eBay: A Pena Flicker Coin

I don't remember these little coin shape cards at all. I was only 13 years old at the time and a 7-11 was just down the street. Heck, I loved Slupree's. How did these cards escape my memory?

Below is a 1-1/4 " in diameter plastic disc featuring both a portrait and action photo shot of one of my favorite all-time Dodgers Alejandro Pena. The separate pics can be alternately seen by moving the coin slightly from side to side.

I can still remember the wind-up of slowest pitcher ever. Alejandro Pena's motion to the plate was like watching a cooling fan after the power had been turned off. He could literally lull batters to sleep.

(eBay Auction Link)

Collection: N28 Wrestlers

Here are some more Allen & Ginter vintage cards from my set. This time I highlight the wrestlers. There are a total of 7 athletes in the set. All of which, I am sure, deserve their own biography, but that task became way to daunting for me to tackle. (You'll notice that I didn't even try to write about each of the boxers I showed yesterday.) So, instead, I will try my hand at the one wrestler who immediately struck my interest when I first came upon it.

Matsada Sorakichi was Japanese born and a trained Sumo who found fame as an American middleweight wrestler. In 1884 he had his first American match in New York City against Young Bibby- who, coincidentally, has a card below. Sorakichi lost that match, but would soon go on a nationwide trek taking him from Chicago to Baltimore. His overall record is not impressive, at 27 wins to 25 losses, but it was said that he took on all comers; including wrestlers much larger than himself. In the end, he became more famous for his European-American wife who publicly complained that Matsada and his friends squandered her inheritance while keeping a Japanese mistress in their home in New York. In 1891 he died both penniless and friendless at the age of 32.

Happy Anniversary

Did you know that today marks a very important time in Dodger history? It was a day that many thought may never come. Today is the 20,000 day anniversary of Johnny Podres win over the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1955 World Series. Thanks to Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times for pointing this out.

eBay: A Brooklyn Dodger Baseball

Check this out. Here is a vintage circa 1950's Brooklyn Dodger stamped Baseball made by Rawlings. It still has its box, but looks like it went through the wash.

(eBay Auction Link)

Dodger Blogger Night

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the Dodger PR folks about the 3rd annual Dodger Blogger Night. With it so late in the season already I had thought they would choose to forgo the festivities this season. Fortunately, I was wrong about that.

Yesterday evening was the day and it was really a treat to meet everybody there. First, I would like to thank the organizers Amy Summers and Josh Rawitch for putting it all together. I really feel fortunate to have been a guest of the Dodgers for the 3rd straight year and really appreciate their desire to reach out to us.

I had met many of the bloggers there before; like Steve Sax with Sons of Steve Garvey, Eric Stephen with True Blue LA, Robert Timm with Dodger Dugout, Chris from Dodgerfan.net. I must say, though, it was a great pleasure to met, for the first time, Roberto with Vin Scully Is My Homeboy. He is the mad genius behind one of my favorite blogs. Click on any of the links above for their post about the evening. There were many more there so I apologize for missing anybody.

For the skinny on any important revelations go and check out Dodger Dugout or True Blue LA above. They have done a much better job than I could have hoped to do. Anyway, on to a couple of photos. Below is Ned Colletti answering some of our questions (Josh Rawitch is standing behind him). Nothing really substantive was shared- other than to let us know that he doesn't read any of us. Thanks Ned!
Then Ron Cey came in to say hello and spent a good amount of time in the suite. He even turned to the free food, opened up one of the trays and remarked about the spicy chicken wings before pulling out a plate for himself. He wondered aloud how we bloggers could go so long without finishing off the wings. Hearing this, I dutifully crawled over and helped myself to a second helping.
After all this many more Dodger folks showed up. Dennis Mannion, the team President, stopped by along with Kim Ng, the teams Vice President and Assistant GM. The highlight of the night was yet to come. Windell Middlebrooks, better known as the Miller Lite Guy, unexpectedly walked into the suite to say hello. In one word meeting him was "awesome!"

Collection: N28 The Pugilist

Here are some more vintage Allen & Ginter's from my collection. These are 8 out of the 10 boxers in the set- or pugilist as it says on the back. In the late 19th Century boxing was extremely popular, so it's not a surprise that they comprise a large part of the set.

BTW, here is what the back of the cards look like.(Checklist Pic above from BaseballCardsLive)