Want to Carve some Dodger Pumpkins? - Here Are Some Templates

I'm probably way too late in putting these up, so I apologize in advance.  Below are several templates for carving your very own Dodger-themed Halloween pumpkin.  Click on any of the pics below to embiggen.  If you've got any of your own you'd be willing to share please pass them along.  I'd love to have a Clayton Kershaw outline.

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Weekend Autograph Opportunities: Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey and JJ Redick

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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This coming Friday, October 30th Tommy Lasorda and Author Colin Gunderson will be having a book signing at the B Sweet Dessert Bar on Sawtelle Boulevard.  As you can see in the flyer below, it will be during the Game 3 of the World Series.  An exact time of their appearance has yet to announced.  Tommy will be there starting at 5:00 PM.  For more information go here, here, here or here.

B Sweet
Dessert Bar
2005 Sawtelle Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025

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To kick off the grand opening of a new Dick's Sporting Goods store at the Glendale Galleria former Dodger great Steve Garvey and current LA Clippers guard JJ Redick will be making appearances.  Go here for information.

• Steve Garvey will appear on Saturday, October 31st from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

WRISTBAND REQUIRED! Beginning at 8AM local time, 300 wristbands will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the store on the day of event only. Limit one wristband and one autograph per person. Fans must have a wristband and must be in the Special Appearance line by 11:00AM to receive an autograph. Times and appearances are subject to change without notice. See store for details. 

• JJ Redick will appear on Sunday, September 1st from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

WRISTBAND REQUIRED! Beginning at 9AM local time, 300 wristbands will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the store on the day of event only. Limit one wristband and one autograph per person. Fans must have a wristband and must be in the Special Appearance line by 4:00PM to receive an autograph. Times and appearances are subject to change without notice. See store for details.

Dick's Sporting Goods 
Glendale Galleria 
200 W Broadway 
Glendale, CA 91210
818-476-5960 

Hat Tip: Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy.

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2015 Topps Update Baseball - The Dodger All-Star Cards

Here is a final look at the Dodgers' cards found in packs of 2015 Topps Update.  Below are all of the 2015 All-Star Game related cards.  Go here to check out all of my previous post on this set.

Of special note is the MLB All-Star Game Access card of Clayton Kershaw below.  This might be my favorite Dodger card of 2015.  Seated on Clayton's lap is his young daughter Cali Ann Kershaw.  If she ever becomes a famous athlete herself this will be her rookie card.

MLB All-Star Game Access

#MLB-6 Joc Pederson                  #MLB-12 Zack Greinke

#MLB-15 Clayton Kershaw

Blog Kiosk: 10/28/2015 - Dodger Links - Bernie Sanders, Mattingly and the Dodger Hat Guy

What a fantastic Game 1 to the 2015 World Series.  There was hi-jinks (inside-the-park home run).  There was drama (death of Edinson Volquez's father before the game).  And then there was this guy sitting in the stands behind home plate. 

I see you Dodger fan.  I think all of the Baseball watching world saw you last night, and depending on your affiliation you either loved it or hated it. 

Below are more links to check out:

• I found this totally fascinating.  Via Les Carpenter at The Guardian, "How the Dodgers and baseball shaped Bernie Sanders' world view."  Apparently, Sanders was a Brooklyn Dodger fan as a youth, and the team leaving his hometown had an indelible impact on him.  

“Bernie and I were both Dodger fans and we talk about that,” Gutman says. “It was the (first indication) that those with a lot of money may have an interest that is different than the community’s interests.”

When asked what he means, Gutman replies:

“We never understood that he who pays the piper plays the tune. It was a lesson that it doesn’t matter whether people love (a team) it’s all about the money. I don’t think there had been those kinds of things. We all know now the sports world is all about making money but this was the first time we saw it. This was uprooting a club that had all these historical links to the community.”

• Yeah.  This is awesome.  Via Bill Shaikin at the LA Times, "Juan Uribe and son of Raul Mondesi make World Series rosters."
• Via Joel Sherman at the NY Post, "Chase Utley is coming back — if he can find a team."
• You can listen to Don Mattingly's interview with Dan Patrick here.  He talks a bit about the Marlin's interview what happened to cause him to leave the Dodgers.
• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Tim Wallach reportedly interviews for Padres managerial job."
• This is fantastic.  You can now get a Hiccups The Clown bobblehead from the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, here.  A portion of the proceeds for each bobblehead will go to PADRES Contra El Cáncer (Parents Against Cancer).  They are individually numbered to 500 only.
  

• Panini America shares some preview pics from their upcoming 2015 National Treasures Baseball card set; including the four-player relic card with Clayton Kershaw as seen on the right.  Go here to check out more pics.  BTW, the set comes out in early January 2015.
• I didn't even realize... Via Dave Zirin at The Nation, "For the First Time in History, the World Series Is Between 2 Teams That Were Never Segregated."

But this World Series represents more than just series of tantalizing face-offs. It also has some historical bite. Baseball has long been looked at as a mirror of where we are as a country on issues of race, “a canary in the coal mine,” to quote sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards. This World Series offers a particularly bracing and lucid look. In the entire 112-year history of baseball’s championship round, we are presented for the first time with a Fall Classic pitting two teams that never fielded all-white, segregated rosters. 

Zirin also addressed the decreasing rate of African-American participation within the game.

• Here's a couple of stories about how good Dee Gordan really was in 2015.  Via Scott Andes at LA Dodger Talk, "The Risks of Selling High."  Also, Ryan Romano at Beyond the Boxscore, "Don't write off Dee Gordon,"

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Navy Photo of Duke Snider at MEARS Auction

What a strapping young lad.

Featured above are several childhood photos of Dodger Hall of Famer Duke Snider that are currently available for sale through MEARS Auction.  Check it out here.

In one of the pics Snider is shown in his Naval uniform.  After spending his first season as a Dodger farmhand at the age of 17, Duke joined the military.  He served for 19 months.  Per an biography at Baseball in Wartime:

"They checked us just enough to make sure we were warm and upright," he explained in his autobiography The Duke of Flatbush, "and a guy handed me some papers I didn't want to know about and screamed 'NAVY!' in my face at the top of his lungs. I was headed for he high seas. I wondered why they took me if they thought I was deaf."

Snider served as a fireman, third class on the  submarine tender USS Sperry at Guam. Snider used to win bets against other sailors and servicemen by throwing a baseball the length of submarines that arrived at Guam, that's about 300 feet. "I'd throw the ball the length of their sub, my crewmates would win $300 or so, and I'd pick up my guarantee - $50," he recalls

“We played lots of baseball and basketball on Guam. Pee Wee Reese was stationed there, too, but I never bumped into him.” Snider moonlighted for the 2nd Marine Division team while on Guam as well as playing for the USS Sperry team.

In between playing baseball, Snider's main duty on the USS Sperry was dishwashing detail. "There was a porthole behind the sink and any time we came across a chipped glass or dish that wouldn't come clean in less than a second we fired the sucker into the Pacific Ocean."

Duke never found himself in combat during his service with the Navy. 

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Turmoil at Time Warner - SportsNet LA is No Closer to Full Coverage

On the television front, the Dodgers appear to be no closer to getting full coverage throughout the Southland.  SportsNet LA is still not being carried, and now we hear that David Rone, the architect and driving force behind TWC's sports RSN business, is leaving the company.  Via Meg James at the LA Times:

Rone will step down at the end of this week, but will serve as a consultant at least through December.

"David has accomplished what he set out to do here at TWC, including successfully launching three regional sports networks," Time Warner Cable spokesman Andrew Fegyveresi said late Monday.

"He feels that with this success, the pending acquisition and a strong bench of talented employees who have worked for him, it would be a good time to start exploring other opportunities," Fegyveresi said.

It's probably best to take everything said above with a grain of salt.  After all, it is widely believed that the SportsNet LA channel is hemorrhaging over $100 Million a year in losses.  Furthermore, the Lakers are playing some of the poorest basketball in their history, so viewership has to be getting hit as a result.  Needless to say, all is not exactly well there.

BTW, along with Rone leaving the channel is also cutting cost:

Time Warner Cable has been cutting expenses and laying off staff members within its El Segundo programming division. Last month, it canceled several programs, including "Dodgers Clubhouse" and "Larry King at Bat."

Worse yet, the newly proposed merger with Charter is now facing some regulatory hurdles.  A couple of weeks ago the National Association of Broadcasters petitioned the FCC to suspend the merger, DISH Network did the same and AT&T (while not opposing the merger) asked the FCC to "review the transaction carefully and consider the impact of cable consolidation and coordination on emerging competition."  

At this point, this merger is still likely to happen, but the potential delays inherent in a transaction of this size is certain to slow SportsNet LA reach into new markets. 

Heck, it could mean a third straight year of no Dodger Baseball in a majority of homes.... And that means that a majority of fans will not be able to enjoy Vin Scully's last year with the team.  This would be the biggest shame of all.

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