eBay: Bottle Opener

This is one of the most utilitarian of any kind of memorabilia items I've ever seen on eBay. Imagine sitting down on your couch while watching the game with your favorite brew in one hand and this 1970's era Dodger cap bottle opener in the other. You carefully position the cap on the bottle and flick off the top. Then, drink. Mission accomplished!

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T206 Brooklyn Dodgers: Harry Lumley

I've decided that I'm going to do a little feature that focuses on Brooklyn players from the most famous and storied of all Baseball sets. The T206 is one of the most recognizable Baseball cards outside of the hobby. After all, most folks have heard and seen a photo of the Honus Wagner, the most valuable card around. They were produced by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911 and were inserted into at least 16 different smoking products. When it comes to the team from Brooklyn there are 26 different cards with 6 players having two different poses. Only one Hall of Famer is represented, Zach Wheat, so it won't be too expensive to put together. Still at nearly $20 to $30 for a common card in VG condition it can be a challenge.
Harry Lumley, nicknamed "Judge," played his entire 7 year Major League career for the Brooklyn Superbas. In his rookie season, 1904, he lead the league in home runs (9) and triples (18), which has never been done since. That year he also lead the team in batting (.279) and RBI's (78). Had there been a rookie of the year award he surely would have won. The future looked bright for the young man from Forest City, PA.

Ring Lardner described Lumley as one of a dozen left-handed hitters "who hit fly balls or high line drives and who hit them so far that opposing right- and centre-fielders moved back and rested their spinal columns against the fence when it was these guys' turn to bat."

Two years later was the best of his career. Lumley batted .324, nearly 100 points higher than the team average, lead the league in slugging at .477 and had a OPS+ of 179 (also a league best). In addition to his prolific hitting he stole 35 bases. Instantly, he became Brooklyn's most popular player. Unfortunately, this year would be the start of some physical woes.

He would be hampered by both injuries and an inability to stay in playing weight- a vintage version of Belliard or Belisario. In 1906 he suffered from both rheumatism and a split finger, broke his ankle in 1907 while sliding, hurt his good leg a year later and then injured his shoulder in 1909. Nevertheless, he was named team captain in 1908 and became the manager at the end of the season. He stayed on in that position for the entire 1909 season. Unfortunately, by 1910 he was replaced by Bill Dahlen as manager and played in only 8 games that year before being released.

Read more about him at SABR's Biography Project.

The Barber of Baseball

Here is a great article about the man who has become the most sought after barber in Baseball, Angel Pena. Nicknamed "Monster99" he has a rolodex that gives him an opportunity to go from coast to coast. He even cut Daisuke Matsuzaka's hair in Japan.

Even more interesting is his story related to Manny Ramirez's number.

When Ramirez — who grew up in the same Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights that Pena did — was traded from the Red Sox, he turned to Pena for advice in picking a Dodgers jersey number.

"He couldn't have No. 24, because it was (retired)," Pena says. "He couldn't take 42 because (it's retired for) Jackie Robinson. He was thinking of No. 34 in honor of Big Papi, but that was gone. So the Dodgers sent a text with a list of numbers available. Manny turns to me and says, 'You pick a number.' I was thinking No. 66, after Route 66, but Manny gave me a sad face. So I said, 'OK, take my number. No. 99. Nobody has that one.' So he took it."

"True story," Ramirez says.

Read all about him at USA Today. Heck, he even has his own website.

Matt Kemp is one of his clients.

Matt Kemp from Monster99.com on Vimeo.

Heartbreaker!

What a tough loss last night was. I was going to write something about it last night, but I wanted to take some time to decompress and think about it.

The Kings started out great. They came out strong in the first period and scored the first goal of the game. This has been a sore point for the team over the past several months, so to see them come out strong in the first period was a nice improvement. They skated hard and battled early game jitters by out-checking and outplaying Vancouver. Even better was that by the end of the period LA had held off the Canucks to lead 1 to 0 going into the first intermission.

Soon, though, Vancouver came back to answer the Kings early in the second period to tie it up. Then, the Kings regained the lead a couple of minutes later. This back and forth would prove to be a consistent theme for the evening. Nevertheless, LA finished strong to go into the second intermission with a one goal lead, 3 to 2.

The third period was when things went haywire. All season long the Kings had been able to hold on to a win after going into the third period with the lead. Unfortunately, this season long trend did not transpire last night, and let's face it, the Canucks deserve every credit in the world for making that so.

They outplayed us in the third. They were grittier, forceful and in control. They outmatched the Kings at every turn. They took advantage of the mistakes the Kings made, and ended up scoring 4 goals in that last period (including 1 empty net goal).

A night I was sure would be a evening to celebrate became a night that I left the building shivering in the cold. The Kings lost 6 to 4.

I might be heartbroken, but like Game 1, I am not discouraged. After all, nobody thought this series would be a cakewalk. Yes, I still believe.

Check out some game highlights below.

YouTube Video:

Bobbles!!

The Bobbles have arrived. Dodgertown USA reveals the Broxton and Ethier bobbleheads. Check them out below.

I don't know if they look exactly like their subjects. Broxton could be a little chunkier (I'm sure he doesn't mind the ceramic weight loss) and Ethier really doesn't look anything like him. I dunno. Am I wrong here?

Jonathon Broxton

(pic link: DodgertownUSA hitpix)

Andre Ethier

(pic link: DodgertownUSA hitpix)

eBay: Horse Sense with Pee Wee

With Joe Torre recently visiting his Kentucky racehorse, HomeboyKris (via Vin Scully is My Homeboy), this eBay item couldn't be more timely. Below is a 1957 horse racing magazine called Horse Sense that features a smiling Pee Wee Reese. No doubt having been chosen to share the cover with Liz Taylor had something to do with that.

What is interesting about this magazine is the headline that seems to suggest that our boys in Blue liked to play the horses. "Will the Brooklyn Dodgers Blow the Pennant on the... Races?" Could this have brought the ire of the Major League Baseball police? After all, the implication of gambling and Baseball makes them sweat.

The lower headline, though, made me scratch my head. "Dodger Players Seems to Prefer Racing to Baseball." Are you kidding? That's a bunch of horse%@#*!

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