Blog Kiosk: 3/13/2017 - Dodgers Links - Some Spring Odds and Ends

I think we should nickname the team the "Bridegrooms".

Last week we got word that Dodger outfielder Joc Pederson proposed to his then girlfriend (link here).  Now we found out that third baseman Justin Turner did the same this weekend while at the Grand Canyon, as evidenced by the photo he shared on twitter.

Congrats Justin and Courtney!

As you may know, the Brooklyn Baseball club was given the nickname of the "Bridegrooms" by the press in the late 1880's.  Over one winter break four of their players had gotten hitched.  This nickname lasted for quite a few years until Ned Hanlon took charge as manager in 1899 and the press renamed the club the Superbas.

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History:  In 1917 Dodger skipper Wilbert Robinson performed some spring antics on the field.  After having heard about Gabby Street catching a ball from the Washington Monument, Robinson bragged that he could catch a ball dropped from an airplane.  So, it was set up, but young outfielder Casey Stengel decided to substituted a grapefruit instead of a Baseball.  Said fruit was then gloved by Robinson as it fell, but it exploded on his chest.  Having seen the fruit innards Wilbert mistook it for blood and screamed that he was dying -- that is until he tasted it.
• Happy Birthday, Chappie McFarland, Tom Flood, Mal Eason, Lew Malone, Don Bessent, Don Miles & Mariano Duncan!
  

Blog Kiosk: 6/8/2016 - Dodgers Links - Jansen, Uribe and Trayce Thompson

Walk off magic!

For the second time this season Trayce Thompson came up to the plate in the ninth inning and won the game.  He lined a walk off home run over the left field wall.  Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

“I didn’t know I hit it enough to go out,” Thompson said. “I was running hard out of the box … trying to get into scoring position. I saw the outfielder kind of look up, kind of give up on it, it went out, I never really slowed down, and all of a sudden I was talking to you.”

This guy is a big game player.  Via Jack Baer and Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"I want to be the guy up in that situation," Thompson said. "I feel like the reward for having success far outweighs the disappointment of failure and I'm not afraid of failure, that's the only way to have success in this game. I just want to be that guy the other team fears in that situation and my team has confidence in. Sure, I'll have times I fail, but that's not going to stop me from wanting to be that guy."

Photo at the op via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2016.  Go here to check out more pics by Jon from yesterdays game.  Below are more links to check:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1955 Tommy Lasorda was optioned to Montreal in order to make room for Sandy Koufax on the Dodgers roster.  In 1968 Don Drysdale's scoreless innings streak ends at 58 1/3 innings. 
• Happy Birthday, Van Lingle Mungo and Kevin Gross.

I don't Know What You're Doing, Van Lingle Mungo

I am afraid for you, Van Lingle Mungo... 'Cause what I see here is a frightening thing.

Featured above is a vintage ACME press photo from eBay, dated to Spring Training in 1937, of the infamous Dodger hurler Van Lingle Mungo performing some kind of acrobatic exercise over what looks like a camera tripod.  Via the caption attached to the reverse:

"BROOKLYN PITCHER EXERCISING.  Clearwater, Fla., Mar.7---Photo shows Van Lingle Mungo, Dodger pitcher, working out at Clearwater, Fla., where the Brooklyn Team is in spring training."

I just don't know what to think.  Is this some kind of newfangled routine popular with that decades guru exercise nuts?  Heck, did such a thing exist then?  Maybe this is the 1930's version of Pilates or some other crazy fad that has long since disappeared from our collective psyches. 

I'm hoping that this is just some-kind-of perspective camera trick because if it's not then those Dodgers of yesteryear were certifiably insane... Which, BTW, might explain the existence of the moniker "Daffiness Boys."  

Daffy indeed, eh?

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Mailbag: A Vintage Van Lingle Mungo Card

My quest to chase vintage Dodgers' cards is in full swing.  I recently came across this beauty on eBay.  It is a 1936 National Chicle Fine Pens premium card/photo of former Dodger and all-around-ruffian Van Lingle Mungo.  The set it comes from is posthumously known as R313 in the Standard Card Catalog.

