Blog Kiosk: 11/6/2017 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

The Dodgers bought a full page ad in the Houston Chronicle's commemorative section of their paper on Sunday to congratulate the Houston Atros on winning the World Series. See the ad on the right.

Advertising graphic via Chronicle reporter Joseph Duarte on twitter. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: I'm really stretching for news here. In 2006 Dodger fan Charles Littleton, a 22-year old Saginaw Valley State University student is TASERed with 50,000 volts by Saginaw (MI) police when he refuses to remove his Dodger cap during a City Council meeting. He is there to receive extra credit for a sociology class. See a news report here. In 2014 the Dodgers officially hire Zaidi Farhan to be their new General Manager. He takes over a  position previously held by Ned Colletti.
• Happy Birthday, Bob Darnell, John Candelaria & Chad Curtis!

Blog Kiosk: 12/5/2016 - Dodgers Links - Honeycutt, Seager and Rich Hill has been Re-Signed

Check out legendary Dodgers scout Mike Brito scamper through the Dodgers "Pop-Up Museum" at Dodger Stadium.  The museum highlights Dodger history through memorabilia/artifacts from the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the collection of Gary Cypres and the Dodgers own archives.  Go here for more information. Go here to check out more pics by Jon SooHoo from the museum.

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History:  In 1933 Prohibition ended.  In 1973 the Dodgers traded trade outfielder Willie Davis to the Expos for relief pitcher Mike Marshall.  Dr. Marshall, as he is called now, went on to win the NL Cy Young Award that next season.  He pitched in 106 games, finished 83 of them and recorded a league high 21 saves as a reliever.
• Happy Birthday, Raleigh Aitchison, Billy Shindle & Ray Moss!

Blog Kiosk: 10/13/2016 - Dodgers Links - Game 5 is Tonight!

I thought the above photo was worth noting.

The last time the Dodgers faced off against the Washington Nationals franchise in a Game 5 was 35 years ago.  It was 1981 and our opponent was known as the Montreal Expos.  Having never reached postseason play, the Expos leaned on two future Hall of Famers (potentially three if you consider Tim Raines) to take them to the promised land.  Unfortunately, they had the Dodgers to deal with... And Fernando Valenzuela... And Rick Monday.

As you surely know, Fernando pitched a gem.  He went 8 2/3 innings, recording six strike outs, three walks and allowed just one run.  Bob Welch came in to pitch a one out save.  The Dodgers offense was highlighted by a dramatic ninth inning home run off the bat of outfielder Rick Monday, as seen in the photo above.  Go here to watch Monday's home run.

So if history does repeat itself we just might see a young Mexican pitcher named Julio Urias, who's expected to pitch tonight, and an outfielder named Andre Ethier, who happens to wear Monday's number #16, do something incredible. 

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History:  In 1938 Leo "The Lip" Durocher is named the new manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.  In 1974 Dodgers closer Mike Marshall picked off A's designated runner Herb Washington to get the second out in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series.  He would eventually record a save to preserve the Dodgers only win in the series.  Oakland would win the title in Game 5.  You can watch the pick-off here.

Blog Kiosk: 7/3/2016 - Dodgers Links - Kershaw, McCarthy, Seager and the Old-Timers Game

Check out this group of motley former Dodgers.  Via Jack Baer at MLB.com:

The former player who drew the most attention in the dugout and on the field was manager Dave Roberts, under immense pressure while playing in front of his players. In the first inning, Roberts hit a leadoff single to center off Valenzuela and advanced to third in the next two at-bats.
...
"Thank goodness this game's only two innings," Roberts said. "I'm going to try to come out of it OK, not end up on the training table. If I do, I'm going to take a lot of grief from the players. That's kind of more important than getting a hit today."

Pics above via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016.  Go here to check out more pics from Jon from yesterday; including plenty of photos from the Old Timers Game.  Best yet, Jon also shared a bunch of great pics from Old Timers Games from the 80's.  Go here to check those out.  A video from yesterdays Old Timers Game can be seen here.  Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodger History:  In 1958 the Dodgers, in their 35th home game ever in Los Angeles, reached the one million attendance mark.  At Ebbets Field they drew 1,028,258 fans total all season the year prior.  In 1974 Dodgers reliever Mike Marshall appeared in his 13th consecutive game, setting a major league record.  The streak also ended on this day when he didn't make an appearance during the second game of a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. In 1993 Don Drysdale died of a heart attack in Montreal after broadcasting the Dodgers’ game against the Expos.

Rangers Series Starts Tomorrow - Scheduled Autograph Sessions, Pregame Info and Other Stuff!

