Blog Kiosk: 12/29/2011

Dee Gordon Comments on twitter: "I swear I absolutely HATE losing!” (Pic Link)

• Chris Erskine of the LA Times catches up with Gary Cypres to talk about his Sports Museum of Los Angeles.

  Before he collected sports memorabilia, Cypres collected businesses — retail, travel, mortgage lending. His pockets deep, he turned his passion for sports into this collection. Estimates of its value range to $30 million, but he won't even speculate, saying it's only worth what it eventually sells for.

• The Bryan Stow lawsuit against the Dodgers could potentially cost millions, via the Denver Post.

  Attorney Ehline deals with brain injury cases as part of his law practice, has attended Dodgers games, and he relates that cases involving head injuries can often result in settlements and verdicts in the millions of dollars. Although there is no outcome known, or court finding of brain injuries currently, attorney Ehline relates that repeated kicks to the head and comas, as alleged here, are generally accepted to be a cause of brain injuries.

• Ryan Garvey, Steve's son, is transferring out of USC, via Dan Arritt of ESPN. Big mistake if you ask me.
• Panini's blog shares some production pics for their upcoming 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Baseball set; including the below pic of the Kershaw card.
• I find the power of the internet absolutely fascinating, and so does Forbes.
• Babes Love Baseball puts together a list of 2011 Most Memorable Stories in MLB.
• The Baseball Professor takes a look at the fantasy values of the leagues top 25 pitchers. Take note fantasy players, this is important stuff. On Clayton Kershaw:

  Kershaw's stuff is devastating. With all due respect to Verlander and Halladay, Kershaw has the highest ceiling in the league.

  For fantasy purposes, I would try to take Kershaw in the 1st round if available (focusing on pitching has done me well in fantasy leagues) then go after Haren, Shields, Johnson, Wainwright or Darvish at the appropriate times.
• Check out the 24 Greatest Sports Streakers of 2011, via Busted Coverage.
• Matt Kemp at CaliChristmas with DJ Vick One. (Hat Tip: Vin Scully is My Homeboy)

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• If you're a hockey fan you'll definitely enjoy this. If not, I gotta believe you'll still think its a gas. Check out Don Cherry's piano desk.

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Murray Chass Knows Who Will Buy the Dodgers

Murray Chass, retired NY Times sportswriter and prior winner of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, has some insight into the mind of Selig when concerning the sale of a ball team.

When the Boston Red Sox were in the process of being sold in 2001, John Henry, then the owner of the Florida Marlins, joined forces with Tom Werner, former owner of the San Diego Padres, and Larry Lucchino, a veteran, highly regarded executive, who had served as president of the Baltimore Orioles and the Padres.

All interested buyers of the Red Sox, they merged their efforts at the suggestion of Commissioner Bud Selig. As soon as I heard that they were making a joint effort to secure the team, I wrote in The New York Times that their group had become the leading candidate.

I had read recently, I'm unsure where, that a similar effort is underway for the Dodgers. Can Selig use his magic again? It's a possibility. With that in mind, Chass predicts who is now in the lead.

Circumstances are far more premature and complex than they were when Henry, Werner and Lucchino merged their efforts. Much has to happen before Frank McCourt can sell the Dodgers, and the team’s bankruptcy status makes the process more intricate.

My money, however, is on the money that (Stan) Kasten and his group will generate for McCourt, who has owned the Dodgers into such a depressed state he deserves worse.

And guess who is one of the partners- Magic Johnson. That's right, "Showtime" may be turning blue.

Adding Johnson to the mix is more than putting icing on the cake. In his post-basketball life, Magic has become a successful entrepreneur and as an African-American would be a highly attractive addition to the major league lineup of owners.

Where are the big bucks coming from?

The money man in the group is Mark Walter, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services company that is said to manage more than $125 billion in customer assets.

“Guggenheim Baseball Management brings together a team of proven winners with deep ties to the Los Angeles community, an impressive track record of sports excellence and the financial wherewithal to provide long-term financial stability for the Dodgers organization,” Walter said in a statement to Bloomberg News.

Chass goes into more detail about the group, but hesitates at suggesting that other partners could potentially enter the fold. I think this remains a possibility. Check out what Murray Chass has to say right here.

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On another front, Business Insider notes that Steve Cohen is so interested in the Dodgers that he has already hired an architect for Dodger Stadium.

With his financial muscle (potential SEC problems aside) and support from local businessmen like David Geffen and Eli Broad, maybe a combined effort from Kasten and Cohen might be in order.

1947 "Brooklyn Against The World" Invitation

Ephemera= Written matter meant to be useful for a short period.

The collecting mind knows no bound. We'll chase after anything as long as its related to something we enjoy. This even includes scraps of paper for a onetime event.

Found on eBay is the below dinner invitation celebrating the 1947 2nd Annual "Brooklyn Against the World" Amateur Baseball Series. Dodgers President Branch Rickey and Brooklyn Eagle Owner/Publisher Frank D. Schroth presided over the event. The series featured a group of all star sandlot nines and equivalent squads from as far away as Montreal in a game of ball. I am unsure how long this lasted, but appears to have at least gone on well into the 50's.

(eBay Auction Link)

Checkout the pic below that I found at the Brooklyn Public Library featuring a group of players from this tournament visiting the USS Juneau in Brooklyn Navy Yard. I had initially thought this was a youth tournament, but based on this pic that appears to be wrong.

(Pic Link)

Below is a advertising sign for this exact 2nd Annual tournament. It had previously sold at Leland's for $115.00 in 2001.

(Pic Link)

Scioscia posing with Smokey the Bear

"Protect Home!" Scioscia says.

This has more meaning than just his profession as a Major League catcher. It is also the duty that those who fight fires mightily profess. To spread the word Smokey the Bear solicits the help of our favorite catcher, Mike Scioscia.

This is a poster I ran into on eBay that has to be close to 30 years old. It is reminiscent of a Smokey the Bear set featuring 3 Dodger players (one of which was not Scioscia) from 1984. Check out my previous post about the set here. Could this possibly have been a stadium giveaway back then? Anyone remember?

(eBay Auction Link)

Collection: Karim Garcia

Karim Garcia was looking pretty good as a Dodger prospect. In 1995 he batted .319 for the Albuquerque Dukes while knocking in 91 runs with a OPS of .912. The Sporting News named him Minor League Player of the Year. Heck, a managers poll that season named him just below Alex Rodriguez as that seasons hottest prospect. Things were on the upswing for the kid. At 19 he would join the Dodgers for a short stint- to get his feet wet. Over the next couple of season he would stay in AAA and play minimally for the Dodgers. It just seemed like he couldn't take it to the next level. Then, during the 1997 Expansion Draft he would go unprotected and be snipped by the Diamondbacks as their 9th pick.

Unfortunately, his status as a everyday Major Leaguer never really came to fruition. He would bounce around from the minor to majors then from club to club. Soon, a promising prospect would be labeled a major bust. On top of that, a brawl with a Fenway Park employee as a member of the Yankees and a reported drunken episode during Spring Training a year later as a member of the Mets really sealed his fate in 2004. That would be his last Major League season.

Fortunately for Karim that would not be the end of his Baseball career. He would be reborn in Japan by showing he still had some skill. In consecutive games he had belted 3 homers each day to establish a Japanese League record. Then, he become a hero in Korea for the Lotte Giants as they called him the "Latino Bambino."

Featured here are 2 Karim Garcia autographed cards from my collection. On the right above is a 1997 Bowman autographed card and to its left is a 1996 Classic Visions Signings card.

Blog Kiosk: 12/28/2011

53 Days until pitchers and catchers report!

• Check out a new Dodgers blog called Shadows of '88.
  
• Steven Cohen is bidding on the Dodgers, via Bill Shaikin of LA Times.

  He has engaged one of America's notable sports architecture firms to propose renovations to Dodger Stadium, allied himself with one of baseball's power brokers, secured the support of at least two prominent Angelenos and met with several major league owners.

• Frank McCourt is #1, via LA Weekly.
  
• LFP takes a look at the Dodger bid book.
  
• Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts pulls for a Tim Raines as a Hall of Famer, and I couldn't agree more.
  
• Lasorda's Lair concludes its list of top 10 Dodger bums with Juan Castro.
  
• Freddy Sherman provides his fan's perspective on the Dodgers situation, via Yahoo.
  
• Nomo's Sushi Platter pulls out some cards featuring the movie Eight Men Out.
  
• DodgerBobble shows off his Steve Garvey musical bobblehead.
  
• A Very Zombie Holiday.

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