Card of the Week: Frank Thomas

What can I say about the above card? The once surly White Sox slugger lets the photographer know what he thinks and Topps decides to put it in their 1994 Stadium Club set.

Mastro June Auction

Mastro always has some great vintage material to look through. This month's auction is no different.

Below is a fantastic rare relic featuring the Dodgers first year as a professional team, in 1884. It is a actual scorecard of an exhibition game featuring the Brooklyn Trolley-Dodgers and the Wilmington Quicksteps.

This was likely an exhibition game as the Wilmington nine were franchised with the one-year Union Association while the Brooklyns had just debuted that season in the American Association. We know that the game was played on September 20th that year, and the tilt was characterized by a total of 20 errors—grim testimony to the primitive equipment then available.

The greatest thing about scorecards is how you can literally follow the entire game by reading the card. You know what the lineup was, what happened every inning, who got the winning hit and who won the game. It's like you're able to enjoy a game that was played well over 100 years ago. Unfortunately, in this match the Dodgers lost to the Quicksteps 4 to 2.

Auction Link: 1884 Brooklyn Scorecard:

Below is an original Dick Perez watercolor painting of Dodger great Don Drysdale. The painting is made famous because of its use in the very popular Perez-Steele Hall of Fame "Art Postcard" series. Those postcards are highly desirable and rank as one of the most sought after postcard sets in the hobby. Collectors often will try to get as many of the cards autographed as possible since they display so well. In fact, I have several autographed Perez-Steele postcards in my own collection; including, Duke Snider, Yogi Berra and Ray Dandridge. They are a great set with great paintings, and this original painting is amazing. What I would do to have this hanging on my wall.

Auction Link: Perez-Steele Original Painting of Don Drysdale:

Videos: Nomo and Mr. Ed Vs. Koufax

Here are some vintage videos of Hideo Nomo and some MLB All Stars facing Kazuo Matsui and the Japanese All Stars in Japan in 1996. I don't remember this game at all.

YouTube Link: hirosea96:

Here he is against Hideki Matsui. Part 1.

YouTube Link: hirosea96:
Part 2.

YouTube Link: hirosea96:

The Faux Show LA takes in a Dodger game.

YouTube Link: thefauxshowla:

You gotta check this out. Mr. Ed hits a homerun against Sandy Koufax.

YouTube Link: georgecf:

Blog Kiosk 6/8/2008

I already find myself missing hockey. Congratulations to the Red Wings on their Stanley Cup victory, but please be more careful with the cup. OK. I've got tickets to Frozen Fury and I cant wait to go. Three and a half months is too long a time to wait.

• Check out Russell Martin with LA Kings Center Derek Armstrong courtesy of Rich Hammond of the Daily News. There are plenty of pictures.
• Yhea. I noticed that porn-stache too.
• Check out HBMOM5's pics from Kershaw's start on the 25th. Here, Here, Here and Here.
• Here is a new Dodger Video Blogger- LABaseballTV. He's got some videos from Spring Training in Arizona and the Coliseum Game.
  
• Keep your hands off my roto-league. The Supreme Court refused to hear Baseball's appeal that they own player stats and, therefore, are due licensing fees. Fantasy sports was in jeopardy and the court rightly begged off. Player stats belong in the public domain!

  "This definitely feels great. Baseball had a fairly arrogant tone through this thing and was an aggressive opponent. But this is good for the fantasy industry. You've got a bunch of smaller guys who built this industry into what it's become, and for baseball to come in like they did 25 years after the fact and try to push everybody out, that just wasn't right."

• Andre Ethier is now a blogger. It's called Dining With 'Dre. Check it out here. (Hat Tip: Dodger Thoughts)
• Roberto is the king of the Southern California Autograph and player meet-and-greet circuit. First he runs into Gary Carter and Darrell Thomas, then Pedro Guerrero and photo day at Dodger Stadium.
  
• This past Wednesday, June 4, was the 34th anniversary of Cleveland's 10-cent beer night. ESPN tells us all about it. As you can imagine, this was an event that did not go well.

  Fans -- and we shall use this term for lack of a better one -- could buy up to six cups at a time, with no system in place to prevent a designated mule from purchasing a full complement, handing them off to underage clients, and returning for more... Through deliberate coordination or spontaneous groupthink, hundreds of fans showed up with pockets full of firecrackers. Anonymous explosions peppered the stands from the first pitch, lending the game a war-zone ambiance that would seem increasingly appropriate.

  (Hat Tip: Baseball Crank)
• I wanted to send a special shout out to my close friends Curtis and Eileen on the birth of their second child James David- or JD, if you will.

YouTube Link: lemonsters2008:
Hat Tip: For The Love Of Baseball: Tatiana:

Card of the Week: Bob Ojeda and Tommy Lasorda

Bobby Ojeda was a starter for the Dodgers for two years, from 1991-1992. He pitched in 60 games and recorded a career Dodger record of 18-18 with 4 complete games and 2 shutouts. He was a back of the rotation starter who provided a no thrills effort. He was effective while not spectacular. He had an ERA of 3.18 and 3.63 while with the Dodgers in 1991 and 1992, respectively. The above card was made by Upper Deck in 1992 and features Bobby Ojeda receiving a personalized pitching lesson from Tommy Lasorda. Bobby has a funny look on his face as Tommy works with his grip. Maybe Tommy made some wisecrack comment that cannot be printed in most newspapers. Nevertheless, Lasorda looks like he's screaming and Bobby can hardly keep from laughing.

Videos: Penny and Torre on Racing

Here are a series of videos featuring an interview with Brad Penny from TVG about the horses.

YouTube Link: tvgnetwork:


YouTube Link: tvgnetwork:

Here is Joe Torre and Penny with TVG talking about horse racing.

YouTube Link: tvgnetwork:

Now Sweet Lou Johnson and Penny talk about Big Brown.

YouTube Link: tvgnetwork: