Happy Birthday, America!

On this wonderful 4th of July day please have a safe and sane holiday.  Happy Independence Day!

This day would not be complete without the below two videos.  The first one is from the movie "The Sandlot" and it's followed by Lou Gehrig's retirement speech as recited by MLB 1st Baseman.

Video Link:

Today is the 75th anniversary of Gehrig's retirement speech.

Video Link:

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Blog Kiosk: 7/4/2014 - Dodger Links - JP Howell Thriving, Pederson an All-Star and Some Wild Swings from the Dodgers

Here's a view of Coors Field during the singing of the national anthem last night, pic via @Dodgers on twitter.  The Dodgers played themselves into first place last night with a thrilling win over the Rockies, 3 to 2.  Zack Greinke was phenomenal as he went 8 strong innings.  Juan Uribe drove in the winning run in the 9th inning

• ICYMI:  Erisbel Arruebarrena has been called up to the Dodgers and Carlos Triunfel has been sent back down to AAA.  The Dodger press release is here.
• Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider provides an update on the recent Dodger international signings.  So far, 6 new players are now a part of the Dodger family.
• Via Stuart Wallace at The Daily Gammons, "On a team constantly in the limelight, Howell thrives in relative anonymity."

J.P. Howell quietly and effectively toils away in the middle innings, providing a steady bridge to the later innings for the Dodgers, in a season that has been predicated upon a career bests in ground ball rate (57.6%), holds (18), and a near-career best in strikeout rate (28.2%).

• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Joc Pederson named Triple-A All-Star."
• Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs writes, "The Worst of the Best: The Month’s Wildest Swings."  Three Dodger swings made the cut - WooHoo!
• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Tulo to talk Home Run Derby with Puig."
• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Dodgers sign 38th-round pick LHP Caleb Ferguson."
• If you'll be anywhere near Ithica, New York on Saturday you should check this out, via a tweet from Kings captain Dustin Brown:

Bringing The Cup to Cass Park Rink Sat July 5th, 9:30-11:30am. Requesting $5 donation for pictures to benefit various Ithaca Charities
— dustin brown (@DustinBrown23) July 3, 2014

• I had totally missed this.  Fernando Valenzuela will be in Topps upcoming 2014 Triple Threads Baseball card set.  In fact, he will have a coveted Triple Threads Triple Hits card that features an autograph, jumbo relic and a hand print.  You heard me right... a hand print.  Check out the photo tweeted out by Topps below showing Fernando giving the cards a low-five.  BTW, the set is slated to be released in September.

Check out "El Toro", Fernando Valenzuela, stamping some Hand Stamp cards for Triple Threads! pic.twitter.com/jGe79zOJ79
— Topps Company (@toppscards) June 27, 2014

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Puig Goes on Kimmel Show to Get Your Vote - Vote Puig!

With the voting for the 2014 MLB All-Star Game coming to an end tonight (Thursday, July 3rd at 8:59 PM PT) Guillermo of the Jimmy Kimmel Show visited with Yasiel Puig at Dodger Stadium yesterday to lobby on his behalf. 

First, though, Puig had to go through a grueling Q&A session with Guillermo to earn his vote.  Watch it below:

Video Link:

So, what do we find out about Puig?

• He totally knows who plays first base for the Dodgers, but obviously has no clue why the question is funny.
• Puig doesn't wear a cup, and that's a big mistake!  He claims he is always prepared for anything, but can you really be totally safe if you don't take the appropriate precautions.  Just ask LaTroy Hawkins (Video Link), or this guy (Video Link), or this guy (Video Link), or this guy (Video Link) or this guy (Video Link).
• Puig is a deeply emotional fellow: "Sometimes the pitcher breaks my heart, too."
• Finally, Puig can't sing... Like, really... He's horrible... Like, Rosanne Barr trying to sing the National Anthem bad... Or, Troy from West Virginia bad.

Anyway, be sure to cast your final ballots tonight for Yasiel Puig.  At last report (via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider), Puig stands in 3rd place for National League outfielders.  So, he needs your help to maintain his status.  Go here to vote.

Pic at the very top via @Dodgers on twitter.

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Blog Kiosk: 7/3/2014 - Dodger Links - Kershaw is Player of the Month, Jury Deadlocked in Stow Trial and 1st Round Pick Holmes Shines

To no one's surprise, Clayton Kershaw has been named the National League Pitcher of the Month of June.  Congrats!  Graphic above via @Dodgers on twitter.  Per a Dodgers press release:

Kershaw, who threw his first career no-hitter on June 18, was tops among qualifying Major League pitchers with a 0.82 ERA (4 ER/44.0 IP) last month while pacing the big leagues with six wins (6-0) and 61 strikeouts. The left-hander tied Philadelphia's Cole Hamels for the most innings pitched during the month and held opposing hitters to a .161 batting average, which was good for second in the N.L. behind Chicago Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta (.157). Kershaw went the distance in two of his six outings last month and did not allow a single run in his last three starts - a span of 24.0 scoreless innings. The 24.0-inning scoreless streak marked the longest such streak in Kershaw's career, besting a previous high of 22.0 scoreless innings from May 8-19, 2012.

• Holy Moly!  Via Kate Mather at the Miami Herald, "Deadlocked jury in Dodgers lawsuit told to keep trying for verdict."

A Los Angeles jury said Wednesday it was deadlocked over whether the Los Angeles Dodgers organization was responsible for the devastating injuries suffered by a San Francisco Giants fan beaten during the 2011 home opener at Dodgers Stadium.

But the judge in the case ordered the jury to return for further deliberations.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/02/4215654/deadlocked-jury-in-dodgers-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Dodgers sign Dominican outfielder Johan Calderon."
• Via Teddy Cahill at MLB.com, "Top pick Holmes shines in pro debut."

Right-hander Grant Holmes, the Dodgers' first-round pick in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft, threw two scoreless innings in his professional debut Wednesday, helping the Rookie-level Dodgers defeat the Mariners, 5-2, in the Arizona League.

Holmes struck out five batters and walked one. Outfielder Alex Verdugo, the Dodgers' second-round pick, went 1-for-2 with a double, a run and three walks.

• Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA, "Behind every great man there stands a great chef – even for Vin Scully."  Ron writes a great story about Chef Dave Pearson.

“Besides being a wonderful cook his personality is remarkable,” said Vin Scully of Pearson during a recent interview. “When you realize that there are so many demands on his time and trying to serve so many people coming and going, and yet he never appears upset, never appears short-tempered or grouchy, always everything is fine. He’s always smiling and that’s the key. He is a great gift to us besides the food that he cooks, oh yeah.”

• This might be the most horrible thing ever.  Via a tweet from @MLB_PR, take a look at the caps the players will be wearing.

Players will wear special cap during #ASG for 1st time. Inspired by classic 1970s #Twins helmet design: pic.twitter.com/6WCT9ziW0o
— MLB Public Relations (@MLB_PR) July 2, 2014

• This might be the greatest thing ever!  In the new MLB 14 video game there's a moment where the umpire takes the bat from Yasiel Puig and shows him the proper way to bat flip.  I kid you not.  Watch it below.  (Hat Tip: Tom Ley at Deadspin)  How do you do this?

(You) unlock by holding onto the ball on the mound and leaving the game unpaused for more than 30 seconds. 

Video Link:

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Welcome to the Blue, Felix Osorio and Jhoan Calderon!

Today is the start of the MLB International Signing Period.  This is when some of the best teenage prospects throughout the world can sign professional MLB contracts.

Via Jesse Sanchez at MLB.com, this is how it works:

A 16-year-old international player is eligible to sign with a Major League team between July 2 through June 15 of next year if the prospect turns 17 before Sept. 1 of this year or by the completion of his first Minor League season. Additionally, any prospect who is already 17 or older and has not previously signed a Major or Minor League contract, resides outside the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and has not been enrolled in a high school or college in the U.S., Canada or Puerto Rico within the previous year is eligible to sign during the period.

Check out the rest of Jesse's story for more information about the dollars and cents.

Already, the Dodgers have signed up two kids to join the franchise.  They are Felix Osorio and Johan Calderon; both from the Dominican Republic.  I put together brief reports below on both of them, a fantasy Baseball card that I created and a running checklist of known cards available on the marketplace.

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In honor of Felix's recent signing I made the above fantasy Baseball card for him.  I used a photo grabbed from the Power-Showcase.com prospect page for Osorio and the vintage 1987 Topps Baseball card design.  According to Power-Showcase, Felix stands a tall and lean 6' 4" tall, is 200 lbs. and has some power.

He returns to PS classic after winning the 2012 DPL POWER SHOWCASE in DR. He dazzled the crowd with a total of 22-HR and 2-blast of more than 490ft that crossed the street outside of Temistocles Metz stadium in San Cristobal D.R. He hit 9 in the wood bat round and 13 in the aluminum round. 

Osorio is almost 18-years old (birth date: 11/16/1996), so he is older than some of the blue chip prospects receiving big dollars today.  Eric Stephen at True Blue LA has a brief report on him; including a video, and Eric Becker at Dodgers-Lowdown has his own report and additional video.

Osorio's signing was originally shared by MLB.com reporter Jesse Sanchez on twitter:

Source:#Dodgers have agreed to a $205K deal with INF Felix Osorio (DR). @MLBPipeline pic.twitter.com/JQmQKKuSuk
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) July 2, 2014

BTW, the kid already has a several Baseball cards available on the market.  Leaf has created several teenage prospect card sets and Osorio is in two of them: 2013 Leaf Power Showcase and 2013 Leaf Perfect Game.  See them all below.

The card directly below is actually of unknown origin to me.  It appears to be a base card to the 2013 Leaf Power Showcase set, but from what I understand that set did not come with base cards.  So, I do not know if they were put into actual packs, come from another product or were given away at Power-Showcase live events.  All of the remaining cards below were placed in their respective packs for collectors to buy.

2013 Leaf Power Showcase World Classic Base Card

2013 Leaf Power Showcase Base Autograph

#PSA-FO1 Felix Osorio

2013 Leaf Power Showcase Relic Auto's

#PA-FO1 Felic Osorio                           #JA-FO1 Felix Osorio

Patch Auto                                               Jersey Auto

2013 Leaf Perfect Game

#74 Felix Osorio                                     #FO1 Felix Osorio

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In honor of Johan's recent signing I made the above fantasy Baseball card for him.  I used a photo grabbed from the Eric's Dodgers-Lowdown blog and the vintage 1987 Topps Baseball card design.

From what I understand, Johan is an outfielder who played in the Dominican Prospect League.  He stands about 6' 3" and is 195 lbs.  According to Ben Badler at Baseball America, he received a $130,000 signing bonus from the Dodgers.  Check out Eric Stephen at True Blue LA who has a brief report on him; including a video, and Eric Becker at Dodgers-Lowdown has his own brief report. Also, there appears to be a slight discrepancy about Calderon's true first name.  A glance at the Dominican Prospect League website and the tweet shown below from Calderon's trainer appear to show his first name as Jhoan. UPDATE:  It's official.  His first name is Jhoan.

Here is a great photo of Calderon with his family, via trainer Franklin Ferreira on twitter:

Felicidades a mi #Prospecto #JhoanCalderon y a su #Familia por su #Firma con los @Dodgers @BBDominicano @DPLBaseball pic.twitter.com/aWQcG43X9D
— Franklin Ferreras JR (@franklinjr23) July 2, 2014

BTW, Johan Calderon does not appear to have any Baseball card already made of him.  Boo!!!

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Check out the 2014 Dodgers Topps 60th Anniversary Team Set

I came across something fantastic a few weeks ago and knew immediately that I had to have it.

This season, Topps decided to start up their old Baseball card printing presses in order to produce several authentically vintage looking cards to sell directly to collectors.  For the most part, they've been making large poster sized cards featuring modern ballplayers on vintage designs.  Check out some of these Dodger poster prints here.  Recently, they started reducing their size to 5" x 7" sized Baseball cards and putting them in classic wax wrappers to enhance their vintage appeal. 

So, having seen this I figured it was time to dive in and try out their newest creation - the 1955 Topps LA Dodgers 60th Anniversary Set.  And, oh boy!  Was I not disappointed.

As I said, they came in a large 5" x 7" sized wax pack... Just like the olden days, but larger.  Check out pics of the unopened pack above and below.  As you can clearly see, they used real wax to seal the pack. 

Peeling it open was awesome!

I felt like I was 10 years old again.  My fingers were feeling waxy like I had just let a candle drip on my fingers.  The only thing missing from the whole experience was the sweet smell of Topps super-stiff bubblegum and that white powdery substance that covered the gum.  Another difference was the inclusion of a blank card to protect from an inevitable wax stain.  All you old timers will remember the horror of seeing the card of your favorite player being ruined by that dark smudge stain.... Man, I hated that!

Within the pack were 5 Dodger cards in the style of the vintage 1955 Topps Baseball card set.  Check them all out below.  Something I didn't expect was that they are all blank-backed... BOOO!  Nevertheless, this is a great little set, and I'm happy to add it to my collection.  BTW, this set is numbered to only 99 copies, so they are somewhat limited.

My set is numbered #22.  Just like Clayton Kershaw.  WooHoo!

The card at the very bottom was the blank card to protect the set from a wax stain.  I'm not sure why I kept it, but I figured why not, eh?

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