Blog Kiosk: 7/11/2016 - Dodgers Links - Piazza, Cotton and Kenta Maeda

What a fantastic way to end the first half of the Baseball season.  Kenta Maeda was on the mound and absolutely stymied the Padres. With 97 pitches he recorded a career high 13 strike outs, two hits, no walks and a single lone run on a homer by Derek Norris in seven innings pitched.  Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"You could see the look in Kenta's eye after that last outing. He was set to dominate and that's what he did, and it was just what we needed," said manager Dave Roberts. "Even for his psyche, for the starters, and to go into the break so strong, it was great for him."
...
"We chased offspeed out of the zone," (Padres manager Andy) Green said. "He pitched us backwards all day long and we didn't seem to make an adjustment. He could spin us early, hard and late, mix in a fastball periodically, but it was pretty much all offspeed."

BTW, Maeda is the ninth Dodger pitcher in history to ever record at least 13 strike outs and zero walks in a game.  On another note, Yasiel Puig is once again surrounded by persistent trade rumors (link here).  I have doubts anything will get done since management clearly will not take a discount, and rightly so.  Since coming back from the DL in late June Puig is slashing .317/.417/.467/.883 with two home runs, eight RBI's and a BABIP of .347.

Photo of Kenta and Yasiel on the bench above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016.  Go here to check out more pics by Jon from yesterdays game.  Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodger History: In 1978 Steve Garvey becomes the first two-time MVP in All-Star history.  In the game played in San Diego Garvey hit a game-tying, two-run single and a triple to help the NL beat the AL, 7-3.
• Happy Birthday, Hal Gregg, Dick Gray and Billy Ashley!

Check Out Some Vintage Vero Beach Pics on eBay

I recently ran into some fantastic vintage 1950's press photos on eBay and knew I had to share some of them here.  They were all taken by veteran New York Post photographer William N. Jacobellis, and they feature several Dodger players at Vero Beach, Florida in the 1950's.  Unfortunately, an exact date is not provided.  Also, all the photos are actually "contact prints" -- prints made by placing the original negative directly on the photographic paper.  So, the prints are only as large as the negative itself (4" x 5"in this case).  Click on any pic to embiggen.

The photograph at the very top features longtime Dodgers executive Al Campanis as a young coach (auction link here).  He is running calisthenic drills on the field.  Below is a fantastic posed shot of Jim Gentile, Jasper Spears and Dick Gray (auction link here).

On the bottom left is another posed photograph -- this time of Joe Pignatano and a Michael Napoli (auction link here).  BTW, Napoli was a Dodgers catcher within the teams minor league system throughout most of his eight-year professional career.  Unfortunately, he never got a cup of coffee.  I am uncertain if he is of any relation to the former Angels catcher of the same name.  On the bottom right is an action photograph of Don Demeter swingin' 'n missin' (auction link here).

The notable thing about the action photos herein is that they were clearly taken at another ballfield, other than Holman Stadium, at Dodgertown.  It's possible they were from one of the backfields in Vero Beach.  Considering the wire fencing and some of the landmarks in the backgrounds this is likely the case.  In fact, in the photograph on the bottom left of Johnny Roseboro you can clearly see the stadium lights of Holman Stadium in the distance (auction link here).  On the bottom right is Charley Neal at the plate (auction link here).

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Blog Kiosk: 7/23/2013 - Dodgers Links - Greinke, Kemp and the Newest Dodgers International Signing - Alexander Guerrero

All of Dodger Nation, if not the entire Baseball fanbase, see's you, Hanley!  Pic via Dodgers tumblr.

• Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs writes, "Zack Greinke's Babe Ruth Season".
• Matt Kemp expected to miss 3 games (entire Blue Jays series) due to ankle injury, via USA Today.
• Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times has some quotes from Kemp regarding his ankle injury.

“I probably don’t feel as good about it today as I did yesterday,” Mattingly said. “It could go the wrong direction.”

• BTW, Kemp had X-rays done, and they were negative, per twitter @Dodgers.

X-rays on Matt Kemp's ankle came back negative.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 23, 2013

• Tom Owens at Baseball by the Letters reminds us of how great the late Dick Gray was when it came to Dodgers/Baseball fans.
• Via Chad Moriyama, "Dodgers sign Cuban shortstop Alexander Guerrero for 7 years, $32 million, according to report".

(pic via Beisbol en Cuba.com)

• Now, according to Ken Gurnick at MLB.com the Dodgers are no longer interested in Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez.  And I had a post with a fantasy card ready to go!
• Emily Green at LA Weekly shares a great story of some found Baseballs in a park seemingly signed by some of Baseball's greatest only to find out that they are very good fakes.  Check out her story.
• Do you want a San Diego ComicCon overload?  Tested.com shares over 800 pics of just cosplayers. 
• Via Tom Bartsch at Sports Collectors Digest, "Sports Memorabilia Show to be Filmed at National Convention".

The premise of the show, called A Piece of the Game, is Pawn Stars meets sports memorabilia but with a twist. The show deals with some pretty serious money and has some interesting characters. Is the stuff real or fake? What’s it worth? Will the owner take the money or just walk away?

• Finally, how great does this look?

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RIP, Dick Gray - The Man Who Hit LA's 1st Home Run

The Dodger family received some sad news yesterday.  Dick Gray, LA's first starting 3rd baseman, died on Monday.  He was 81 years old. 

Dick Gray began his Baseball career as an 18-year old kid out of Jefferson, Pennsylvania.  For the first 3 years he rose up the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system until he entered military service during the Korean War.  Upon returning in 1955, he rejoined the franchise and started to show some pop in his bat.  In 1956, Gray belted 24 home runs for the Fort Worth Cats - the Dodgers AA club.  Then in 1958, the Dodgers first year in Los Angeles, he earned the starting 3rd baseman job to start the season.

It was while in Los Angeles that he forever chiseled his name into the Dodgers record books.

On a Wednesday evening on April 16th, Dick Gray hit the very first home run in LA Dodgers history.  It was against the San Francisco Giants at Seals Stadium.  He was a huge contributor in that early season victory as he went 3 for 6 with 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored.  The Dodgers walloped the Giants 13 to 1.

To further solidify his Dodger legacy, Dick Gray also hit the very first Dodger home run at the Dodgers home field in the Coliseum.  On April 18th he cranked out his 2nd homer of the season in the 7th inning of a very close game.  It was the last run the Dodgers would score that afternoon, and would eventually be the winning run as the Dodgers squeaked by with a 6 to 5 victory.

Unfortunately, his stay in Dodger Blue would be short lived.  In the middle of the 1959 season he would be traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Chuck Essegian and Lloyd Merrit.

When he retired from Baseball he went on to live in Anaheim and joined the Buena Park School District.  He retired from there in 1993.  As far as I know, his last public appearance was in April of 2012 at the Frank & Son's show.


RIP, Dick Gray.

Above are some vintage pics of Dick Gray in LA Dodger Blue, via Baseball Birthdays.

Below are his career stats, via Baseball Reference:

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