One, Two, Three, Four, I Declare a Photoshop War

If you've read this blog over the past year, then you've undoubtedly run across several stories I posted about a huge Dodger fan named Christian.  See my first story here.

Well, Christian had the opportunity to throw out the first pitch before a game last season, and the moment was captured in the photo above.  If I recall correctly, this photo spread a bit on the web, but not at a level that would be considered viral.  Still, he was noticed.  Heck, it's hard not to notice a three-year old throw like that.  I have a 6-year old nephew who loves the game, but doesn't have the kind of form Christian already exhibits.

Anyway, the fine folks at the PhotoshopBattles on Reddit noticed the pic above and decided to let the Reddit masses have their fun.  Check out this thread to see their work.  Much of the stuff that was shared is incredible, so I suggest lurking around.  Below are some of my favorites.

(Reddit PhotoshopBattle: creuter)

As one poster wrote about the above photo, a "young Bruce Campbell."  

(Reddit PhotoshopBattle: dasmerten)

I love the one below.  And it's timely.

(Reddit PhotoshopBattle: lains-experiment)

I didn't know he could skate too!

(Reddit PhotoshopBattle: sevenshepard)

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Lelands Auctions: Don Newcombe's Awards For Sale

Before Justin Verlander completed the task in 2011, Don Newcombe was the only man in Baseball to have won the Rookie of the year, MVP and Cy Young Awards in a career.  Now, as I look through the Lelands newest auction catalog, I discover that those actual three awards won by Newcombe are now up for sale.  See them below.

According to Lelands, these were acquired directly from Newcombe, but no transfer date was shared.  I won't try to speculate about how these got into someone else' hands, but I will add that if the Dodgers new ownership are truly interested in creating a Dodgers museum then they must start by acquiring these three items.  Put them where they belong- into a place where it can be enjoyed by the Dodger faithful.

Below is the 1949 Rookie of the Year Award.  From the auction description:

After one year in the Negro Leagues, Don Newcombe made a big splash in the majors in 1949, winning 17 games, leading the league in shutouts, and pitching 32 consecutive scoreless innings over one stretch. He was also among the first four black players to be named to a All-Star team, along with teammates Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella and the Indians' Larry Doby. This was the first National League Rookie of the Year Award ever handed out, as there was only one given out covering both leagues the previous two seasons, with Robinson having won the first during his historic 1947 barrier-breaking campaign.

As of this writing it is already at $12,100.00.

(Auction Link)

Here is his 1956 National League MVP Award.  As you can see, the silver portion has a patina to it, but if the Dodgers were to acquire this I would suggest shining it up.  This award is, at the time of this writing, at $33,275.00.

(Auction Link)

Here is Don's 1956 CY Young Award.  From the auction description:

The Cy Young Award originated in 1956, and we proudly present that prestigious inaugural prize right here! It is the one and only Cy Young presented to Don Newcombe, who went 27–7 with a 3.06 ERA, five shutouts and 18 complete games that dominant season, leading the league in winning percentage for a second consecutive year. What's especially noteworthy about Newcombe's 1956 season is that it marked the first of 10 occasions in which a pitcher won both the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards in the same season (the last being Justin Verlander in 2011).

The value for this award is already up to $40,262.75.

(Auction Link)

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Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 12/18/2012

The above pic was tweeted by @Dodgers.

• The 1983 Fleer Project shares a recently received autographed card from former Dodgers pitcher Terry Forster.
• Night Owl Cards continues with his Best Dodgers Card Ever Made feature with #11 to 20.
• Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports notes that Andre Ethier's name has been discussed in recent trade talk.

The Dodgers have “zero intention” of trading Ethier, the official said, but will listen to offers. The discussions, to this point, have failed to progress.

• Patrick Rishe at Forbes notes that the Dodgers believe that asset acquisition will bolster value.

Guggenheim is going big in the hopes of landing a lucrative television home for the Dodgers as part of what may become the most impressive stable of sports and entertainment properties the sports industry has ever seen.

• Check out the drawing created by a son of Dale Murphy in support of his inclusion into the Hall of Fame.
• Panini released some preview pics from their 2012 National Treasures Baseball card set.  See them here.  Unfortunately, no Dodgers previews are provided, but there was this incredible look Gwynn autographed card below.

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2012 Leaf Memories Baseball - Dodgers Cards - Piazza, Lasorda, Valenzuela, Puig and Seager

Leaf has gone Baseball card crazy the past several weeks.  Since the end of the 2012 Baseball season they have released a Metal Baseball Draft set and Valiant Baseball Draft set.  Now, they release probably their best set this year.  Just out in stores is 2012 Leaf Memories Baseball.  See a complete checklist here.

This set takes a look back at a once loved and revered Baseball card set- 1990 Leaf.  It uses the exact same design while also including foil stamped buyback cards from the original 1990 set.  Heck, they even put together a 70 player checklist of autographed buyback cards that were inserted into packs.  BTW, this is a very limited product.  Only 155 (10-box) cases were produced.  The base cards to the new set are numbered to only 99, the autographed base cards are numbered to 25, and the buybacks are numbered to 20  (with a couple of limited parallels added on).

Check out the Dodgers base cards below.  Every base card has a companion autographed version available.  Click on any pic to embiggen.

#544 Corey Seager / #AU-CS1 Corey Seager

#552 Yasiel Puig / #AU-YP1 Yasiel Puig

#567 Mike Piazza / #AU-MP1 Mike Piazza

#575 Tommy Lasorda/ #AU-TL1 Tommy Lasorda

Fernando Valenzuela is the only Dodger in the autographed buyback checklist.  As you can see, it has been embossed with silver foil and is numbered to only 34 copies- this corresponds to his uniform number.

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Collection: A Couple of Joe Thurston Autographed Cards

Joe Thurston rose up quickly through the Dodgers farm system.  In 2001, he was a top-10 Dodgers prospect, and looked to have a bright future as a second baseman.  Heck, in 2002 he earned the Dodgers' Minor League Player of the Year Award and Baseball America's AAA Player of the Year honors.  Unfortunately, that season would prove to be the peak of his minor league career.

His stats continued to dip, and he was eventually traded to the Yankees in 2005.  From there, Thurston has bounced around.  In 2008, he finally garnered some significant playing time as a utility infielder for the Cardinals, but failed to stick with them long-term.  Today, I am unsure if he is currently playing ball.

Featured here area couple of 2003 Donruss Leaf Certified Materials autographed cards of Joe Thurston- in the Gold and Red parallel versions.

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Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 12/17/2012

Dodgers photographer Jon SooHoo shared a bunch of photos from this past weekends Dodgers Mall Tour with Nick Punto and Tim Leary.  See more photos here.

• Ned Colletti Explains Team's Spending, via Mark Saxon at ESPN.  Listen to the interview, here.

"Our payroll a year ago was $90 [million]," Colletti said in an interview on ESPNLA 710. "We're up over $200 [million] now. If you added it all up, it might be up over 300 [million] over two years. Had we been at 150 last year and 150 this year, nobody would be saying a word, right?

• Mark Saxon also writes of the Dodgers/Angels marketing rivalry.

Now, there's this exciting slugfest going on, the Dodgers and Angels bringing baseball's spending war 3,000 miles west, from the Interstate 95 corridor of Boston and New York to the I-5 corridor between L.A. and Anaheim. Everybody knows what it's about: TV money, ridiculous amounts. The Angels got theirs about a year ago, for $3 billion over 20 years from Fox. The Dodgers are in the process of hammering theirs out now and, according to some reports, they could land double what the Angels got. Moneyball was so 2002, so Bay Area.

• Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports notes that the Dodgers are one of five teams to watch right now.  Both Harang and Capuano figure on being traded.
• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, Dodgers bench coach Trey Hillman is excited to be reunited with Zack Greinke.

"He can be a little standoffish. There are days he doesn't speak," said Hillman. "But he's a good teammate, especially with his fellow starting pitchers. My objective was to stay out of his way. I had maybe six or seven conversations with him the whole year. There wasn't really a need for more. 

• Eric Stephen at True Blue LA writes about AJ Ellis and arbitration.
• With the recent influx of Cuban ballplayers into the Majors, Gary Ashwill at Agate Type takes a look at the first Cubans to play in the American minor leagues in 1904.
• I found this story hilarious.  Charlie Sheen, in a drunken filled episode, gave away his prized Babe Ruth autographed Baseball to Zach Efron, via Big League Stew.  BTW, the British press has it wrong.  No Ruth autographed Baseball has every sold for a value near $2.6Mil. 
• Below is a Happy Holidays message from the Dodgers.

Video Link:

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