My Goodies from the Stadium Series Game

Since I'm currently roaming around Dodger Stadium at FanFest, I though I would schedule this post to come up.  After all, I had forgotten to share these items over the past week, and I figured there was no better time than now to do that.  So, check out some of the goodies and freebies I gathered at last weekends Stadium Series game at Dodger Stadium. 

At the very top, is the Stadium Series ticket, and it is absolutely glorious looking.  I know you can't tell from the photo, but it shines something wonderful.  And it should, considering the astronomical price I paid to sit on the Top Deck.  Jeez!

I also had a chance to roam around the pregame festival in the parking lot, and grabbed a couple of promotional cards created by Panini America.  Check them out below.

The top card is of star Kings centerman and Slovenian Olympian Anze Kopitar.  Below is future Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne.  As you can see, the Stadium Series logo is situated at the top left of each card.

Panini America also gave away a sticker sheet featuring Kings and Ducks players, and a 2013-14 NHL Sticker Album.

Unfortunately, I didn't pick anything else up except my very first two Dodger Dogs of the year, a Dodger plastic helmet filled with fries at the game, and a healthy load of beer before they sold out.  Don't worry.  It was light beer and my tears, as a result of the Kings play, quickly sobered me up.

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Blog Kiosk: 2/1/2014 - Dodgers Links - Guerrero's in Town, the Bromance Continues and Yesterday's Community Caravan

Say hello to Alexander Guerrero.  He was a part of the Dodgers Community Caravan yesterday.  Pic via @Dodgers on twitter.As you can see, Guerrero will be wearing #7.  Other Dodgers to wear this number include Steve Yeager, James Loney, Alfredo Griffin and Hall of Famer Joe Medwick.

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Guerrero brings even keel, dedication to Dodgers".   On switching to 2nd base:

"The positioning, the ball off the bat, the movement -- it's all reversed," Guerrero said Friday while participating in the club's annual community caravan with Puig and 16 other Dodgers. "But anybody that plays shortstop can play any position in the infield."

• Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider has a huge collection of tweets from Fridays Dodger Community Caravan.  BTW, you can view a whole bunch of pics from Dodgers photographer Juan Ocampo here.

No. 66 and No. 99. Strike that, reverse it: pic.twitter.com/WVvh4NecxM
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 31, 2014

• Chad Moriyama a Dodgers Digest writes, "Clutchitude: The Least Clutch Plays Of The 2013 Dodgers Season".
• Via Andrew Grant at True Blue LA writes, "Hanley Ramirez's almost historic season".
• Jakemintz at Cespedes Family Barbecue shares, "Los Angeles Dodgers Top 10 Shirseys".  Awesome!
• Mike Oz at Big League Stew writes about the growing bromance of Hyun-Jin Ryu and Yasiel Puig.
• Very Nice!  Kings Captain Dustin Brown has just been named the Team USA Alternate Captain for the upcoming Olympics.  Congrats, Dustin!  Via LA Kings website.  BTW, I absolutely love Olympic hockey.  There's nothing like it.
• Eno Sarris at at Hardball Times writes a great piece called, "So you want to be a beat writer..."  It's a great story on the trials and tribulations of sports beat writing.

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The Dodgers New 2014 Slogan: Live. Breathe. Blue.

Considering the record season ticket renewals and the continued stellar attendance numbers, does having a new marketing slogan for the Dodgers really matter?

I guess it does since they just unveiled the teams 2014 slogan.

Live. Breathe. Blue.

The best response I've read so far about it comes from Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk:

In my experience, if you breathe, you don’t turn blue. But maybe I’m missing the nuances.

The Dodgers Chief Marketing Officer Lon Rosen had this to say:

“Our new tagline encapsulates how each of our fans feel about the Dodgers organization. We feel it is a natural evolution of last year's slogan ‘A Whole New Blue'.  The Dodgers have given and will continue to give our fans reasons to believe in the team during the 2014 season.”

All right then.  The Dodgers will not suffocate and die on us, and that's a good thing.

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2014 Topps Baseball Series 1 - The Dodgers' Base Cards

There are now Baseball cards available to usher in the new year, and I've got pics of all the Dodgers' base cards to prove it.  

There are 13 Dodger cards in the 331 card base set; two of which are League Leaders cards featuring Clayton Kershaw.  Also of note are the Topps All-Star Rookie Cups emblazoned on the Ryu and Puig cards.

As you may already know, there are a whole bunch of short-printed variations in the set.  In fact, I count at least 11 different Dodger variations, and there may be more yet to be uncovered.  I'll have pics of all known available Dodger variations up soon.

In the meantime, check out the base set below.

#6 Josh Beckett                                  #40 Hyun-Jin Ryu

#72 Michael Young                                 #111 Mark Ellis

#113 League Leaders (Kershaw, Fernandez, Harvey)   

#142 Zack Greinke                              #173 Brandon League

#193 Ricky Nolasco

#197 Onelki Garcia                           #204 Adrian Gonzalez

#294 League Leaders (Wainwright, Zimmerman, Kershaw)

#314 Hanley Ramirez                                  #331 Yasiel Puig

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A Victorian Trade Card Set - Corner Clefs Series H804-10

Here is another 1880's Victorian Baseball Trade Card set in my collection.  This time I feature a set commonly known as the Corner Clefs Series, H804-10.

There are 8 cards total in a set and they measure approximately 2 3/4" x 4 3/16".  They are notable for their striped hats and socks, olive colored background and for having a border design reminiscent of a musical symbol.  A description (or name) of the card is at the bottom.  As is usual, the characters on the cards are all comically drawn.

Unfortunately, the first 6 cards shown here from my collection are likely trimmed just a bit (although a couple do not exhibit the traits I would expect to see from a trim job), and the last two are clearly their original size.  Trimming of trade cards is not unusual.  In fact, it's commonplace.  These cards were designed to be collected and glued into scrapbooks, so borders were often cut to create more space. 

Check out the entire 8 card set in this post.  The 8 cards are:

• A Fly
• A Heavy Hit
• A Short-Stop
• A Twister
• Hold Your Base!
• Our Side Has Won
• Score One
• The Umpire

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Blog Kiosk: 1/31/2014 - Dodgers Links - Jansen has the Best Cutter, Young Retires and Paco's Delivery

Maury Wills and the Dodgers visited Operation Gratitude yesterday as a part of the Community Caravan.  He along with several other Dodgers assisted in assembling care packages to be sent to US troops overseas.  The pic above is via @Dodgers Juan Ocampo/LA Dodgers on twitter.  The photo below came from the Operation Gratitude's twitter.  Go here to find out more about Operation Gratitude.

• Dodger Low-Down has the story about a young Dodger fan in northern territory who was bullied by some orange colored Baseball fans for wearing Blue on Halloween.  Well, the Dodgers recently responded by sending her a care package of goodness.  Check out the story here.
• Stuart Wallace at Beyond the Boxscore writes, "First and worst: Split-finger and cut fastballs of 2013".  Kenley Jansen is regarded as having the best cutter for a right-hander in Baseball.
• Via JP Hoornstra at Inside the Dodgers, "Michael Young will retire rather than return to Dodgers".  I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign a 1-day contract with Texas just to retire as a Ranger (GM Jon Daniels has already indicated a desire to do this).
• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Dodgers get good news from pitching minicamp: Billingsley could be ahead of schedule in rehab; young arms impressive".
• Listen to Kevin Kennedy and David Vassegh talk with Ned Colletti on Wednesday's Dodger Talk.
• Via Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider, "Paco Rodriguez’s inspirational delivery".  It has been reported that Mark Mulder's return to Baseball was as a result of watching Paco pitch.

“Out of everybody who plays baseball, he’s looking at my mechanics, and I think it’s an amazing honor just to be in talks with him,” Rodriguez said. “I can’t wait till Spring Training. Hopefully I’ll get to sit down and just talk about it, talk about baseball and his experiences — good and bad.

• The Dodgers officially announced their digital ticket system for season ticket holders last night; strangely after I wrote a short blog post slightly lambasting it.  Ken Gurnick at MLB.com has more info about the change.  I still think it sucks, and if given the option I would want paper tickets.  Also, I understand the Angels tried this a couple of years on a volunteer basis, and no fan opted for it- none!
• Ryan G at Chaos and Kanji writes, "A Japan Women's Baseball League Primer - My First Game in Sendai".  If you can't tell, I really love this blog.  And, how can you not?  I love Ryan G's photos featuring Baseball in Japan.  Here is today's post of his visit to Tokyo Dome to watch the Giants play.

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