I just love the symmetry of the vintage ACME news press photograph above that's available for sale through RMY Auctions (auction link here). Featured are Duke Snider at center, Jackie Robinson jogging in from 2nd base, right fielder Carl Furillo with the ball and Hall of Fame umpire Jocko Conlon calling the out.
It was taken during the first game of a doubleheader played at Ebbets Field on August 23, 1949 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Chuck Dierling had hit a blooper in the fifth inning against Joe Hatten, so the Dodger defense converged to make a play. Furillo got there first and had to make a highlight reel style catch off his shoestrings. Unfortunately, the Dodgers would lose to the Cards, 5-3, but win the second game later that evening.
Below are some links to check out:
- Awesome! Via Old Hoss Radbourn at Vice Sports, "We Had a Fake Dead Ballplayer Interview a Real Author About Her Dodgers Book." This is the best thing ever. Twitter sensation Old Hoss Radbourn interviewed Molly Knight about her new book on the Dodgers. It's both funny and informative.
OHR: Other than myself, I tend to prefer my ballplayers to be quiet, stoic, and utterly devoid of personality. It is the Protestant way. I have noticed, however, that the Dodgers' club house as you describe it seems to be the antithesis of this. Do you think this is a natural by-product of the insane amount of lucre that was spent? Is there a correlation between talent, salary, and outsized personality?
MK: It's a natural by-product of both the money being spent and the fact that they took on a bunch of talented malcontents that other teams wanted to murder but were too scared to dump off the waters of Providence.
- Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "First-rounder Buehler among unsigned Draftees."
- Just another Dodger trade involving minor leaguers. Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider, "Dodgers acquire reliever Grant Dayton from Marlins for Chris Reed." Reed had been DFA's by the Dodgers.
- Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA, "The Dodgers ‘unofficial’ retired number."
But there is another Dodgers uniform number that most Dodger fans hold near and dear to their hearts. And while it may not carry the same historical significance that Robinson’s number 42 does, it is every bit as important in bringing racial equality to the game. That uniform number is, of course, number 34, worn by Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico native and Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela.
- I think this is very cool. Via Natasha Geiling at Think Progress, "The Urban Farming Trend That’s Taking Over Major League Baseball."
- I learn something new everyday. Via Dexter Thomas at NPR.org, "The Secret History Of Black Baseball Players In Japan." (Hat Tip: Steven Miyamoto on Facebook)
But the tale of how a black American baseball player from the Deep South ended up a big shot in Japan in 1936 is bigger than Jimmy Bonner. It's a little-known story of friendship and mutual aid between Japanese-American and black baseball players at a time when both groups were shut out of organized baseball. It sprang up in California in the pre-war years, became part of "one of the boldest — and most overlooked — experiments in baseball history," made its way to Tokyo, and would end up shaping the future of baseball in Japan.
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