Blog Kiosk: 5/8/2020 - Dodgers Links & News - Some Odds and Ends

Here's a fun Herb Scharfman International News press photo from the first day of spring training at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, 1954, and as you can see it features a rather nimble Duke Snider. Don Newcombe, who was on the mound, was aiming for Snider's rear-end, and the Duke had to do a jitterbug to get out of the way. Per the descriptor attached to reverse (eBay auction link):

Pitch went Wild
Vero Beach, Florida -- Brooklyn outfielder Duke Snider isn't going into his dance as might be supposed from his gyrations in this picture. A pitch by Don Newcombe tagged Duke on his trouser seat in Opening Day workouts at Vero Beach yesterday. A sartorial note was added to the scene by Snider who appeared in a polo shirt of violent scarlet, trousers of a golden hue, two-tone shoes and a straw hat modeled like a long-ago box baseball cap. The Dodgers spring training underway under the guidance of their new manager, Walter Alston.

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1941 the Giants and Dodgers play an Army-Navy Relief exhibition game that raises over $60,000 for the Navy Relief Fund in front of 24,000 fans. Brooklyn edged out their rivals, 7-6, on a Dolph Camilli home run in the seventh inning. BTW, everyone, including the umpires, coaches and players, paid admission to enter Ebbets Field. In 1973 Willie Stargell hit an Andy Messersmith pitch out of Dodger Stadium. This was the second time he had accomplished the feat at the stadium and only the second time it had ever happened in its history. In other words, Willie Stargell owned Dodger Stadium. In 1981 Fernando Valenzuela pitched his seventh straight victory to open the season -- shutting out the Mets by a score of 1-0 at Shea Stadium.
• Happy Birthday, Dan Brouthers & Adrian Gonzalez!

Blog Kiosk: 7/25/2016 - Dodgers Links - Kuroda, Liberatore and the Hall of Fame

Congratulations to both Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. on their induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.  Below is a closer look at their plaques.  Go here to watch Piazza's speech, or here for Junior's speech.

Photos above via MLB on twitter here and here.  Also, Dodgers photographer Jon SooHoo shared a bunch of great old pics featuring Piazza in Dodger Blue.  Go here to check those out.  Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodger History:  In 1956 Carl Furrillo is the first Dodger player to hit a home run at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ.  As you may know, the Dodgers played 15 home games there from 1956 to 1957.
• Happy Birthday, Guillermo Mota!

Blog Kiosk: 1/8/2016 - Dodger Links - Piazza and Maeda

Here's an fantastic photo of Kenta Maeda in his Dodgers Blues at Dodger Stadium, via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016.  Go here to check out more photos taken by Jon from yesterday press conference.  Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

“Obviously, we spent a lot of time evaluating and scouting Kenta over his very successful career in Japan,” Dodger president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “We feel like the pitch mix will play here — obviously the fastball, slider is kind of his out pitch, his changeup has really come on, very good feel for a curveball. The ability to show so many different pitches and command them, coupled with the kind of athlete he is — he’s a tremendous athlete, fields his position well, holds runners well, can hit — obviously helps in the National League.”

Below are more links to check out:

• Via an AP report on ESPN, "Dodgers assured of Kenta Maeda's health; rotation 'pretty well set'" 

Maeda and the Dodgers acknowledged that his physical revealed unspecified "irregularities." Maeda has had elbow issues but said he's confident he will be able to pitch a full season in the major leagues.

"Despite the fact there were some irregularities found, the Dodgers made a decision to make a long-term commitment to me and that was meaningful to me," Maeda said through a translator.

• Eric Stephen at True Blue LA has all the details regarding Maeda's incentive laden contract, here.
• Listen to Tommy Lasorda speak about Mike Piazza with David Vassegh on Dodger Talk, here.
• Mike Piazza goes on the Dan Patrick show to talk about the Hall and his time in LA, here.

“Well, I think it’s important to say I have absolutely no animosity or negative feelings towards the Dodgers. That will always be a huge part of my past as far as coming up, they gave me the opportunity. Coming up and going to Spring Training and seeing Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Roy Campanella, Johhny Rosoboro and Maury Wills, that was not only inspiring but the instruction that I got was huge. We had a falling out and parted ways, and I think both of us were definitely at fault.”

• I'm sure this is something a lot of folks are wondering about.  Via an ESPN report, "Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Piazza make Hall hat choices."

Ken Griffey Jr. will go into the Hall of Fame with a Seattle Mariners cap, and Mike Piazza will have a New York Mets hat.

• Via Steve Adams at MLB Trade Rumors, "White Sox Claim Daniel Fields From Dodgers."

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

HALL OF FAME! Congrats Mike Piazza! Congrats Ken Griffey Jr.!

This announcement should be of no surprise.  Both Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza are now Hall of Famers!

Since I like to talk about cards I figured I'd share pics of their most sought after rookie cards.  Above is Piazza's 1992 Bowman card, and at the very bottom is Griffey's 1989 Upper Deck card. 

