Monday, September 06, 2010

Garvey- Just Lounging Around

What a perfect photo for Labor Day. Steve Garvey warms-up in style, below, in this vintage photo taken by Dodger photographer Bruce Margolis.

2010 Topps "206" Dodger Inserts

Here are some of the limited insert cards featuring Dodger players in the 2010 Topps "206" set. Below is a silk insert card of Manny Ramirez.
There are a couple of Dodger book relic cards of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.
Below, Kemp is teamed up with Justin Upton.
Jackie Robinson has this great stamp collection insert.
Here are a couple of the Dodger autograph inserts of Duke Snider and Johnny Podres.

Brooklyn Had Mullin, LA Had Hubenthal

When you look through the eyes of many Brooklyn fans you would often see the team through the drawings of Willard Mullin. His cartoons helped define the team and propelled them to legendary lovable status. The artwork he created continues to stand the test of time and is a testament to the power an editorial cartoon can have. Not only that, he could make you laugh and smile.

In LA there hasn't quite been an artist out there to have the same influence as Mullin, but there sure have been some worthy artist worthy of inspection. One person to take note of is former LA Herald Examiner cartoonist Karl Hubenthal. In fact, he had worked with and considered Willard Mullin his mentor.

Fortunately, I recently ran into a handful of Hubenthal Dodger cartoons on eBay and thought I would pass them along here. They are all from the LA Herald Examiner.

Below, Hubenthal celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the Dodgers in LA with the help of Mullin's Brooklyn Bum. The Bum states, "It Wuz Soitenly a Long Ways From Flatbush." The muscular LA Dodger responds with, "But Aren't You Glad You Came?"
(click the pic to enlarge)
(eBay Auction Link)

This cartoon is from April 8, 1981, and celebrates Opening Night against Houston.
(click the pic to enlarge)
(eBay Auction Link)

After winning the World Series in 1981, the LA Dodger rides into the 1982 season on his championship banner. It is from April 5, 1982 and ushers in the new Baseball season.
(click the pic to enlarge)
(eBay Auction Link)

Sunday, September 05, 2010

Welcome to the Show John Lindsey

Welcome to the Dodgers and the big show. Your 16 year journey is really just beginning. Below is a great ESPN video about his desire to make it.
UPDATE: I just realized that the ESPN embed script is screwed up, so just click here to see the video.

Great Find: Louis Sockalexis PC

Here is a great, possibly one-of-kind, real photo postcard of Baseball legend Louis Francis Sockalexis found on eBay. It is dated from 1907 when he briefly played for a Maine League team.

As you may know, Sockalexis was a Native American ballplayer from the Penobscot tribe in Maine. He was born in a town called Old Town and showed a great amount of athletic prowess at an early age. Entering the College of the Holy Cross in 1894 he excelled at Baseball, football and track. Three years later he transferred to Notre Dame.

While with the Fighting Irish he played in a exhibition game against New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, and faced a barrage of taunts and racist insults. Amos Rusie, a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Giants, even remarked that he would strike out that "damned Indian." Sockalexis, buoyed by a small contingent of family and friends from the Penobscot tribe in Maine who made the trip south, socked the very first pitch from Rusie for a home run over the center field fence. The man had stepped up in the moment.
"If the small and big boys of Brooklyn find it a pleasure to shout at me, I have no objections. No matter where we play, I go through the same ordeal, and at the present time I am so used to it that at times I forget to smile at my tormentors, believing it to be part of the game." (Brooklyn Eagle, May 1897)
Later that year he went on to play for the Cleveland Spiders, but lasted only three years in the show. Problems with alcoholism had cut his career short. As is legend, the Cleveland team was named after him, but the historical record shows otherwise. The team name, Indians, was chosen through a contest held by a local newspaper.

Sockalexis legend continues to grow as collectors and fans discuss what could have been. He is noted for having a mighty bat, a strong arm and for being one of the first Native Americans to play the game professionally.
"Louis Sockalexis had the most brilliant career of any man who ever played the game. At no time has a player crowded so many remarkable accomplishments into such a short period of time as Sockalexis. He should have been the greatest player of the times — greater than Cobb, Wagner, Lajoie, Hornsby or any of the other men who made history for the game." - Hall of Famer Hughie Jennings
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"If Sock had stayed up for five years he could well have been better than Cobb, Wagner or Ruth." - Hall of Famer John McGraw
BTW, it sold for $810.00.

Blog Kiosk: 9/5/2010

I think it might be about time to start focusing on next season.
  • Check out these new Dodger blogs called Curse of the Piazza and the hilariously named Oral Kershyster.
  • Memories of Kevin Malone has up a very interesting scouting report of the 1955 Dodgers written by NY Yankee coach Jim Turner.
  • The White Sox also considered trading for some Dodger Manny wigs, via BLS.
  • Dodger charity under investigation by CA Attorney General, via Baseball Mussings.
  • Now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is suing Upper Deck. Will the bad news ever stop for Upper Deck, via Sports Collectors Daily?
    “In fact, at all times, Upper Deck was fully aware that Abdul-Jabbar had never authorized Upper Deck to use his photograph, name and signature for college-themed cards, and Abdul-Jabbar had previous rejected Upper Deck’s request for such authorization.”
    Morons!
  • Wow! Rhett Yeakley found a dozy from an eBay auction- a small estate collection of an early 1900's ballplayer named David Creagan. Now that in itself is pretty cool, but the best thing of all is it included a period photograph featuring A. J. Dussault and Olympian Jim Thorpe. Apparently given to Creagan as a keepsake, it is from Thorpe's time on a professional Baseball team that eventually lead to him losing his Olympic medals. Unbelievable! Go here to check it out.