Blog Kiosk 8/17/2008

Late as usual.

• Dottie Collins was a mammoth of a pitcher. In 1945 she won 29 games while only losing 10 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. In that year she had 239 strike outs and an ERA of 0.83. Last week she died at the age of 84.

  Pitching for six seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, created in 1943 to provide home front entertainment while many major leaguers were off to war, Collins dazzled opposing batters.

  She pitched underhand, sidearm and overhand; she threw curveballs, fastballs and changeups; and in the summer of 1948, she pitched until she was four months pregnant. She won more than 20 games in each of her first four seasons. She threw 17 shutouts and had a league-leading 293 strikeouts in 1945 for the Fort Wayne Daisies, when the women's game resembled fast-pitch softball.

  She was also quite a character.

  “I pitched and won both games of a doubleheader once pitching underhand,” she told Susan E. Johnson in “When Women Played Hardball.”

  “I think I could have pitched a doubleheader overhand, too,” she said. “I don’t think it would be that hard. Nowadays, the men can’t do it, but hell, they can’t do nothin’.”

  (Hat Tip: ShysterBall:)

• Erin is back with a new Dodger Blog called Robots Took My Medicine.
• That Woolly Mammoth card I wrote about several weeks ago closed last week on eBay at an astounding $1,725.00. Holy Moly! I'd take some Campanella's, a Snider, a Pee Wee and a boatload of Manny Ramirez cards for that kind of money. Heck, I could probably pay my rent on top of that.
  
• Topps just announced the inclusion of Clayton Kershaw into their 2008 Topps Finest Baseball Rookie Redemption Set.
• Check out Cards in the Attic's find of vintage T206 cards displayed on the wall in a vintage period photo.
• Fox News visits Topps. Check out the video below.

Hat Tip: Cardboard Mania:

The Professor, Part II

Apparently, the smartest pitcher in Baseball will be a Dodger once again.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday night that the team had completed a deal with the Padres for veteran right-hander Greg Maddux. Citing an anonymous person close to the deal, the newspaper did not know who San Diego would receive in return.

With some questions still surrounding the Dodgers pitching staff this is a good pick up that should provide some stability, if not some veteran leadership for the stretch run.

Brian Kamenetzky notes further,

While overall Maddux sports a 6-9 record, a look at the game log shows he's been pretty effective since mid-May (three awful starts skew his numbers a lot), and the three starts he's had in August have been lights out. With Brad Penny out for perhaps the remainder of the year, it makes sense for the Blue to make a move. How good a move depends a lot on the cost of acquiring the future HOFer. Assuming it's low, I can't see how adding him hurts, that's for sure. Maddux will, I assume, make his re-debut Saturday in Philadelphia, unless Joe Torre decides to jigger around the rotation to accommodate his presence.

Here is the breaking story from Dylan Hernandez of the Times.

UPDATE: MLB Trade Rumors has a full rundown here.