As you probably know, Mungo plays an infamous part in Dodger lore.  He was a known rabble-rouser and terrible drunkard during his playing days, and as you can imagine it caused problems off the field.  One story includes him having to escape Cuba during Spring Training in order to escape the police and an angry husband who caught Mungo cavorting with his wife and another women in the dead of night.  The angry husband was wielding a machete and had plans to kill Mungo.

Mungo may be more well known, though for a song that was named after him.  It was a little jazz ditty by Dave Frishberg called "Van Lingle Mungo".  Have a listen to that song here.

The card above had a fairly high opening bid, but not so high that it was over-priced.  In fact, I thought it was valued right were it should be, and immediately placed a bid in hopes of securing it.  With nobody else bidding, I won and walked away with this beauty at an affordable price of $15.00, delivered.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

A Vintage Brooklyn Dodger Exhibit Card - A 1935 4-in-1

Here is another vintage Exhibit Brooklyn Dodgers card in my collection.  This time it is from 1935, and it features 4 different Dodgers on one card.  Called a Four-in-One Exhibit card, it features Van Lingle Mungo, Vincent (Al) Lopez, Danny Taylor, and Tony Cuccinello.  The reverse is blank.

This is one of the least valuable cards from the set, even as it includes a future Hall of Famer in Al Lopez.  I guess you can say that this card gets no respect, and I have always wondered why.  After all, as I said above it includes a future Hall of Fame catcher in Al Lopez during the early part of his career.  It even includes a colorfully combative Brooklyn player in Van Lingle Mungo.  Heck, he has one of the best names Baseball has ever had.  In fact, I'm humming that great Dave Frishberg song as I write this.  Tony Cuccinello was a very able second baseman, batting .292 in 1935, and Danny Taylor batted .290 while in the outfield.  Hilariously, the photo used for Cuccinello is not actually him.  It is of George Puccinelli, who has never played for the Brooklyn franchise.  Can't the copy editors see that he is wearing a Cardinals uniform?

Since I can't get that damn song out of my head, I though I would pass along an infamous story from his days as a Dodger playing in Cuba in the spring.  For some background, Mungo was known as a bit of a drinker and roughhousing carouser.  He also had a way with the ladies.  Anyway, on one spring evening he was caught red-handed fooling around with a married woman.  The husband confronted him, so Mungo naturally gave him a knuckle sandwich in the eye.  Undeterred, the husband reached for a butcher knife with the intention of exacting capital punishment.  Van fled, and hid out in the teams hotel.  As the story goes, the police where called to arrest him, and Mungo had to escape the country with the help of some teammates and Dodgers executive Babe Hamberger.  They crawled him out a window that was several flights up, and smuggled him in a laundry cart to a waiting seaplane.  Needless to say, his spring that year was over.  I often wonder, though how did he explain his early arrival home to his wife?

Below is the jazz classic by Dave Frishberg called Van Lingle Mungo below.

Video Link:

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Lelands: The Sal LaRocca Collection

This is the second go around for the sale of items from Sal LaRocca's incredible Dodgers collection. It was previously featured in a Chattanooga Lookouts (the Dodgers AA club) video here. Back in June of this year, Lelands sold a part of his collection that I featured in a couple of post here and here. This time, Lelands has some memorabilia and a bunch of vintage Dodgers cards. Go here to see them all. Below I feature just a handful of things.

Here is a amazing collection of 28 vintage Brooklyn Dodgers pennants. This lot is a great way to start a collection of these.

(Auction Link)

Leo 'The Lip' Durocher once wore this cold weather Dodgers jacket. It is from the 1940's.

(Auction Link)

Below is a flip book within a Brooklyn Dodgers oddball lot of 37 cards. Most notable to my eye is this Van Lingle Mungo 1937 Goudey Thum Movies flip book encapsulated and graded by GAI.

I love these old books. Being able to take your thumb and view a vintage movie is a gas. There is nothing like it. For a peek at one, check out my previous post about a 1950 Jackie Robinson flip book in my collection, here. I don't like that this book has been enclosed in plastic. You can never truly enjoy it. Considering its condition it would probably be better of if someone cracked it open to experience it the way you're suppose to.

(Auction Link)

A Musical Interlude: Van Lingle Mungo

Van Lingle Mungo was a very colorful ballplayer. I've read outrageous stories about his carousing in Cuba during Spring Training to his drinking that effected his marriage and career. He was able to play 14 Major League seasons, most of which with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and is known in pop culture for a song that was named after him. After all, a tune featuring lyrics with only ballplayer names (and some unusual Baseball names at that) can only fittingly be named after the ballplayer with the strangest of names.

BTW, I was reminded of this song from a post from Number 5 Type Collection.

Anyway, enjoy the song below. It was written and performed by Dave Frishberg.

YouTube Link:

Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba

From the Daffiness Boys to a first World Championship, the history of the Dodgers has been colorful and exciting. It also happens to be replete with hilarity. The best of which likely happened in Cuba in the spring. Unfortunately, I've only read a handful of stories about their spring jaunts there, but have always wanted to hear more.

That is why I am excited about this new book being released later this month through Arcadia Publishing. It is called "Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba," and is written by Jim Vitti, who had won the International Book of the Year Award from The Sporting News and SABR in 2004.From the Press Release:

The Brooklyn Dodgers held spring training in Havana in 1947 so Jackie Robinson could practice safely. Yet that was hardly the beginning: the Bums played in Cuba over 60 seasons, from 1900 to 1959. Ballplayers drank hard with Hemingway. Some found themselves in Cuban jails. Pitcher Van Lingle Mungo, barricaded in the Hotel Nacional with two women, fended off an angry husband (and his machete). Leo Durocher got into a brawl with an umpire, after Lippy's translator correctly cursed him in Spanish. Vin Scully watched machine gun-toting barbudas enter the room. An outfielder leaped into the stands, with a loaded gun, to chase a fan. Several players encountered Castro, who once walked onto the field in his fatigues, patted his pistol, and said to Lefty Locklin, "Tonight, we win."

Highlights of Brooklyn Dodgers in Cuba:

• Brooklyn ballplayers headed to Ernest Hemingway’s bungalow to drink all night. They donned boxing gloves to pummel each other, taking lamps, fixtures, and furniture down with them.
• Dodger rookie Ed Chandler was arrested in mid-game against the Yankees and paraded across the field in flannels and handcuffs, much to the delight of thousands of jeering, bottle-hurling fans. Another Dodger, Sam Nahem, was a lawyer, but could not spring Chandler from a night in jail. “All he was able to get me was a sandwich,” Chandler said.

Ohhh Yhea! That's what I'm talking about. I've got a review copy heading my way and plan on reviewing it right away. I've also got a interview from the author that I'm going through right now. I'll be posting that later on. Check out the website here.

Wheaties: Van Lingle Mungo

Here is a large (6" x 6 1/4") card of Brooklyn Dodger Van Lingle Mungo. It is from 1936. These can be tough to find in descent condition since a fan would have to cut them out from the back of a Wheaties box. They are fairly inexpensive, but can be tough to track down. This particular style can be very difficult to find with the framed borders intact. Often, kids would cut it down to the photo itself. I had gotten this on eBay several years ago, and, if memory serves me right, I paid just under $30.00 for it. Not bad considering it's in great uncreased condition (a couple of wrinkles notwithstanding). Click on the pic above to enlarge it.

Legendary Pics- Even More Dodgers

The Legendary Auctions catalog of photos is a treasure trove of great Dodger pics. Here is my third installment of Dodger pics from their current auction. As always, click any of the photos to enlarge.

Below is a great vintage pic from the American Press Association of Brooklyn hurler Nap Rucker. I love the contrast in this photo. Rucker is mostly in the light, but is surrounded by dark shadows.

Auction Link: Nap Rucker Photo:

The man with the greatest Baseball name ever conceived is featured below. His name is Van Lingle Mungo and he pitched for the Dodgers for 11 years. If his name didn't exist I don't think a writer could ever come up with a name like his. Below he is showing his unusual windup.

Auction Link: Van Lingle Mungo:

Considering Kevin Baxter's recent story and various blog post on the 'tubes about it, this photo below seems to be quite timely. Below is a pic of the famous brawl between John Roseboro and Juan Marichal. Click here to see a couple more photos from the happening.

Auction Link: The Fight Photo Collection:

Sandy Koufax is enjoying a some champagne after the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the 1963 World Series. This was the first time the Yankees were ever swept, 4 in a row, in the Fall Classic.

Auction Link: Koufax & Champagne:

Sandy Koufax interview Don Drysdale in 1968 after Don had broken the record for consecutive scoreless innings.

