News From the First Day of Spring

It's just the first official day of Spring Training, as pitchers and catchers were to report today, and there is already news pertinent to the upcoming Baseball season.

• Per a @Dodgers tweet, Kershaw will be our Opening Day starter. No real surprise there.

(Tweet Link: @Dodgers)

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• Eric Stephen of True Blue LA is also at Camelback Ranch and reports that part of our lineup is set. Dee Gordon will lead off and Kemp will bat third. Seems a bit early to be announcing this, but I'm not surprised by this at all.

(Tweet Link: @TrueBlueLA)

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• Per Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, the closers job is Javy Guerra's job to lose.

(Tweet Link: @DylanHernandez)

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• In some bad news, reliever Blake Hawksworth will not be ready to start the season due to offseason surgery.

(Tweet Link: @Dodgers)

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• In news that this old Dodger fan welcomes. Per Ken Gurnick, Steve Yeager has been hired to

work with Dodgers catchers in Spring Training and when the team is at home during the season and will serve as a special-assignment catching instructor in the Minor Leagues when the team is on the road.

(Tweet Link: @KenGurnick)

WooHoo! Pitchers and Catchers Report!

There really is no better day in the year. Today, Dodgers pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Soon, the entire team will be in Arizona and Baseball will begin anew.

(Pic Link: Zazzle)

Collection: Maury Wills Fleer Greats

There isn't much I can add about Maury Wills that I haven't already written or has been written elsewhere. He was just great in Dodger Blue. Not only that, he's been great as a coach for LA.

Here is a 2002 Fleer Greats autographed card of Wills from my collection. It has been improperly numbered to 56. From my understanding, this numbering was put on by an unscrupulous seller hoping to cash in on a perceived rarity. Again, I am certain that this autographed card is not limited at all. Fortunately, I didn't pay any kind of premium when I purchased this on eBay several years ago, so I don't feel ripped off. On the other hand, knowing that it doesn't belong there does irk me a bit.

Manny's Back

As many of you will affectionately recall, the Dodger ran a billboard campaign during the 2009 season titled, "Manny's Back." Well, it looks like the Oakland A's are about to do the same. That is, they have just agreed to a deal that would bring Manny Ramirez out of "retirement" and into the Oakland Coliseum. Per ESPN:

Sources tell Gomez the deal is worth about $500,000. Ramirez is obligated to serve a 50-game suspension without pay before beginning play for the A's due to violating baseball's drug policy for the second time. With no rainouts, the first game Ramirez would be eligible to play is on his 40th birthday -- May 30 at Minnesota.

Good luck, big guy.

Weekend Autograph Opportunities:

I am super bummed out! I came down with a terrible cold/cough on Friday and thought I could take care of it on my own with some over-the-counter meds. Well, I dismally failed at that. So, I finally decided to go to my doctor yesterday and was told that I was on the verge of pneumonia. Given that, I'm gonna miss an event I had been looking forward to.

Tonight, at the LA Kings game against the Phoenix Coyotes, will be Dodgers Pride Night. Since I have season tickets to the Kings I await this night with the eagerness of a small child. I get to enjoy a great game while simultaneously being able to get autographs from a Dodger. It doesn't get better than that, right?

Well, I can't be there, but that shouldn't stop you. As I wrote earlier this week, Tim Leary (member of the 1988 World Series Dodgers team) and Matt Luke will be on hand to sign free autographs for fans. BTW, if you plan on attending please pass along some pics. I'd love to post them up.

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Here are some other weekend autograph opportunities.

LA Kings centers Jarret Stoll and Mike Richards will be signing free autographs on Friday at a Staples store.
Details:

Friday, February 17th
From 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Staples store
4600 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Long Beach, CA 90804

Linked information is available here.

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Didn't the LA Galaxy just win the championship?
This week has been the LA Galaxy Caravan and all sort of events are planned for fans to partake in. Go here for more info.

Joe Saunders, Galaxy goalie, is singing free autographs on Friday at Super A Foods #4, 13120 Downey Ave, Paramount, CA 90723 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Then, on Saturday A.J. DeLaGarza & Mike Magee will be signing free autographs at a Home Depot from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

The Home Depot
7015 E Telegraph Rd
Commerce, CA 90040

More Topps Preview Pics

With the Baseball season nearing full bloom Topps is slowly releasing preview photographs of some upcoming card sets. On Twitter yesterday they released the below pic of a dual Clayton Kershaw/ Matt Kemp autographed card. It is from the 2012 Topps Chrome set and is expected to be on store shelves on August 22nd. For more preview pics from this set check out Beckett's story.

Then, on the Topps facebook page they showed off some cards from the highly anticipated 2012 Topps Heritage Baseball card set. As you can see, they use the vintage 1963 Topps card design this year.

This may be the best Dodgers autograph card I've seen all year. Kershaw and Koufax on the same card. Just too awesome.