The next homestand starts tomorrow against the Texas Rangers, and several former Dodgers are scheduled for an autograph session with fans.  Below are the scheduled autograph opportunities and other odds and ends for this upcoming homestand.

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Wednesday, June 17th at 7:10 PM
LHP Wandy Rodriguez vs. LHP Clayton Kershaw
SNLA / AM 570 (Eng.), KTNQ 1020 AM (Span.)

Wednesday's game starts at 7:10 PM.  Auto gates open at 4:40 PM, and stadium gates open at 5:10 PM. The first 40,000 fans in attendance will receive a Dodgers beach bag.  See it on the left.

It is also Korea Night at Dodger Stadium.  Folks who ordered a special ticket package in the All You Can Eat Right Field Pavilion or Infield Reserve will get an exclusive Korean/ Hyun Jin Ryu themed t-shirt with your ticket.  See that on the left.  If not already sold out go here for information.

Try the Kimchi Dog on Korea Night. The Kimchi Dog, a quarter pound all-beef Super Dodger Dog topped off Kimchi, will be available tomorrow only at Extreme Loaded Dog locations on the field, loge and reserve levels.

Popular Korean rock band YB will present a pregame mini-concert. The five-member Korean band led by Yoon Do Hyun will perform four songs, followed by the Korean and U.S. national anthems. YB is currently on tour in the U.S. with alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. Schoolboy Records and YG Entertainment recording artist CL will throw the ceremonial first pitch. CL, member of the global mega group 2NE1, is currently in the U.S. promoting her new hit single, “Doctor Pepper.” Following pregame festivities, both CL and YB will be signing autographs for fans at the KTO tent in the right field plaza. CL is set to sign at 7:30 p.m. and YB will sign for fans at 8:00 p.m.

Dodger alumnus Kenny Landreaux will sign autographs in the left-field pavilion from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. 

• The Military Heroes of the Game are U.S. Army CIB Purple Heart Korean War Citations recipient Joseph A. Del Rio and U.S. Army Corporal Roman Morales. Del Rio fought in the Korean War in 1951. He was honorably discharged in 1954 and awarded a Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster and Korean Campaign Citations. He is now the commander of the Long Beach Chapter 210 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Morales fought in the Korean War in the early 1950s. Morales, along with others from the 40th Infantry Division, built a high school to honor the first American casualty of the Korean War. Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles Hyun-myung Kim will present the military heroes with a commemoration plaque.

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Thursday, June 17th at 7:10 PM
RHP Colby Lewis vs. RHP Zack Greinke
SNLA / AM 570 (Eng.), KTNQ 1020 AM (Span.)

Thursday's game starts at 7:10 PM.  Auto gates open at 4:40 PM, and stadium gates open at 5:10 PM. The first 40,000 fans in attendance will receive a Cy Young Collectors' Pin of Mike Marshall.  See it on the left.

Kelley Jakle, star of “Pitch Perfect 2” and great-granddaughter of Baseball Hall of Fame executive Branch Rickey, will perform the national anthem.


Dodger alumnus Derrel Thomas will sign autographs in the left-field pavilion from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

• The Military Hero of the Game is U.S. Army E3 Robert “Bud” Salisbury of Glendora. Salisbury joined the U.S. Army to be a paratrooper, then volunteered to go to Vietnam as a Forward Observer which placed him in combat. Two months later, he was wounded. Salisbury was presented with the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and earned a Purple Heart for his sacrifices in Vietnam. Salisbury currently resides in the City of Orange as an attorney, with his wife of 45 years, Connie.

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Gilliam and Dr. Marshall's Game-Used Jerseys at Lelands

What fan doesn't have a jersey of their favorite team?

It's way to express your loyalty and fanaticism in way that allows others to take notice.  Fellow fans will walk by and give you a knowing nod - as if you both belong to an exclusive club.  The opposition gives you a stare because deep down you know that they wish they could follow a team as cool as yours.

Then there are fans that have the ability to take the extra step of adding game-used apparel of your favorite player.  Not that this is required of any fan since many game-used jerseys can sell for far more than what a typical fan can afford.  It's just if you can do it, then by all means you should.  After all, having a game-used jersey is like wearing history.  And by donning them you can feel ever closer to your favorite team or player.

Featured below are a couple of game-used Dodger jersey's currently for sale at Legendary Auctions, and I thought I would share them with you.

Above is a 1977 Dodgers road jersey of then coach Jim Gilliam.  He was one of the most beloved Dodger players in Los Angeles history.  In fact, he is the only Dodger player to have his number retired who is not in the Hall of Fame.  He had suffered an brain hemorrhage near the end of the 1978 Dodger season, and was posthumously given the honor two days after his death - just prior to clubs World Series match-up against the Yankees that year.  The outpouring of respect and love he had from the players and the organization was enormous.

(Auction Link)

Mike Marshall, or Dr. Mike Marshall as he likes to be called, is one of the more legendary relievers to ever put on a Dodger uniform.  In 1974 he appeared in 106 games for Los Angeles (setting a Major League record), finished 83 of them and recorded 21 saves.  For his efforts he was awarded the Cy Young that season.  Featured here is a game-used 1975 home jersey once worn by Marshall.

BTW, Marshall has a Ph.D. in kinesiology, and is known to advocate a different style of pitching that he believes will end arm-related pitching injuries.  Per a brief description found on his wikipedia page:

Marshall teaches and advocates a pitching method he developed that he "believes could completely eradicate pitching-arm injuries." He wants pitchers to have a smooth transition. To pitch the arm has to externally rotate (hand lays back) before the ball accelerates. With traditional pitchers the thrower often lifts his elbow before his hand (also called scapula loading); this leads to the ball coming up late and the arm to externally rotate late. The elbow will be accelerated forward while the hand still goes backward, which creates enormous stress on the arm

Marshall instead wants pitchers to externally rotate early as they swing their arm up. That means the pitcher will lift the hand before the elbow, so that the wrist faces away from the body and up, the hand is above the elbow when the front foot touches the ground, which leads to a smooth transition without a "forearm bounce," as Marshall calls it (Marshall believes this causes UCL injuries, which require Tommy John surgery). He wants to first lay back the forearm and then accelerate by rotating the body instead of bending over, in order to protect the elbow against injury.

(Auction Link)

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Blog Kiosk: 11/5/2014 - Dodger Links - Pederson, Kershaw and Crawford

Joc Pederson is having a fun winter league Baseball vacation, pic via Pederson on Instagram.

Below are some links to check out:

• RIP, Mary Froning O'Meara.  She was an outfielder for the Battle Creek Belles and South Bend Blue Sox of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.  She was 80 years old.  This was initially announced on reddit r/Baseball by her grandchild r/SOTGidon.  Her wikipedia page can be found here.
• Farhan Zaidi, it is!  Via a tweet from Ken Gurnick:

Dodgers will name Oakland's Farhan Zaidi the new general manager later this week, according to baseball source.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) November 5, 2014

• BTW, former Padres GM Josh Byrnes is expected to also join the Dodgers front office, via Mark Saxon at ESPN.
• As expected, the BBWAA announced that Clayton Kershaw is a finalist for the National League MVP and CY Young awards yesterday.  Per Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

Kershaw is competing with fellow finalists Adam Wainwright and Johnny Cueto for the Cy Young Award, which would be Kershaw’s third in four years if he wins. That award wll be revealed at 3 p.m. November 12 on MLB Network.

In his bid for his first MVP trophy, to be announced at 3 p.m. November 13 on MLB Network, Kershaw is up against Andrew McCutchen and Giancarlo Stanton.

(pic via @LosDodgers on twitter)

• Via William Boor at MLB.com, "Crawford inducted into AFL Hall of Fame."

"It feels good," Crawford said. "You're inducted in the Hall of Fame in a league where a lot of other good players played. To be picked as one of the inductees is really, really special."

• Via Wayne Stewart at Call to the Pen, "Profiling Adrian Gonzalez."

Gonzalez recalled, “All our conversations were usually baseball when we were young.  It was all about baseball—that was our whole life.”  Once the sons and father all played on the same amateur team in a league in Mexico. Adrian was 15 and his father, a first baseman, was in his 40s.

• These historical/biographic pieces being put out by Dodger Insider are fantastic.  This time Cary Osborne writes, "Seasons: Mike Marshall’s 1974 — the ultimate workhorse."

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Blog Kiosk: 3/19/2012

Panini unveiled more preview picks of their upcoming Prime Cuts & Limited Baseball cards on their blog, here. Above is the Clayton Kershaw autographed card.

• Joe Mathews at Zocalo Public Square wonders what happens after Vin Scully and offers up five plans to deal with it.

  3. Digital Vin
  Don’t replace Vin at all. Eternal life is not yet possible, but technology offers an alternative. Contract with one of California’s artificial intelligence companies to create a Vin machine that could announce games. It would be programmed to speak exactly as Vin did in 1988, the year of the Dodgers’ last World Series championship.

• I like this rumor. From Giants Talk:

  Baseball sources expect the Giants’ archrival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be major free-agent spenders next winter once a new ownership group drops more than $1 billion to purchase the franchise. There would be nothing more painful to Giants fans than seeing Cain, one of their most loyal favorites, in Dodger blue. Such a signing could tilt the balance of power in the NL West, too.

• Baseball Happenings tells about a rare Dr. Mike Marshall signing- the former Dodgers Cy Young reliever. Marshall is probably the toughest autograph of any living player in Baseball. He has previously refused to sign any autographs.

  "Marshall explained that he would willingly sign if the boys could show him that their autograph books also contained the signatures of their teachers and others who 'were really meaningful in their lives.'" Marshall defended his position by stating, "As an athlete, I am no one to be idolized. ... I will not perpetuate that hoax. They say I don't like kids. I think that refusing to sign autographs, I am giving the strongest demonstration that I really do like them. I am looking beyond mere expediency to what is truly valuable in their lives."

• Patrick Soon-Shiong, the richest man in Los Angeles, has joined the Dodgers bid group led by hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen, via Bill Shaikin at LA Times. Dodgers blogger Chad Moriyama isn't so enthused due to Cohen's connection with Tony LaRussa.
  
• Bronx Banter takes a look at some pitcher/batter match-ups to find out who "owned" or was "owned." Koufax comparisons is included that shows how well Mays and Hank Aaron hit against him. (Hat Tip: Baseball Musings)
  
• Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy shows some newly released bobbleheads made by Forever Collectibles of Kemp and Kershaw.
  
• An interview with Topps Director of Hobby Sales at Sports Collectors Daily.
  
• From Cardboard Connection, Guide to Using social Media for your Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
  
• Beyond the Boxscore has a nice roundup of the recently concluded SABR conference in Arizona.
• I want a Marauder when the zombies come.

Video Link:

A 1974 Dodgers Christmas Card

I realize this is a couple of weeks too late, but I figured it's better late than never. Here is a vintage Dodger Christmas card from 1974 that I ran into on eBay. I do not know if this was something sent out by the team or an item fans could purchase to send to friends and family. What I do know is that it's pretty great that it celebrates a National League pennant and various awards won by individual players. It's no wonder they thought 1975 would be their year.

FYI, the Dodgers awards winners include Garvey as MVP, All-Star MVP, and Gold Glove; Dr. Mike Marshall as the Cy Young and Fireman of the Year winner; Walter Alston as Manager of the Year; and Jimmy Wynn as Comeback Player of the Year.

(Auction Link)

Collection: Vintage Dodger Postcards

One of the great and unheralded of all vintage collectibles has been postcards. They are not as sought after as baseball cards, but they can be harder to find in decent condition. They typically feature great photos of our favorite players, and, on top of that, can be very affordable. The group of 16 postcards I just recently scanned was purchased several months ago on eBay for under $10.00. I thought it was a great deal. See the rest of the postcards in my photoalbum here.Postcard Photoalbum here.

Doc Marshall's Pitching Revolution

Former Cy Young winner Dr. Mike Marshall is the focus of an LA Times sports front page cover story today. As some of you may know he has set out to revolutionize the way pitchers pitch. As you read further you understand that Baseball is less than receptive.

"They just didn't want my ideas to get in," Marshall says. "That's ridiculous. But that's the small-mindedness of Major League Baseball. They don't know what the hell they're doing. And if I get in, everybody will know that they don't know what the hell they're doing."

To tell you the truth I don't know anything about pitching at this level. Are the arm injuries that seem so common today the result of habits that have long been the staple of Major League Baseball? Has Doc Marshall discovered the optimal way to pitch? Is organized Baseball fearful of his teachings? Or are they just fed up with him overall? Who knows, but i figure if he can help a ballclub win games then he must be worth listening to. If his players experience less injuries, then there must be someone in Baseball willing to take an objective look.

Of course, I'm reminded of a phrase I once read many moons ago that may very well explain Baseball's reluctance. I'll do my best to rephrase it since I can't find the original quote now.

"The ability to understand an issue is dependent on how it effects your livelihood."

For example, it would be impossible for an oil executive or those who benefit from oil to truly understand and accept the impact of oil consumption and global warming since doing so would negatively effect that persons livelihood. If global warming truly exist and oil consumption is a major reason for its existence, then oil company executives will have to accept a reduction in their corporate revenue since the world would seek to reduce the overall consumption of oil. This would directly cause paychecks to dwindle in that industry. Jobs would diminish. Entire local and national economies could be decimated around the world. Hubert's Peak is another good example of this within this industry.

Likewise, Baseball could not possibly understand or accept Dr. Marshall's ideas since doing so could not only revolutionize what they know or don't know about pitching, but could also mean the potential loss of jobs for countless number of coaches around the league.

Change is difficult. Just my two cents.

LA Time Story Link:
Photo Link: Baseball-Almanac:
2002 Interview with Dr. Marshall on BP: Part 1: Part II: