Congrats, Charley Steiner - He Will be Inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame

I would like to extend an hearty Blue Heaven congratulations to Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner.  This coming Saturday, he will be inducted in the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.  Check out his biography at the National Radio Hall of Fame, here.

Steiner joins 7 other radio legends being honored that evening; which also includes Los Angeles area Spanish broadcaster Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo.  BTW, past inductees include Vin Scully, Red Barber, Mel Allen, Harry Carey, Ronald Reagan and Ernie Harwell.

Charley Steiner has quite a resume.  He started his career in 1969 in Peoria, Illinois and quickly moved on to Davenport in 1971 to host his first sports show.  Since then, Steiner has has worked for WOR in New York, a sports director for RKO, was an ESPN sportscaster, did play-by-play for the Yankees with WCBS, then radio/television duties for the Dodgers.  Over that span he has won the Emmy 4-times.


Pic at the very top featuring Vin Scully, Sandy Koufax and Charley Steiner via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2013.

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Vintage Jackie Robinson and Some Negro League Photos at Hake's

Hake's Auctions does it again.  Over the past several years they have had some incredible Negro League photos available for sale.  As a fan with a voracious appetite for this league, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing them. They provide an historic snapshot of some long forgotten players. 

As you may know, most of them come from the Richard Merkin Collection; who was a very active collector of everything Negro Leagues related.  Others have come from the Cesar S. Lopez collection, creator of www.cubanball.com.

The below 1947 photo of Jackie Robinson comes from the Lopez Collection.  It features Jackie with Cuban Sports Director Genaro Suarez Rocabruna during Spring Training in Cuba.  As a way of hiding his true intentions of bringing Jackie up to Brooklyn, the Dodgers trained on the island to keep their plans secret.  Jackie trained with the minor league squad, but Branch Rickey kept a watchful eye.  Eventually, they made the historic announcement to the supposed surprise of Baseball.

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This next photo comes from the Richard Merkin Collection.  The next photo is of Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston and Fats Jenkins and dates to 1925.  Charleston is on the right.  Per the auction description:

Both men played for this Eastern Colored League team from 1924-1927. Clarence Reginald "Fats" Jenkins played both baseball and basketball. In his more than 20 years in the Negro Leagues, his baseball teams included the New York Lincoln Giants, New York Black Yankees and Pittsburgh Crawfords. His basketball teams included Cum Posey's Loendi Big Five based in Pittsburgh, and the New York Renaissance, the last of the Colored World Champions in 1925. Oscar was one of the greatest legends of the Negro Leagues. A multi-talented star, he was renowned by those who saw him play as the finest all-around player in Negro League history and was dubbed the "Black Ty Cobb" by sports writers.

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These next group of photos are glass plate negatives of the Royal Poinciana Hotel Baseball Club.  Per the auction description:

During the first two decades of the 20th Century, the Royal Poinciana Hotel Baseball Club included many notable Negro League baseball greats brought to Florida during the winter to play after the Negro League season was over. We believe these slides date to 1912-1913 and includes players from the Brooklyn Royal Giants including Jap Payne, Walter Ball, Pearl Webster, Frank Wickware, Sam Crawford, Frank Earle and Bill Handy. This is evidenced by two players who are shown in their Giants uniforms while the rest of the team wears their Royal Poinciana uniforms.

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Blog Kiosk: 11/7/2013 - Dodgers Links - Dodgbers Scouting, Masahiro Tanaka, and Dodgers Talking Contract with Mattingly

(auction link)

Here is a vintage April 18, 1958 AP wire photo of the Dodgers welcome parade through the Streets of Los Angeles.  Coach Charley dressen and Manager Walter Alston are seen in the front car.  Photo via eBay.  More photos from this parade can be seen at the USC Digital Library, here.

• JP Hoornstra at Inside the Dodgers writes an interesting piece about, "how the Dodgers use analytics today."
• JP Hoornstra also puts up a story at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, "Dodgers signal a change in philosophy".

At the time, the Dodgers weren’t just grabbing who they thought were the best players available. They also were rolling out a new philosophy.

“A little bit of both,” general manager Ned Colletti said. “When you have gaps in the system, you have to fill them.”

The gap Colletti was targeting was mature power pitchers with major league-ready speed. And really, what general manager wouldn’t want a system full of 22-year-old fireballers?

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "Five Dodger prospects on the cusp". - Alexander Guerrero, Joc Pederson, Onelki Garcia, Ross Stripling and Matt Magill.
• Via Ramona Shelburne at ESPN, "Don Mattingly, Dodgers talking deal".
• Via Brandon Lennox at True Blue LA, "AFL recap: Seager responds in grand fashion".
• Colleen Kane at the Chicago Tribune writes, "Sox scout Pellant joining Dodgers".  Gary Pellant is noted for being the 2nd player in Baseball history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same inning.  Here's a great article by Terry Nau at the Pawtucket Times about his life as a scout.  He'll fill a vacancy with the Dodgers that covered scouting of other professional clubs; i.e. scouting reports on teams playing the Dodgers next.  (Hat Tip: Tony Jackson at Dodger Scribe)
• The Masahiro sweepstakes will be delayed.  Via Gen at Yakyubaka.com, "New posting system agreement to be delayed, Rakuten’s discussions with Tanaka also pushed back".  The Dodgers have been named as a potential destination for this Japanese pitcher.  He'll be pricey, but all indications are that he's worth it.
• Via Dustin Nosler at Fellin' Kinda Blue, "Masahiro Tanaka scouting profile: He's good, and the Dodgers could use him".

Tanaka, 25, isn’t the next Yu Darvish. Darvish is an unquestioned ace and worth every penny the Texas Rangers paid for him. In hindsight, it was a really good deal. Tanaka is a younger, better version of Hiroki Kuroda. That isn’t a straight race-based comparison. Tanaka is a little smaller than Kuroda, but their deliveries and arsenals are similar -- well, at least their first four pitches. If you want a non-Japanese comparison, a guy like Dan Haren, Anibal Sanchez or Johnny Cueto might suffice. Haren is particularly apt because, like Tanaka, he relies on a split-fingered fastball as one of his out pitches. But if you want a better physical comp, Sanchez or Cueto is the correct choice.

• Jon Heyman at CBS Sports, "Free-agent rankings: Market much stronger than some think".

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Zack Greinke Wins the Silver Slugger Award - AJ Ellis Provides Some Comic Relief

This is no surprise.  Zack Greinke proved that he can swing the bat.  Heck, at times, I thought he was a better option off the bench than who we had.  In fact, he pinch-hit once this season against the Diamondbacks.  He came up for Paco Rodriguez in the 10th inning in a 5-5 tie, and walked.

Per a Dodgers press release:

Louisville Slugger announced today that pitcher Zack Greinke won his first-career Silver Slugger Award during a special hour-long telecast on MLB Network.

Greinke, 30, led qualifying Major League pitchers with a .328 batting average, 19 hits, a .409 on-base percentage and two stolen bases (T-1st), while ranking among the leaders in runs scored (5, T-7th) and doubles (3, T-3rd). He batted .368 with runners on base (7-for-19) and hit .357 with runners in scoring position (5-for-14), while posting a .500 batting average (6-for-12 with a double) against left-handed pitchers.

Since 1974, Greinke's batting average was the second-highest by a Dodger pitcher, behind only Orel Hershiser's .356 mark in 1993, while his on-base percentage was the highest during that period.

With 19 hits in 2013, Greinke, who has spent only two and a half seasons of his 10-year big league career in the National League, more than doubled his career hit total (18 entering the season) to raise his career batting average to .226 along with eight doubles, three homers and eight RBI in 300 games.

Greinke also had a stellar season on the mound, going 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA in 28 starts in his first season with the Dodgers.

Greinke is the first Dodger to be honored with a Silver Slugger since outfielder Matt Kemp won in 2011 and the first Los Angeles pitcher to take home the award since Orel Hershiser in 1993. It's the fifth time a Dodger pitcher has been awarded a Silver Slugger since the creation of the award in 1980 and 23rd time overall that a Los Angeles player has won the award, led by Mike Piazza's five trophies.

Pic at the very top via the @Dodgers on twitter.

BTW, AJ Ellis decided to send his congratulations this afternoon on twitter.  It's a hoot!

Congrats on Silver Slugger to best pure hitter on @Dodgers Zack Grenkie. We will never hear the end of this one.
— AJ Ellis (@AJEllis17) November 7, 2013

Appreciate all those spell checking my tweets. I'm sure Zach Grenkie won't mind. #thatsajoketoo
— AJ Ellis (@AJEllis17) November 7, 2013

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For the Golfers Out There - Spend Monday at Frank Robinson's Celebrity Golf Tournament with Some MLB Stars

This sounds like it could be fun. 

This coming Monday is the inaugural Frank Robinson Celebrity Golf Tournament on Monday, November 11, at 9:00 AM at the Wilshire Country Club. Go here to sign-up.

UPDATE:  BTW, this is far from cheap.  It's a foursome sponsorship price of $4,500.00 and $1,200.00 for individuals (from what I'm told).  Keep in mind that it's a charity event being held at a rather posh place.

UPDATE II:  The following changes have occurred with sports/entertainment celebrity participants:

IN:
Cedric the Entertainer
Rocky Carroll

OUT:
Anthony Anderson
Hank Conger
Mike Piazza
Dominic Smith
Mark Trumbo
Scott Wolf 

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Weekend Autograph Opportunities: Steve Garvey, Steve Sax, Dale Murphy, Wally Joyner, Nick Young of the Lakers and Norm Nixon

Here are this weekends autograph opportunities and events throughout the Southland. As always, be sure to check the Blue Heaven Calendar for other events (a link can always be found on the tab at the top of this page, just left of center), and always confirm with the establishment. Everything is subject to change.  Please email me with any tips about upcoming events in Southern California.  As the rest of the week progresses I'll update this post with other events (if there are any) as I become aware of them.  Also, I don't always list every event below, so be sure to check my Calendar.  I always try to favor free signing events over paying events.  Click on any pic to embiggen.

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Here is something that came out of nowhere.  According to Steve Garvey on twitter, he will be in Palm Desert this coming Sunday at the grand opening of a Dick's Sporting Goods store at the Westfield Palm Desert Mall from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM.

Dick's Sporting Goods
WESTFIELD PALM DESERT  
72-800 HIGHWAY 111, SUITE 2010
PALM DESERT, CA 92260
760-340-3526

Palm Desert Ca is in the Big Leagues! @DICKS Sporting Goods is Opening with Yours Truly this Sunday @WestfieldPD 12:30-2:30 See you There😎
— Steve Garvey (@SteveGarvey6) November 6, 2013

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On Thursday, November 7th, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM both Dale Murphy and Wally Joyner will be signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans at The OC Dugout in Anaheim.  This is a pay event.  Go here for more information.

The OC Dugout
1238 S. Beach Blvd., Ste. K
Anaheim, California 92804
(714) 527-6319

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Steve Sax will be at Manuel's El Tepeyac Cafe on Saturday, November 9 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM.  See the flyer below.

Manuel's El Tepeyac Cafe
13131 Crossroads Pkwy S. 
City of Industry, CA
(562) 695-2277

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Lakers forward Nick Young will be signing autographs at Westside Sportscards & Memorabilia in Santa Monica on Saturday, November  from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM.  Check out the flyer below.

Westside Sportscards & Memorabilia
1431 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, California 90404
310-828-1777

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Norm Nixon will be at Frank & Sons on Saturday, November 9 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM.  Check out the flyer below.

Frank & Sons
19649 San Jose Ave
City of Industry, CA 91748

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