For whatever reason, I have never had the Piazza card in my collection, but I do have a 1989 Salem Dodgers minor league card somewhere in a box.  I'll have to fish that out.  As for the Griffey, I've had more than a few of them over the years.  That card came out during my heyday as a teenage card-dealing entrepreneur, and I bought and sold a small fortune in them.  BTW, Rich Mueller at Sports Collectors Daily notes that the, "Graded Ken Griffey Jr Rookie Card Tally (is) Now Over 100,000."  That's a lot!  On another note, the Griffey rookie is one of the most over-produced cards in the hobby (trust me on this).  Nevertheless, they still sell for a heck of a lot - which tells you a bunch about how popular Junior remains.

Per a Dodger Press Release:

The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced today the election of former Dodger catcher Mike Piazza to the Hall of Fame in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Piazza was named on 83.0 percent of voter ballots, surpassing the 75-percent threshold, and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in ceremonies July 22-25 in Cooperstown, New York.

Piazza will be the 48th player in franchise history to be enshrined in Cooperstown and the first since Pedro Martinez last year.

“Congratulations to Mike, an outstanding ballplayer and a great man,” said Dodger Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda. “I couldn’t be prouder of him after seeing his hard work to go from a 62nd round pick and converted catcher to one of the best ever at his position and now, a fellow Hall of Famer. I’d also like to congratulate Mike’s family and everyone back in Norristown (PA) on this honor.”

“Congratulations to Mike Piazza and his family—this is truly a special day for both Mike and the Dodger organization,” said Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten. “We are very proud of the fact that the best-hitting catcher in baseball history began his Major League career in Los Angeles.”

The 12-time All-Star (1993-2002, 2004-05) compiled a .308 lifetime batting average with 427 home runs and 1,335 RBI in 16 Major League seasons with the Dodgers (1992-98), Marlins (1998), Mets (1998-2005), Padres (2006) and Athletics (2007). Piazza won 10 Silver Slugger Awards during the course of his career, compiling 2,127 hits, 344 doubles, a .377 on-base percentage and a .545 slugging percentage in 1,912 games. He leads all Major League catchers (min. 2000 PA) in home runs and slugging percentage, while ranking among the all-time greats at the position in batting average (2nd), RBI (2nd), on-base percentage (3rd) and hits (4th).

Piazza made his Major League debut on Sept. 1, 1992 and won National League Rookie of the Year the following season, batting .318 in 149 games with Los Angeles to earn an All-Star selection and setting franchise rookie records with 35 home runs and 112 RBI. In seven years with the Dodgers from 1992-98, Piazza batted .331 with 177 home runs and 563 RBI in 726 games and ranks among the all-time Los Angeles leaders (min. 3000 PA) in batting average (1st), on-base percentage (.394, 1st), slugging percentage (.572, 1st), home runs (177, 5th) and RBI (563, 10th).

The Norristown, Pennsylvania, native was selected by the Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 First-Year Player Draft.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Clayton Kershaw Featured on Topps 2015 Stadium Club Boxes

Perennial Cy Young winner and reigning National League MVP Clayton Kershaw is featured prominently on boxes of Topps newest Baseball card set - 2015 Stadium Club.  When you consider that this product is meant to showcase the best photography they could muster it's no surprise they decided to put one of this generations best lefties on the boxes.  Check out a pic of the boxes above.  BTW, this set officially went live today.

I hope to have photos of all the Dodger cards soon, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, I thought I would share a handful of non-Dodger cards from the set that I thought used outstanding photos. 

I think the Ernie Banks and Lou Gehrig cards are in a close tie for my favorite.  The Banks card shows him receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.  Lou Gehrig is shown playing leapfrog over a swinging bat.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Ken Griffey Jr. Retires

Today it was announced that Ken Griffey, Jr. has retired from Baseball. There wasn't any fanfare. No parades. No final tour. No going into the night with the accolades he deserves. He has just quietly announced that he is done.

For a guy who came into the league with more hoopla than Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper combined this seems quit unfitting. Not only did the talent on the field equal the hype, he surpassed it. If not for some injuries while in Cincinnati he could very well have been running up against every offensive record in the book.

Congratulations on a great career. We'll see you in the Hall of Fame.

Card Of The Week: Ken Griffey Jr.

I love bubble gum cards. Not only that, I love Baseball cards with large bubbles being blown in them.

Above is Ken Griffey, Jr.'s 1995 Pinnacle Baseball card. It features one of the largest bubbles I've ever seen. Unfortunately, it is as fake as Barry Bonds records. In order to blow a bubble that large you would need a giant gob of Big League Chew and jaw muscles strong enough to to snap steel. Regardless of the poor photoshop work, though, I've added this card to my collection of players chewing gum and blowing bubbles.

I tend to have a wide variety of collection interest. One the most fun is the chase for cards with weird and usual photos, like bubble blowing ballplayers. Other favorites are players signing autographs or just plain funny pictures.

Dodger Fan Shows He Can Carry Griffey's Jock

This story has been making the rounds, so I'm sure you all have seen it. If you haven't, then you need to check out this story posted on MySpace. A Dodger fan heckles Griffey. Words are exchanged as Griffey declares he couldn't "touch the threads on his jock." Then the unexpected happens. Griffey gives him his jock. Literally! Check out the MySpace link for more of the story.

Thanks to Trolley Dodger for posting the story. SOSG lets us know that it is now a national story. It's on ESPN.