2016 Topps Baseball Series One - Back to Back, Scouting Report and Team Logo Pin Relic Cards

Here are more Dodgers insert cards found packs of 2016 Topps Baseball Series 1 packs.  This time I share pics of the Back to Back, Scouting Report and Team Logo Pin Relic cards.  Go here to see all of my previous post on this set.

Back-To-Back

#B2B-6 Pederson & Gonzalez

Blog Kiosk: 2/8/2016 - Dodgers Links - Maeda, Puig and Dave Roberts

Doesn't this photo above give you the chills?

It's of Hall of Famer Roy Campanella playing catch near 1st base during a Spring Training workout at what I think must be Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL.  According to the seller on eBay (Hyee_Auctions) it is dated February 29, 1956 (a leap year), and it states that Campy is playing catch with youngster Sandy Koufax.

Furthermore, the auctioneer has numerous other Dodgers available currently, so I'll have an individual post featuring many of them soon.  BTW, what is available for sale is the actual color transparency (taken by Cranston & Elkins), so you can certainly make multiple prints to hand out to friends.  This is rather unusual item since color photos (let alone a transparency) from this time period are scarce.  Black & White pics were the prevalent medium at the time.

Below are more links to check out:

• Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wrote a piece at MLB.com, "Reflecting on Jackie's influence." 

Observing Black History Month is important for baseball. For me, I became aware of Jackie Robinson right around age 15-16. My father is African-American. He told me as I was getting more further along in my athletic career, he kind of educated me about Jackie and his story. So as I got older and more educated and wiser, just kind of digging more into his story, and I ultimately went to UCLA, and so I played at Jackie Robinson Field. So just seeing that really resonated with me and what an impact Jackie made on society and what a leader he was.

• Via August Fagerstrom at FanGraphs, "Projecting Byung-ho Park, Hyun-soo Kim, and Kenta Maeda." 

Ben Badler of Baseball America’s most recent scouting report on Maeda, from this December, notes that Maeda has recently improved his changeup, flashing plus in front of scouts at the Premier 12 tournament in Taiwan last month, getting swings and misses with sink and fade in the low 80s.

• Via Jorge Morejón at ESPN, "Yasiel Puig embracing change in 2016 season."

"I am working to strengthen the legs and prevent injuries like last year and focused on continuing adjusting to my new life in the majors, to get along with my teammates and try to help the team," Puig said Friday in an interview with ESPN Deportes.

• Robert Murray at Baseball Essential interviews Dodger prospect Cody Bellinger.

His dad, Clay, played in the big leagues for four seasons with the New York Yankees and the Anaheim Angels and he is still a big influence for him.

“He’s taught me all I know,” Bellinger said of his father. “On and off the field, he taught me to play the game with respect.”

• Via BlowoutBuzz, Topps Spring Fever in-story hobby shop program to begin this coming Wednesday.   At participating stores a $20 purchase will get you a redemption card for a 5-card pack of 2016 Topps Spring Fever cards.  Redemption cards can then be exchanged a week later at the same store for the pack (beginning Feb. 22).  The Spring Fever set consist of 50 cards, and there randomly inserted autograph cards, as well.  Dodger players available include Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez and Corey Seager.  Of note, Zack Greinke has a card, but he is featured in an Diamondbacks uniform for the first time.  See it on the right.
• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Dodgers coaches helping lead Team New Zealand."

Chris Woodward and Josh Bard, members of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts' new coaching staff, are currently halfway around the world, doing their part in the globalization of baseball. Woodward will be the Dodgers' third-base coach when Spring Training opens, Bard the bullpen coach. But for the next two weeks, Woodward is manager and Bard his coach on the New Zealand national team, which competes in the World Baseball Classic qualifier in Sydney, Australia, next week.

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Ross Porter Back to Calling Baseball - for CSU, Northridge

Ross Porter is a name many younger Dodgers fans do not know, but for those of us who still vividly remember the days before the McCourt era his name should still ring blissfully in your ear.  For 28 years, from 1977 to 2004, he was the Dodgers play-by-play announcer.  He sat alongside Vin Scully in the broadcast booth, and even hosted both pre- and post-game "Dodger Talk" broadcasts for fourteen years.  Then, unceremoniously, he was fired by the club, and to this day still doesn't know who or why he was fired.  Heck, no one in the organization (which was in the first year of the McCourt ownership) even contacted him directly about it.  Such was the McCourt ownership.

Now, some twelve years later, Ross Porter will be back on the airwaves to call some Baseball.  This time it will be for CSU, Northridge.  Per a press release:

“I am thrilled to be asked by CSUN to announce their home baseball games this year. It’s a great chance for me to do what I love,” said Porter. “I’m excited to do it for a wonderful university like CSUN and to be associated again with young men who are passionate about baseball. I have been able to spend time getting to know the team and find them to be outstanding young student-athletes.”

Porter is slated to call 18 of the 28 Northridge home Baseball games this coming season.  The remaining ten home games, along with all of the schools softball games, will be called by radio and play-by-play broadcaster Brandon Marcus.  You can listen to it all streaming at the CSUN Sports Network.

BTW, for those who recall, Ross Porter had a penchant for passing along statistical information during his Dodgers broadcasts, so I suspect he'll be do the same for Northridge.  No doubt the sabermetrically-inclined Matador fan will enjoy what he has to say. 

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2016 Topps Baseball Series One - The MLB Debut, No Hitter Pin and Perspectives Cards

Now we get to take some time to look at the various Dodgers' inserts available in 2016 Topps Series 1 packs.  Below are all of the MLB Debut, No-Hitter Pin Relic and Perspective insert cards. 

Of note are a couple cards of Mike Piazza in a Dodger uniform.  Also the Yasiel Puig "Perspective" card reminds us that he was the cover-boy for the MLB15 video game last season.

MLB Debut (Retail only)

#MLBD-18 Sandy Koufax                        #MLBD-25 Mike Piazza

2016 Topps Baseball Series One - The Dodgers Short Printed Base Variations

I erred a bit in my post yesterday featuring pics of the Dodgers base cards within packs of 2016 Topps Series 1.  I initially wrote that there was only one Dodger variation available.  That is wrong.  There are actually two known variation cards available, and as time goes by there may be more.  So, I'll certainly update this post should more pop up.  In the meantime, take a look at the Puig and Kershaw variations below.  As you can see I paired each variation with its normal base card.

BTW, it does not appear that there will be any "sparkle" or "sabermetric back" variations in this set.  All the variations seen so far feature different photos.

#139 Yasiel Puig

Base Card                                      SSP Variation

#150 Clayton Kershaw

Base Card                                             SSP Variation

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Blog Kiosk: 2/5/2016 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

The best vintage press photos are not always action shots of your favorite player.  Oftentimes, it's these quirky little stories that really make you smile.  Case in point, check out the July 13, 1954 Associated Press photo above that I ran into on eBay.  It features Carl Furillo with a 13-year old Brooklyn Dodger fan named Danny Gawronski.  At first glance, you might think that his presence on the field with the Dodger icon is of little significance.  Instead, he's the subject of some local controversy that will no doubt make you laugh.  Check out what it says on the descriptor attached to the reverse:

"SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT AFTER ALL.  Danny Gawronski, 13, is as close to heaven as a Brooklyn boy can be, as Carl Furillo of his beloved Dodgers shows him how to use outfielder's glove, a present from the team, during workout at Ebbets Field today. It all started last April when Danny was given some Easter chicks which grew up into noisy roosters and complaints from neighbors which took Danny before a magistrate.  Danny offered $3 in pennies, nickels and dimes he had saved toward a new baseball glove in way of a fine.  Magistrate Charles Murphy dismissed complaint and the Dodgers did the rest."

Now this is a Dodgers good deed I can get behind.  Below are more links to check out:

• Via Rachel L. Swarns, Darcy Eveleigh and Damien Cave at the NY Times, "Unpublished Black History."  They explore a 1949 photograph featuring Jackie Robinson giving a lecture to some local college kids and they want to know why.
• ICYMI:  The Howie Kendrick signing was made official yesterday, per a Dodgers press release.

The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the signing of infielder Howie Kendrick to a two-year contract. 

• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Howie Kendrick contract includes $10 million in deferred money."
• Larry King penned a story for Big League Stew, "Homer History: The shot heard 'round Larry King's world."

I had to take the subway home. I lived on Bay Parkway in Brooklyn. It was an elevated station. We had only one Giants fan in our neighborhood. His name was Davey Freed. I got off the train and as I’m walking down the stairs, Davey Freed is at the bottom of the stairs. All he did was laugh. He just laughed. 

• Blowout Buzz shares some preview pics of Panini's 2016 Diamond Kings Baseball cards; including the Corey Seager card on the right.  This set officially comes out on March 30th.
• Via Bob Nightengale at USA Today, "Dodgers' Howie Kendrick on MLB free agent system: 'It's hurting everybody'".

“I figured there would be quite a few suitors for me, and nobody was really calling. Here it is, getting close to spring training, and you keep hearing the same thing over and over.

“Nobody wanted to give up that draft pick. It was a shocker.’’

• Listen to Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi with Chris Russo on High Heat to talk about the team's 2016 roster and goals, here.
• David Hood at True Blue LA provides his prospect report on Austin Barnes, here.

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