Blog Kiosk: 1/23/2012

Here is a photo from Jon SooHoo's Dodger website featuring several old-time Dodgers at a fantasy camp in the late 80's in Vero Beach. Look real close. Someone doesn't fit.

• Tom Seaver, born to be a Dodger? Via Mike Silva's NY Baseball Digest.

  “He was born to be a Dodger,” Travers said. “Born and raised in California, went to USC, had season tickets to Dodger games because his uncle has season tickets in Los Angeles, and he would use them every fourth and fifth day to see Koufax and Drysdale.”

• The Baseball Professor puts together a player profile on Andre Ethier.
  
• Bill Shaikin has a helpful list of 15 Dodger bidders. As you probably know, bids for the Dodgers are due today.
  
• Sully Baseball puts together the "All-Born After Jamie Moyer Debut" team- the 25 man roster.
  
• The Baseball Diaspora puts together a 2011 Bobblehead All-Americans team.
  
• Foul Bunt was at the Orioles Fan Fest and has a full report.
  
• Only because I'm a super nerd. Here is Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut. This won a Primetime Emmy in 2010 for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media. It was a crowd-source project where the original movie was cut up into 15 second pieces, and fans were asked to film their own interpretation of the segment. Then the editing crew took those fan-made splices and pieced them all together to make one full length version of the movie.
  

Star Wars Uncut: Director's Cut from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

Willard Mullin's First Published Drawings?

Here is a real treat. In the past I featured school yearbooks from Dodger greats Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson, here and here. Now I have something totally different. I recently ran into a yearbook of a man known more for creating a beloved Dodger icon. Here is a yearbook from noted sports cartoonist Willard Mullin. Better yet, it has several drawings of his within it; possibly his first published works.

Above is his portrait photo with the title "cartoons" underneath. He was on the Senior B Art Staff, and lent his pen to the effort in making a perfect yearbook for his class. Check out several of his drawings below.
Notice the artist signature at the bottom of each drawing. It is very similar to the signature he eventually used as a professional cartoonist.

(Auction Link)

Kershaw's Cy Young Acceptance Speech

Here is Clayton Kershaw's speech during the Baseball Writers Association of America Dinner on Saturday.

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Since this is somewhat Dodgers related. Here is Ryan Braun's acceptance speech. He thanks several other players; including Matt Kemp.

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Don Newcombe also speaks at the awards dinner to introduce Justin Verlander.

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You Too Can Get a Cy Young

Last night Clayton Kershaw received his 2012 Cy Young Award from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Below is a pic of Kershaw at the podium (Pic Link: @Brianteta on twitter).

(Pic Link: Twitter @Brianteta)

Now fans can get their own Cy Young Award. The Dodger just released a pic of the replica award that will be given to fans at the April 11th game against the Pirates. See the promotional schedule here.

(Pic Link: Twitter @Dodgers)

Transforming Dodger Stadium

Jim Peltz at the LA Times writes about this evenings Monster Energy AMA Supercross series event at Dodgers Stadium. Yesterday, I had shown some twitter pics that were from the stadium showing the track in various stages of completion. See them here. Well, the LA Times article has a time lapse video of its transformation from Baseball field to race track. See it below.

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Blog Kiosk: 1/20/2012

Topps just release preview pics of their 2012 Tier One set. It is expected to be released on June 18th. Beckett has the info right here. Above is the Clayton Kershaw autographed card.

• Clayton Kershaw overload. SoCal Sports Media interviews Clayton at the Barnes & Nobles during his recent book signing (Hat Tip: VSIMH), and here is another story and interview from Ken Gurnick at MLB.
  
• Plenty of Dodgers Making the Cut on Bill James’ Top 100 Pitcher’s Duels, via Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness.
  
• Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy provides an update on Gary Carter. We're all pulling for ya, Kid.
  
• Should founding SI writer Robert Creamer be considered for the Hall of Fame? Via Baseball: Past and Present.
  
• This is great news for the card collector. SCD lets us know that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will be digitizing the entire collection of Jefferson R. Burdick and making them available for viewing online. Burdick was the founder of the American Card Catalog who donated his collection of over 300,000 cards to the museum. SCD links to an interview with a curator in NY Magazine.
• Gary Cieradkowski of the Infinite Card Set is featured in this nice ESPN article.
  
• This is the hottest photo of Cameron Diaz I have ever seen, via If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger...
• Am I bad man if this video makes me laugh uncontrollably? Check out Sad Packer Fan.
  
• Etta James, RIP. From CNN.

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