Now, relax by the fire and listen to Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda read "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
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Thursday, December 25, 2014
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Now, relax by the fire and listen to Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda read "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Video Link:
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
2014 Panini Classics Baseball - The Dodger Autograph, Relic and Insert Cards
There are a ton of old-tyme Dodgers in the set; including players you hardly ever see on cardboard nowadays, like George Kelly, Hack Wilson, Paul Waner, Eddie Stanky, Jim Gilliam and Billy Herman.
Check out all of the Dodger insert, relic and autograph cards below. There are a bunch of them. As you'll notice, I do not yet have pics of all of them yet. So, if you happen to have a pic of an unseen card please pass that along to me.
Champion Materials & Bats
#3 Carl Furillo (#/99) #3 Carl Furillo (#/99)
Weekend Autograph Opportunities: CANCELLED-Tommy Lasorda
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.
Hall of Fame Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda will be signing autographs this coming Saturday at Manuel's El Tepeyac in the City of Industry from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. This is a fee event. He will be signing your memorabilia with a photo opportunity for a $50 fee. For info, call Marcus Loya @ 310-251-3620, or check out their facebook page. (Hat Tip: Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy)
---------------------------
CANCELLED
Manuel's El Tepeyac
13131 Crossroads Pkwy S
City of Industry, CA 91746
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Blog Kiosk: 12/24/2014 - Dodger Links - Puig, Kapler and Dodgers Always Looking to Upgrade Bullpen
Yasiel Puig has begun his winter workout routine; as evidenced by a series of photos and videos he posted up on his instagram. In the above photo he takes batting practice for the first time at the Cuban Missile Baseball Academy in Florida. Go here to check out the video of him hitting.
Below are some links to check out:
- Panini shared preview photos of their upcoming 2014 National Treasures Baseball set; including the autographed Clayton Kershaw patch card above and the Adrian Gonzalez nickname card on the right. Go here to check out some photos, or here for even more pics.
- Via Bill Plunkett at Baseball America, "Kapler Takes Charge For Dodgers."
Kapler fits the profile of the people Friedman has surrounded himself with this offseason since taking over as president of baseball operations—bright, energetic and open-minded to new ways of doing things.
But Kapler is hardly your typical farm director. He earned almost $10 million during a 12-year big league career. Kapler did spend a year managing in the Red Sox system and coached for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic. But he had segued smoothly into a career in the media since his retirement in 2011 as the rare former player who had a sophisticated understanding of statistical analysis in player evaluation and team building.
- Holy Moly! Musical chairs has not stopped for Ryan Lavarnway. Via Jeff Told at MLB Trade Rumors, he has now been claimed by the Baltimore Orioles. He started this winter as a Red Sox, was then claimed by the Dodgers, then the Cubs and now the Orioles.
- Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Dodgers send outfielder Jensen to Triple-A."
- Via Cat Belanger at Dodger Insider, "True Hollywood Stories: Behind the scenes with celebrities at Dodger Stadium in 2014."
Bryan and Vin: Bryan Cranston, besides being one of the coolest guys in Hollywood, is a huge Dodger fan. According to him and his wife, Robin, the No. 1 thing on his Bucket List has always been to meet Vin Scully. This year was Bryan and Robin’s 25th wedding anniversary, so she and I plotted to make this happen. She brought him to a game for their anniversary in August, and we brought him up to Vin’s booth. His reaction to meeting Vin was so humbled, and they shared a really nice conversation. But the real surprise was when we had Vin ask Bryan to be the public-address announcer for the game. Bryan accepted and was a fabulous PA announcer — and the two had an adorable anniversary at their favorite ballpark.
- Via Mark Saxon at ESPNLosAngeles.com, "Dodgers still searching for bullpen help."
“I don’t think we’re ever going to get to a point where we go, ‘OK, let’s sit back and put our feet on the desk,’ “Friedman said. “We’re always going to be looking at different areas, whether it be on the margins or more significant. I think any time you ask me this question, the bullpen will always be an answer I’ll give. It has to be my nature never to feel comfortable with a bullpen in the offseason.”
- Chris Harris at Stale Gum may have found the greatest card since the Billy Ripken '*uck Face' card. Check it out here.
- Guess who's excited about getting his first Topps/Bowman Baseball card?
My 1st @BowmanCards just got here. #BowmanChrome #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/pWQn2Y4GgZ
— Jose De Leon (@JoseDeLeon35) December 23, 2014
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Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Welcome to the Blue, Yasmani Grandal!
Yasmani Grandal is the key piece coming to the Dodgers from the Matt Kemp Trade. You can follow Grandal on twitter here: @YazmanianDVL08. Per a Dodger Press Release:
Grandal, whose name is pronounced yas-MAH-nee gran-DAHL, has a .245 career batting average with 24 home runs and 94 RBI in 216 games with the Padres from 2012-14. The switch-hitter appeared in 128 games last year at catcher (76 games) and first base (37 games) and posted career-best marks in runs (47), hits (85), doubles (19), home runs (15) and RBI (49) in his third big league season.There has been a lot said about Grandal's skills behind the plate. He is noted by the sabermetrically inclined for having superior pitch-framing skills. While others say that he can't throw runners out and his recent knee injury to his ACL/MCL has limited his mobility (he had a torn ACL/MCL). Whatever the case, he will pair up with AJ Ellis as the Dodger backstop.
Grandal was selected to the 2012 MLB All-Star Futures Game and posted a .310/.408/.487 slashline in four minor league seasons from 2010-13 in the Reds and Padres organizations. The native of Cuba was originally selected by the Reds in the first round (12th overall) in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Miami and then acquired by San Diego from Cincinnati on Dec. 17, 2011 in a five-player deal.
At this point, I think it's too early to tell who will be the Dodgers primary catcher. Grandal is likely to hit better than Ellis (and with more power), but Ellis has the trust and respect of the Dodger staff (which Grandal appeared to not have in San Diego). BTW, it should be noted that Grandal was busted for PED's after his fantastic 2012 rookie season.
Via Pedro Moura at the OC Register, "Grandal is a gamble for Dodgers."
Can Grandal have the kind of break out season the Dodger front office, no doubt, are hoping for? Can he field his position at the dish with sufficient skill? How much defensive skill at the catcher position are the Dodgers willing to give up for offensive prowess? We won't know any of these answers until we are well into the year, so be prepared for an interesting 2015 Baseball season.He is a catcher, one with a superb ability to frame balls so they look like strikes, and he has a .350 career on-base percentage, seventh-best among active catchers. He has hit 24 home runs in the equivalent of a season and a half of work – and did it playing half his games in Petco Park, one of the most homer-suppressing stadiums in the sport.
But the second school of thought is that Grandal is barely an average hitter for a catcher, with questionable skills behind the plate. The case for that: Grandal’s offensive statistics after his 2012 rookie season look a lot different than they did during it, and, beyond pitch-framing, his defensive numbers have never looked all that great.
In celebration of Grandal's arrival to the Dodgers I made the above fantasy card for him. I used a photograph grabbed from a photo from Zimbio (Mike McGinnis/Getty Images North America) and the 1964 Topps Baseball card design.
Below are the career stats for Yasmani Grandal, via Baseball-Reference:
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Happy Festivus Day!
A Festivus for the rest of us!
In honor of this Seinfeld holiday I felt it would only be proper to air some grievances.
- I don't quite know who to blame for the Dodger television mess. But Time Warner, SportsNet LA and the Dodgers... You are on notice. Get your act together and put Dodger Baseball on tv for all to enjoy!
- To those who scoff at my fandom for Matt Kemp - do you not have any sense of decency? Can I not mourn the departure of a great Dodger player while at the same time also realize it is best for the long-term health of the club?
- I also got something to say about those folks who have or plan to 'boo' Matt Kemp... You are so disappointing. Have you any sense of Dodger Blue loyalty?
- To those afraid of the changes - get over it! We always knew the Dodgers would go through a dramatic transformation and it would be likely that many of our favorite players might be traded or allowed to walk away. The Dodgers cannot succeed as a collection of high-priced free agents.
- To the saber-geeks, you should read Joe Posnanski story at NBC Sports entitled "Vanguard after the Revolution: Bill James sparked a baseball insurrection, but he has regrets about the world he wrought."
“I have to take my share of responsibility for promoting skepticism about things that I didn’t understand as well as I might have,” he says. “What I would say NOW is that skepticism should be directed at things that are actually untrue rather than things that are difficult to measure.
i.e. leadership, clutch and grit.If you have any other grievances please share them. I'm moving on to the "Feats of Strength." Anyone want to wrestle?
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