eBay Find: Jackie Robinson Printing Plate

Recently, a great Jackie Robinson item was sold on eBay. It is an original 1947 printing plate for the highly sought after "I'm Rooting for Jackie Robinson" pin. A mint version of the pin easily sell for $200.00 to $300.00 a piece, or more. This item sold for $495.00. That's not too bad considering it is probably one-of-a-kind and cost almost as much as an actual pin.

During Jackie's rookie season, a series of celluloid pins were sold just outside of Ebbets Field. Vendors would be standing outside of the stadium holding a piece of cardboard with the pins attached. They would probably be screaming, "Get your pins right here! Jackie Robinson pins!"

There two versions of the pin, one with a red border and another with just a white background. This printing block is for the white background version. Other pins include a "Brooklyn 1947 Dodgers Congratulations" pin, "Outstanding Rookie" pin and "19 Rookie of the Year 47" pin.
eBay Auction Link:

The Quadruple Play

To follow up on my last post below.

On July 1, 1903 the The New York Giants performed a feat that has never been repeated. They completed Baseball's only quadruple play. Here is what happened.

St. Louis had the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 6th inning. Homer Smoot is up to bat and hits a shallow fly ball to centerfield for out No. 1. Giant outfielder, Roger Bresnahan, fires the ball to home plate to catch Clarence Currie trying to score on a sacrifice fly for out No. 2. Catcher John Warner then throws the ball towards secondbase to shortstop George Davis who tags out Patsy Donovan who is coming from firstbase. This is out No. 3. Davis, who must not have realized that 3 outs were already recorded, then throws back to the catcher who subsequently tags out John Farrell at home as he tries to score from secondbase.

Of course, only the first three outs were recorded.

SABR Triple Play Descriptions:

Yesterday's Game: The Triple Play

As I'm sure you all know, the Dodgers lost to the Angels 6 to 1 yesterday. Furthermore, I'm sure you all know that the Angels pulled off their third triple play this Spring against the Dodgers. The unfortunate batter to start this rare feat was newly acquired Brady Clark. This event got me thinking, "how frequent is the triple play?" Well, the internet never seems to disappoint my curious mind.

SABR has an excellent analysis focused on the triple play. Check out the link here. It's amazing the amount of information they provide. They have a complete listing of every triple play since 1876, a complete description of every triple play, triple plays by month and stadium, and much much more. I don't know how they find the time to figure this all out.

The best part of the site is triple play trivia.

• Quadruple Play- Only the first three outs were counted - 7/1/1903 6th Inning - New York Giants vs. St. Louis Cardinals.
• The Detroit Tigers turned triple plays against the Boston Red Sox on two consecutive days (6/6/1908 and 6/7/1908). Detroit's Germany Schafer started both of them (once as a 3B and then playing 2B). Gavvy Cravath (Bos) batted-into the first one and was on base for the second one. Germany Schafer is also famous for stealing 3 bases on consecutive pitches without ever getting past 2nd base.
• On 9/26/1927 Washington Senators' batter Joe Judge hit into a triple play and was not charged with a time at-bat (Sacrifice Fly).

Amazing stuff. Anyway, triple play frequency can be seen through this handy graph: Link:

SABR Triple Plays Link:

eBay Buys: Some Recent Vintage Dodger Buys

Below are two items I recently won on eBay. They are 1911 T332 Helmar Stamps produced by the American Tobacco Company. They measure 1 1/8 by 1 3/8 inches and would be inserted in packs of Helmar Cigarettes. Fortunately, they are not very pricey and can be had for as little as $15.00 each. For being nearly 100 years old that's not too bad. Nap Rucker and George Bell are now a part of my collection.

UTK: Kuo's Prognosis

From the guru of Baseball sports injuries, Will Carroll of Under The Knife, provides his opinion of Kuo's injury.

He's been shut down with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. There's not much information beyond this, but the symptoms (inflammation and pain in the back of his shoulder) could be many things, from a cuff problem to a labrum tear to simple tendinitis. There's no use guessing here; the value is in knowing that he'll be shut down for much of April. Watch to see if he can get back to a throwing program by mid-month. If this stretches into May, we'll know it was one of the worse injuries.

UTK Link:

Urbina Sentenced to 14 Years

This is just hot off the presses. Ugueth Urbina, former Expos hurler and member of the 2003 World Series Champion Florida Marlins, receives a 14 year prison term in Venezuela. Apparently, he was involved in attacking five workers on his family ranch with machetes and gasoline. Yikes!
Story Link: Huffington Post: