Adding a Couple 2013 Supreme Matt Magill Cards

I've had the 2013 Topps Supreme Baseball card set on the mind lately, and have found myself collecting them at a furious pace.  A couple of weeks ago, I shared a couple of Johnny Podres cards that I recently added to my collection.  Now, I show you some Matt Magill's.

Featured here are the two different Supreme Stylings Magill cards - one of which is a "1 of 1" parallel card.

He is only 24 years old and is pitching in his second season at AAA.  Magill had a couple of very good starts for the Dodgers last season, but was unable to show any consistency.  During his last two starts wit the Dodgers he gave up a total of 14 runs - 5 of the unearned.  I still have high hopes that Magill will develop into a viable bottom-of-the-rotation starter.  Unfortunately, his 2014 season has been rocky in Albuquerque.  He has a 4.94 ERA in 5 starts so far, a WHIP of 1.479 and has seen his strike out numbers dwindle.

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Some Significant Koufax Baseballs at Heritage Auctions

Heritage's current sports auction has some fantastic memorabilia available; including a collection of game-used Baseballs from several key Sandy Koufax milestone games.  These group of balls come directly from the estate of former UPI photographer Ernie Schworck.  Per a biography from Heritage:

With a camera around his neck and a spirit of adventure in his heart, renowned photographer Ernie Schworck spent three decades in the employment of United Press International (UPI), aiming his lens at the most famous figures of twentieth century sport and politics. The collection that follows focuses primarily on the former, Schworck's Los Angeles residency making him a familiar face at Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium. He's best remembered for his creation of some of the most famous photographs of legendary southpaw Sandy Koufax ever captured, images that he populated with hand-notated game used balls that served as living captions for no-hitters, World Series victories and other historic achievements. Schworck wisely retained many of these baseballs for his personal collection, and they make their hobby debut in the lots that follow.

There are 5 different Baseball available.  Below are two of my favorite.

Below is a August 31, 1959 Baseball from the night Sandy struck out 18 Giants at Dodger Stadium.  I love the accompanying photo taken by Schworck of Koufax holding this very ball.

(Auction Link)

(Auction Link)

This next Baseball is from Koufax's 2nd career no-hitter on May 11, 1963 against the Giants. 

(Auction Link)

(Auction Link)

BTW, you can check out the other Koufax Baseballs through the list below:

• 1963 World Series Game Four Used Baseball (Link)
• 1963 Sandy Koufax Twentieth Win of Season Game Used Baseball (Link)
• 1966 World Series Game Two Used Baseball--Sandy Koufax' Last Game (Link)

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Blog Kiosk: 4/29/2014 - Dodger Links - A Kershaw Rehab Start on Wednesday and Urias Shoulder Issues

Hanley Ramirez and Carl Crawford are taking selfies on a plane, pic via @Dodgers on twitter - by way of Hanley's Instagram.

• This is not a surprise.  Via Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports, "Exit strategy for NBA, Donald Sterling: Sell Clippers to Magic Johnson."

The Dodgers group is serious about owning an NBA team, and the league knows it. Together, they arranged for Johnson and the Guggenheim Partners to purchase the WNBA's cash-strapped Los Angeles Sparks in February. The league office needed someone to spare it the embarrassment of the WNBA's flagship franchise folding, and Magic and Guggenheim bailed it out. This hadn't been born out of a sense of benevolence, but rather a pragmatic move to deeper ingratiate themselves with the NBA.

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPNLosAngeles.com, "Dee Gordon rolls with the changes."

“ ‘Just go do it,’ “ Gordon remembers telling himself. “We’ve got Hanley Ramirez as our shortstop. The team just needs me to get in there some type of way. I was down for whatever they want me to do, because I just want to be in there and help as much as I can. I don’t think people thought it was going to go over as well as it has, to be totally honest.” 

• 2014 Bowman Baseball cards come out on Wednesday.  Chris Olds at Beckett.com shares a bunch of preview pics; including the Yasiel Puig card on the right.
• Via Bernie Pleskoff at MLB.com, "Lee close to being able to contribute in Majors."

It is impressive that Lee has enough maturity and mound presence to be able to use any pitch in his arsenal with confidence. He knows how to sequence pitches very well and won't let a hitter find a comfort zone in the batter's box. He isn't afraid to use any of his pitches at any point in the count, changing the eye level of the hitter and keeping the hitter guessing, In short, Lee is continuing to master the art and nuances of pitching rather than just throwing.

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Kershaw headed to Chattanooga for rehab start."

Clayton Kershaw will make his second rehab start on Wednesday, for Double-A Chattanooga, the club announced Monday.

• Via Dustin Nosler at Dodgers Digest, "Julio Urias’ shoulder hurting, but it isn’t serious."

Of all the types shoulder injuries he could have sustained, this one seems like the least serious. There isn’t any structural damage (as far as we know), and it was the result of a bicep injury. His arm is fine.

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Alexander Guerrero Gets his 1st Baseball Card - More Urias Cards are Coming

As you probably know, 2014 Bowman Baseball cards officially go live this coming Wednesday, but that hasn't stopped local retail establishments from stocking their shelves a little early.  It has been reported through numerous circles that packs are being found, purchased and sold (with cards in-hand) as we speak.

With that in mind, I thought I would let everyone know that this years Bowman set, which is principally geared towards prospect/minor league collectors, will include the very first licensed Baseball card of Alexander Guerrero.  BTW, I'll have pics of all the Dodger cards in a few days, so stay tuned.  UPDATE:  I thought I would add for clarification that he does have an unlicensed card - a 2013 Leaf Memories card that you can see here.

There is a Base Prospect card (#BP106) and a Base Chrome Prospect card (#BCP106) available to chase - along with the numerous parallels that are so popular these days.  For those who do not know, the Base Prospect and Base Chrome Prospect cards are identical looking and only differ in the kind of cardboard stock that is used.   Below is a look at Guerrero's Base Chrome Prospect card.

Here is the reverse of the card.

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Also, this years Bowman set also includes several new Julio Urias Baseball cards.  This isn't his first licensed card, but will likely constitute his first affordable offerings.  His rookie cards, a 2013 Bowman Sterling Prospect Autographed Card (#BSAP-JU), have been regularly selling for $20 to $30 a piece (Check out a past story about an initial run-up in values during Spring Training this year, here).  So, fans unwilling to spend much money before he has proven himself have been shut out on his cards.  Fortunately for those fans, this years Bowman set includes several different non-autographed Urias cards that all Dodger collectors will find affordable.

Like Alexander Guerrero above, Julio Urias has a Base Prospect (#BP6) and a Base Chrome Prospect cards (#BCP6) available to chase.  Below is a look at his Base Chrome Prospect card.

Here is a look at the reverse of that card.

There are also several other Urias cards available.  Below is a complete checklist.

• Base Prospect Set - #BP6
• Chrome Prospect - #BCP6
• Top 100 Prospects Inserts - #BTP-44
• Bowman Chrome Mini - #BM-LAD2
• Bowman Chrome Mini Autograph - #CMA-JU
• Bowman Black Autograph - #BBC-JU
• Oversized 1989 Bowman Autograph - #89-JU
• Oversized Ice Boxloaders - #OI-JU
• Oversized Ice Autograph Boxloader - #OAI-JU
• Ultimate Prospect Autograph Book Card - #Julio Urias

 The last 6 cards in the checklist above are likely to be very scarce and pricey.

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Take a Look at some Jackie Robinson High School Yearbooks

Memory Lane is currently running an auction that features some Jackie Robinson memorabilia that are rarely seen.  In fact, this is the first time I've for me.  They have high school yearbooks covering all 4 years of Jackie Robinson's stay at John Muir Technical High School in Pasadena.  See the auction here.

As you may recall, I had featured several college yearbooks in my collection featuring Jackie Robinson in the past, so these items strike a chord with me.  Check out my past post on those yearbooks here:  1938 Pasadena Junior College, 1939 Pasadena Junior College, 1940 UCLA and a 1941 USC yearbook that happens to also have Jackie in it.

Below are some photos of Jackie in these high school yearbooks.

1935 Yearbook - Freshman year - Lightweight Track, the only sport he participated in that year. You can see Jackie on the 3rd row on the bottom - far left.

This is from 1936 as a member of the football team - 2nd row, far left.

Here's an early Jackie Robinson signature and a photo of him playing basketball.

Below, he is on the Baseball team.  I believe he is in the top photo, on the back row, second person on the left.

Jackie Robinson is shown below in the 1937 yearbook.  He is on the top row, far left.

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Blog Kiosk: 4/28/2014 - Dodger Links - Withrow, Kershaw and Perez

I can only imagine that Juan Uribe is ordering some new clothes to wow his Dodger teammates in the photo above.  Pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014.

• Stealing Home at All Trade Bait, All the Time writes an excellent commentary on the Donald Sterling mess.  I share your grief Stealing Home.  This whole thing makes me feel sad too.
• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Don Mattingly on Chris Withrow: 'You want a guy with that kind of stuff.'"

"Obviously we like his stuff. It's funny, you kind of match up every day with the sheet. You match up caution areas and good areas. With With, his stuff is pretty much always good. You can match him up with anybody," Mattingly recalled. "Right there, at CarGo and Tulo, it just felt like if you were going to get through those two guys, you want a guy with that kind of stuff."

• Via Scott Miller at MLB.com, "Disappointed Kershaw to make another rehab start."

"I feel normal," he said. "That's the hard part, going to pitch another [Minor League] game when I feel healthy."

• Via Ron Cervenka  at Think Blue LA, "Chris Perez – A quiet Dodger with a loud arm."

“I’m throwing a lot better than I did last year, that’s for sure,” Perez said during a recent interview. “I’m just going out there whenever they call my name for as long as they need me and be ready the next day.”

• Jared Massey at Dodgers Nation shares a "Dodgers Minor League Recap – 4/27: Zach Lee Has Rough Start In Fresno."  While Chad Moriyama  at Dodger Digest does his own, "Down On The Farm Update: Games Of 4/22 – 4/27."

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