopefully, this does nothing to derail a promising future with the Dodgers.
Below are more links to check out:
Dodger tradition takes a major hit with the retirement of Nancy Bea Hefley. Via Stacie Wheeler at the Hardball Times, "The Day the Organ Music Died."
Nancy Bea is a beloved part of Dodger tradition, and I believed the new
front office was working to go back to the true Blue way. But
eliminating Nancy Bea’s music degrades the Dodger fan experience at the
ballpark. Her music, like Scully’s voice, lent another dimension to the
game-watching experience, a component that few other professional sports
teams have.
Via One Nacion at ESPN, "Call it a comeback, Adrian Gonzalez already working on 2016." AGon has returned to his offseason boxing routine.
To the surprise of no one, Bud Black to interview with the Dodgers, via a tweet from Ken Rosenthal. It also appears a decision about a new manager will not be decided for quite a while:
Sources: #Dodgers plan to interview Bud Black for managerial opening. Team about halfway into process. As many as 10 interviews possible.
I'm not sure what to make of this, but I would definitely welcome it. Via Bill Plaschke at the LA Times, Dave Roberts is apparently on top of the Dodgers' list of candidates.
He showed up last week to interview for the Dodgers' managerial vacancy,
he aced the interview, and he's now apparently the favorite.
...
You hire Dave Roberts because a team of underachievers needs to be
prodded by an overachiever, a team of chill needs a manager whose career
could never withstand even one day of complacency. You hire Dave
Roberts because, if his popular Dodgers tenure is any indication, his
ego wouldn't be too big to embrace new ideas, full front-office
communication, and holdover pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.
I hate agreeing with Plaschke.
Guess who else will be interviewed by the Dodgers - Kirk Gibson. Via a tweet by Jim Bowden:
Dodgers are going to interview Kirk Gibson for the Manager opening according to club sources. Gibson was NL MGR... https://t.co/YPATGUFzsz
After a little medical procedure during the recent playoffs - putting him out of commission - Vin Scully looks quite dapper just a few weeks later in the photo above. He seems healthy, strong and prepared to tackle the oncoming 2016 Baseball season with his usual gusto. The pic above is from a recent interview he had with broadcaster Alanna Rizzo, and it will air tonight on SportsNet LA at 7:00 PM. So, if you've got the channel you should go check it out. Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:
“Yes,” Scully told Rizzo
in regards to the 2016 season. “Oh yeah, definitely. I’m looking
forward to next year, maybe because it’s my last year. I’m looking
forward to it as much as my second year because I got by the first year
and I was so thrilled there was another one coming up — well, that’s how
I feel about ’16. I’m chafing at the bit.”
Ugh! I still can't wrap my head around the notion that 2016 will be Scully's last year behind the mic. Worse yet, there are hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of fans who will likely be unable to enjoy his words due to the Time Warner mess.
Former Dodger scout Ronnie King passed away on Monday, via Jim Jenkins at the Sacramento Bee. He was responsible for signing Steve Sax.
“He was like a second father to me,” said Sax, a former Dodgers second
baseman. “He was a tutor to a lot of players, an unbelieveable man. He
would work all of us out tirelessly to make sure we did things right. He
knew just about everything in baseball. He wasn’t boastful but could
always give you that special input. Between seasons, I’d come back home
to meet with him. If it wasn’t for Ronnie, I probably would have never
made it to the major leagues.”
Zack Greinke was named to the 2015 Sporting News National League All-Star team. Check out the story here.
Mark Saxon at ESPN writes an excellent profile on Dodger managerial candidate Gabe Kapler.
"He's incredibly bright, he's a tremendous leader of people, and he's an
exceptional communicator. It's so hard for players, who are so mired in
it, to sometimes see the bigger picture or even look at it from a
different perspective. Gabe is incredibly skilled at seeing things at
different perspectives."
Mattingly's deal is for four years, according to the source. He will be
the club's eighth manager since 2010. The Marlins are thought to be
waiting until after the World Series to make a formal announcement.
Bud Black also appears to have already gotten a new managerial job. Via James Wagner at the Washington Post, "Nationals expected to name Bud Black next manager."
You know I love card collecting... And I love my LA Kings... So, when Sheng Peng at Jewels from the Crown put together, "A Hockey Card History of the Los Angeles Kings" blog post you know I'm gonna love it. Check it out here.
They sure do know how to pack them in. Above is a view of the Dodger press room for yesterday's press conference to discuss the departure of manager Don Mattingly, and it was filled to the brim. Even with the World Series on the horizon the Dodgers became the talk of Baseball, and I suppose we fans would want nothing less. The photo above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015. Also, you can watch the entire press conference here.
There isn't much more that I can add to what's already been said and written. Donnie is gone, and the impression given by all parties is that it was an amicable split. Of course, that's like any breakup with a significant other that didn't end with screaming expletives and broken bottles.
"Sure... It just didn't work out... Let's just be friends... No, it's me... Really, it's me, not you."
Nevertheless, that's the story they are telling and nothing in the world will change their narrative. Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:
“If there was a reason that this happened, we would share it,” Friedman
said during a 45-minute session for him and Zaidi at Dodger Stadium.
“There’s not. It was a collection of a lot of different conversations
over many days that got us to this point. So it’s not so black and white
here. There is a huge middle, and it’s gray, and that’s how everything
played out.”
"I can't sit here and say I'm just bubbling over," Mattingly said.
"There are a lot of emotions that go into this, a lot of discussion, a
lot of talk, but it gets back around to the same thing as we kept
talking and going over it. We all came to the same conclusion. This is
best for both parties."
Wow! It's amazing how much this does sound like a high school breakup.
Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, with Mattingly now out of the picture, "Dodgers coaching staff told they are free to look elsewhere for jobs."
"We talked to them this morning. Obviously we wish that we had more answers to provide but we don't. This process is just getting underway," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on Thursday. "We told them they are free to look elsewhere."
In fact, Eric wrote earlier that, "Tim Wallach interview(ed) for Nationals' managerial opening."
To the surprise of no one, Mattingly's players come to his defense. Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com: "Dodgers players hold Mattingly in high regard."
"I loved playing for Donnie," said Clayton Kershaw, Opening Day starter for each of Mattingly's five seasons. "He has and will always have my utmost respect. I have nothing but positive things to say about him as a person and a manager. He will be missed."
Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "A.J. Ellis has strong words of support for Don Mattingly."
"From my experience, rarely does a player you grew up idolizing come close to even meeting your expectations. To say Donnie exceeded mine is an understatement. Donnie is the most consistent, optimistic person I have ever been around, on or off the field. It was an honor playing for him, and to embrace each other as we did these past three years after clinching a division title are cherished memories. I have no doubt he will be a world champion manager some day, and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to play for him."
Former Dodger pitcher Dan Haren has called it quits. He is retiring from the game, via his tweet:
Thank you baseball. I played this beautiful game for 30 years. I took my jersey off for the last time tonight. It was an honor. #ithrew88
Um.... What? Keith Hernandez told Dan Patrick that the Dodgers front office created an essay test for their scouts, and whoever didn't pass was fired. It starts at the 6:18 point. I want to know what the three test questions were.
