Martin Maturing and Finds Some Love

Russell Martin's growth can be seen through his growing pains. While struggling with the workload a young catcher must endure, Joe Torre gave him the straight scoop.

"Baseball is like this," he (Joe Torre) says, moving his hand steadily. "You need to get rid of this." Now the hand is making a sine wave, with peaks and troughs. "We play every single day. You have to stay here emotionally" — the steady hand again.

Still, Russell struggled with his emotions.

"I'd just get pissed. It wouldn't be consistent. Some days I'd be having good days and I'd be like, okay, this is fun. And some days I'd miss my pitch or make an error and I'm pissed, and the pitcher's wondering what's going on. The goal is to stay as smooth as I can. The goal is to help, that's what I'm here for, really."

At least he's getting some help to reach an even keel with the help of a certain lady friend.

He's settled down with a steady girlfriend, and while babies aren't in the picture, "We are practising a lot," he says, smiling.

Check out the entire article here from The Globe and Mail.

Blog Kiosk: 2/22/2009

Are you sick of the whole ARod thing too?

• FallingLEAVes of Sunshine shares her pics from the Dodger caravan here and here; then she shares her autograph scrapbook. Nice collection!
• Jo Anna does the Dodger Stadium tour. She took plenty of pics 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
  
• The Topps Archive matches up the backgrounds of the 1955 Topps Doubleheader Set. Check them out here.
• Say hello to this new Dodger blog: Dodgers Blue Blog.
  
• Garvey Cey Russell Lopes Blog shared some Goose Joak original Baseball cards. Go here to see the rest if them. Here are some other ones.
• The Peck & Snyder 1869 Trade Card featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno sold for an astounding $64,073.00. Considering it's condition I think someone overpaid.
• I second that! Bring back Oil Can Boyd!
• Ike's Cards introduces us to the photographic works of Don Hamerman.

  ”I began collecting these baseballs in the winter of 2004-2005. Discovered in the park near my house where I walk my dog daily, they went unnoticed by others. Abject, rejected and forlorn, their state depended on the season of their discovery. Some hid in the high grass, gutted by lawnmowers, or under leaves, rotting, the leather skins long since decomposed. Covered in ice crystals on a February morning or shrouded in summer moss, they all hinted at mysterious pasts.”

  
• Dinged Corners discovers the 2009 Topps American Heritage Set.
• Have they found Atlantis?
• REA discovers a previously unknown variation to the N172 Baseball card set.
  
• Check out Halo Heaven's 1966 aerial photograph of Angels Stadium.
  
• Ernie's Imaginary Baseball Game. (Hat Tip: Walkoff Walk)
  

YouTube Link: Nanto Vision: