Dodgers Blue Heaven

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Blog Kiosk: 10/19/2013 - Dodgers Links -

The game started out with big smiles. Above, Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez sign a couple of signs created by a Cardinals fan before Game 6. Pic via Dodgers on tumblr. Check out more photos from yesterdays game here from Jon SooHoo.

Rob Neyer at at Baseball Nation wonders what the Dodgers might look like if a certain event hadn't forced McCourt to sell the team. This is fascinating, but I don't know if I would consider the unfortunate events surrounding Brian Stow to be the true tipping point that lead to the sale. I think it was a nexus of events that accumulated over time; one of which was the security issues at Dodger Stadium. I dunno. Frankly, the McCourt era ended rather painfully for fans and I dare say that most would rather forget it ever happened. So, wondering how it happened is something few would want to bother to explore.

Now, whether the team would be different if McCourt was still around? That's an entirely different question. I have no doubt that this Dodger team would look nothing like it does today. We wouldn't have AGon, Crawford, Greinke, Wilson or Nolasco. Additionally, I am certain Puig and Ryu would be wearing a different uniform.

"For the true-blue Dodgers faithful, years of ritualized fandom," via Nita Lelyveld at the LA Times.
Via Bill Shakin at the LA Times, "Vin Scully on Cardinals mimicking Puig: 'It was like a chorus line'".

But Scully thought back to Joe DiMaggio, one of the most talented players he has ever seen. The way Scully told the story, DiMaggio played with no emotion.

“As much as I loved Joe DiMaggio,” Scully said, “I would hate to see 18 Joe DiMaggios on the field.”

"National Anthem standoff: Dodgers’ Scott Van Slyke and Cardinals’ Joe Kelly refuse to leave field before Game 6," via Mark Townsend at Big League Stew.
"Garvey's chance encounter leads to lifelong friendship," via Alyson Footer at MLB.com.
"NLCS umpiring crew not pleased with Puig," via Ken Gurnick and Lyle Spencer at MLB.com.
Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts asks, "Three top questions for the 2014 Dodgers".

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Friday, October 18, 2013

Wait... What? Hanley's in the Lineup!

David Vassegh of AM570 Radio just reported that Hanley Ramirez is back int he lineup. He even tweeted out a lineup card with his name on it.

Wow.

Were we being punked?

New Dodger lineup with @HanleyRamirez pic.twitter.com/CNhLfx15Bo
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) October 18, 2013

Bill Shaikin shares the new starting lineup.

Ramirez back in #Dodgers lineup: Crawford 7, MEllis 4, Gonzalez 3, Ramirez 6, Ethier 8, Puig 9, Uribe 5, AJEllis 2, Kershaw 1.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 19, 2013

UPDATE: There is some question whether Hanley will play. He was warming up on the field then headed to the training room. This looks like it'll literally be a game-time decision.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

No Hanley Tonight - Here's the Starting Lineup

In pregame news that likely shocks, if not worries already nervous Dodger fans, the team reveals that Hanley Ramirez will not be on tonight's starting lineup. In his place will be Nick Punto; who will hit in the #8 spot.

This definitely is bad news for the Blue Crew. Hopefully, Hanley is healthy enough to come off the bench, if needed. At this time there is no news regarding his general health.

UPDATE: Dylan Hernandez provides some news about Hanley, and it's not good.

Mattingly: Hanley worse today than yesterday, can't swing, unsure if he can pinch hit.
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) October 18, 2013

UPDATE II: OK... Ignore everything above. Hanley is in the lineup. See my update post here.

UPDATE II: Hold your horses... Hanley is still questionable.

Also, Yasiel Puig moves to the clean-up spot in the batting order. This creates a Dodger lineup that's balanced "left-right-left-right-left-right" at the top.

In Cardinals news, they replace their centerfielder with Shane Robinson. John Jay had a terrible time in the field in Game 5, so this is likely to help out the Red Birds defensively. As for Robinson's bat, he is hitting just .250 with a .664 OPS for the season. In other words, he's a step down. On the other hand, Jay was hitting just .182 in the postseason.

Take a look at the Dodger lineup below.

(pic credits: @Dodgers on twitter)

Below is the Cardinals starting lineup:

#Cardinals lineup: Carpenter 2B Beltran RF Holliday LF Molina C Freese 3B Adams 1B Robinson CF Kozma SS Wacha P
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) October 18, 2013

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

World Series Tickets Go on Sale on Saturday - Tomorrow

This might be a bit like pulling the cart before the horse, but I guess you gotta make these available before time runs out.

The Dodger will be making available for sale 2013 World Series tickets on Saturday at 10:00 AM. From a Dodger press release:

The Los Angeles Dodgers will have an online public sale of World Series tickets for games 3, 4 and 5 on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. on www.Dodgers.com.

Twitter followers of @Dodgers will have an exclusive on-sale period of 9:45 a.m. until 9:59 a.m. to purchase their World Series tickets before the general public sale begins online.

Fans will be limited to four tickets for each game played at Dodger Stadium. The Dodger Stadium box office WILL NOT be open on Saturday.

As you will recall, the American League defeated the National League during the All-Star Game, so if the Dodgers go to the Fall Classic they will host games 3,4 and 5. Below is a schedule of those potential games. Times to be determined later.

Game 3 on Saturday, Oct. 26
Game 4 on Sunday, Oct. 27
Game 5 (if necessary) on Monday, Oct. 28

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Origins of the Dodgers Iconic "LA" Cap Design, or Not

Tom Radom, an accomplished graphic designer, shared a great pic the other day on twitter that yearns to be shared. It is a letter to Dodger executive Art Patterson in 1957 from equipment maker Tim McAuliffe regarding recent talks about a LA Dodger logo.

As you know, the Dodgers were heading west and the team needed an new logo to represent them.

Thank you for your letter, I am making up two new LA's for Buzzie, I will send them to the Brooklyn office.

I will design them in the upper corner to show you what I mean, one will be identical with the LA I gave you only larger, and the other which is designed has the lower bar of the L, acting as the cross bar of the A.

This seemingly provides the origins of the current Dodger logo. Of course, that likely is not true.

The Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels had already existed in the Southland, and they used the exact same concept on their uniforms for many decades. As visual proof check out a 1929 Los Angeles Angels throwback uniform being sold at Ebbets.com below.


(pic via Ebbets.com: 1929 LA Angels of PCL)

Although it is not exactly like the current Dodgers logo, it does use the exact same concept of the interlocking letters. So, it's probably fair to say that the Dodgers "borrowed" the design from the PCL team.

On the other hand, it's not like they stole it. By 1957, Walter O'Malley had already purchased the PCL Angels from Phillip Wrigley (the chewing gum magnate) in preparation of his move to Los Angeles. So, the Dodgers only chose to adopt and slightly transform a design that he owned to fit with the big league club.

BTW, by 1957 the PCL LA Angels had been using a brand new design that looks more similar to the current Dodgers logo. Check out a vintage photo of Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda in that uniform below.

(pic via 90 Feet to Perfection: 1957 PCL Angels)

In case you can't see the cap, below is a look at that cap logo.

(pic via New Era Cap Talk)

As I was doing a little bit of research, I came across a great story about how a very young Jimmy Hahn, LA's former Mayor, once wrote to O'Malley with his own LA Dodgers cap design. He also suggested using the interlocking LA design. See that story at LA Observed here. When he was told that his original letter still existed he refused to take credit for the iconic Dodger logo. He wrote:

"To be honest, I think the old Pacific Coast League LA Angels may have used that logo and I may have 'borrowed' from that."

You should take a moment to check out Todd Radon's website. He shares a bunch of graphic designs he's created over the years, and I'm sure you'll recognize many of them. This guy's work is everywhere in sports.

Pic at very top via twitter @ToddRadom

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

2013 Topps Update - The Dodgers Base Cards and Short Prints

Topps unveiled the 2013 Topps Update set that includes All-Stars, new rookies and recently traded players. So, as you can imagine it's fileld with a bunch of Dodgers. Check out all of the Dodger base cards below. Next week I'll share pics of the Dodger insert cards.

Notice that Yasiel Puig and Hyun-Jin have a bunch of cards; including more than a handful of short-printed variations.

#US29 Scott Van Slyke #US46 Yasiel Puig RCH

#US106 Clayton Kershaw AS

#US109 Jose Dominguez US132 Ronald Belisario

#US171 Nick Punto #US191 Ricky Nolasco

#US192 Hyun-Jin Ryu RD #US208 Juan Uribe

#US250 Yasiel Puig

#US254 Brian Wilson #US261 Skip Schumaker

#US308 J.P. Howell #US330 Yasiel Puig RD

There are a bunch of Dodger short-printed cards. First, I wanted to show the Willie Mays card since it also includes Sandy Koufax. Yasiel Puig has 3 different variations available to chase after. Hyun Jin Ryu has 2 different variations in the set.