Auction Link: Drysdale & Koufax Photo Lot:

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

This lot consist of various photos featuring Tommy Lasorda. First, the Dodger team celebrates their clinching of the 1977 Western Divisional Championship. The photo below shows a despondent Lasorda after their crushing defeat at the hands of the Yankees in the World Series a year later.

Auction Link: Tommy Lasorda Photo Lot:

Don Drysdale shows off his draw as John Russell stands nearby for a filming of the show Lawman. Check out even more photos here.

Auction Link: Drysdale Photo Lot:

Hunt: More Dodger Items

Here is my third installment of auction items from Hunt's recently closed March offering. Check my recent stories featuring collectibles from the estates of Negro Leaguer J. Leonard Mitchell and former Brooklyn Dodger Van Lingle Mungo.

I thought I would start out with this fun press photo (circa 1950's) of Roy Campanella and Duke Snider straddling a bunch of bats. It sold for $225.00.

Auction Link: Campanella/ Snider Photo:

Some of you may know that Brooklyn also hosted a professional football team known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. How original, eh! There were actually 2 different Brooklyn Dodgers football franchises, so I'm not sure which one this belongs to. My guess is that it's the old NFL team that played in Brooklyn from 1930 to 1943. This coat sold for $1,300.00.

Auction Link: Dodgers Football Overcoat:

There were numerous game used Dodger jerseys available in this auction, from Gary Sheffield and Manny Mota to Claude Osteen and Steve Bilko. Below is a game used 1992 Dodger jersey of Orel Hershiser. What I found notable about this jersey are some of the patches. It includes a commemorative patch for Roy Campanella and Don Drysdale who died in 1993 and a special patch for pitcher Tim Crews (#52) who died the same year. It sold for $1,200.00.

Auction Link: 1992 Hershiser Game Used Jersey:

Here is a 1963 World Series banner featuring the Dodgers against the hated Yankees. "Mangle Mantle! Murder Maris! Whack Whitey! Klonk Kubek! Bop Berra!" It sold for $225.00.

Auction Link: 1963 WS Banner:

Campanella game-used bats are the rarest of Hall of Fame bats from the era. This bat is stamped World Series 1952 and has evident game use attributes.

The bat exhibits evident use including ball marks, cleat marks, rack marks, and general surface wear. Model #G80 is stamped on the knob end... This bat has never before been offered publicly and originates from the family of a gentleman whose godmother was a family friend and neighbor of the Campanella's when they lived in Hollis Queens. According to family history, the bat was received from the Campanella's in the mid 1950's and reportedly hung over a bar in Campy's home.

It sold for $23,000.00.

Auction Link: Campanella Game Used WS Bat:

Hunt: Van Lingle Mungo

I've been a bit negligent in my posting recently of some of the bigger and better auctions in the market place. So, I hope to make up for that over the next several days.

A week or so ago I wrote about the collection of mostly Negro League items in Hunt's March Auction, but there was much more to that auction then the items from Mr. J. Leonard Mitchell's estate. In fact, the estate of former Brooklyn Dodger Van Lingle Mungo (The greatest Baseball name ever!) was featured in the auction as well. Check out some of his items below.

The Dodger have always been a family and the letter below certainly supports that. Dodgers General Manager, Larry MacPhail, offers the Dodgers support to Mrs. Mungo regarding Van Lingle's excessive drinking. It is signed by MacPhail and states pointedly, "Your problem and our problem is identical. If any of us quit on him, he won't make the grade." This letter sold for $550.00.

Auction Link: Letter between MacPhail and Mrs. Mungo:

This is one of the nicest items in this collection. Here is a circa 1931 team issued Brooklyn Robins belt buckle given to Mungo his rookie season.

(It) Features various design elements including his raised initials "VLM", enameled Robins bird logo, and decorative figural baseball in relief bearing his number "33" surrounded by the words "Base Ball Club" set in enameling.

It sold for a very affordable $325.00.

Auction Link: Mungo's Brooklyn Belt Buckle:

Here is a group of World Series ticket stubs for 1947, 1949 and 1950. No doubt that his wife or other family members used these tickets to root for the "Boys in Blue." The lot of 9 tickets sold for $800.00.

Auction Link: Mungo's WS Ticket Stubs: