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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The Daryl Spencer 1961 Union Oil Dodger Family Booklet

Here is another post featuring the 1961 Union Oil Dodger Family Booklet set.  Go here to see my past post showcasing this set; including complete scans of both the Vin Scully/Jerry Doggett and Sandy Koufax booklets.  This time I share the Daryl Spencer Booklet.

Daryl Spencer was a reliable defensive player who was known for hitting in the clutch, but did you know that he also contributed to changing the game in Japan?  From an excellent biography at the SABR project by Bob Rives:
"When I first went over there, I learned you couldn't tell them how to do things. You had to show them and prove it. They wouldn't even try to break up a double play at second base. They'd usually take a right turn when they got close to second on a potential double play grounder. That really irritated me.

"We're playing one day, the score is 0-0 and it's the bottom of the eighth. They walked me to get to our clean-up hitter and I told Gordon Windhorn, my teammate who is on second, "If this batter hits a groundball, don"t stop on third. I'm gonna take out the guy at second."

"Two pitches later he hits a ball to short, they threw it to second and I knock the second baseman down pretty good and he drops the ball. Windhorn comes around and scores. They call a time-out and argued for 30 minutes. In Japan it was customary for the umpires to get together and make a joint decision. They finally decided there was nothing illegal about my slide and we won the game 1-0.

"The next day, one of our guys slides and knocks down the second baseman and all of sudden the whole style of play is changed in Japan.

"Then I knocked down a catcher a few days later and won a ballgame and our guys started sliding like that. Even with all the home runs I hit, I'm more famous in Japan for my sliding," he remembers.
Below are complete scans of every page from Daryl Spencer's 1961 Union Oil Dodger Family Booklet.  Click any pic to embiggen. 









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Weekend Autograph Opportunities: Orel Hershiser, Don Newcombe and Bill Russell

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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Orel Hershiser will be signing autographs at the OC Dugout on Saturday, April 19th from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.  Go here or here for information.
The OC Dugout
1238 S. Beach Blvd.
Anaheim, CA 92804
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I'm rather confused about who is signing autographs at Frank & Sons this coming Saturday.  According to the flyer below, Don Newcombe and Bill Russell will be there - this, I am sure of since you can see the flyer at Frank & Sons website, here.

There has also been some news about both Jay Johnstone and Steve Garvey being there, as well.  Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy made those announcements that you can see here and here.
Frank & Sons,
19649 San Jose Ave 
City of Industry, CA 91748

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2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball - The Dodger Inserts

Featured here are the Dodger insert and paper parallel cards that can be found in packs of 2014 Gypsy Queen.  See my previous post on this set here.

Glove Stories

#GS-CC Carl Crawford                                #GS-YP Yasiel Puig

#GS-YP2 Yasiel Puig

Dealing Aces

#DA-CK Clayton Kershaw                     #DA-HR Hyun-Jin Ryu

Debut All Stars

#AS-CK Clayton Kershaw

N174 Gypsy Queen

#N174-CK Clayton Kershaw                         #174-YP Yasiel Puig

One of the more unique parallel cards that exist only in Gypsy Queen cards are the framed paper parallels.  These cards have been placed in a colored paper framed envelope.  Only 100 of the 350 cards in the base set have paper parallels, and their are 6 Dodger players included.  The Blue paper parallels are numbered to 499.  The white paper parallel cards are not numbered, and can only be found in retail packs.  BTW, there are silver framed paper parallel cards that are scarce.  They are numbered "1 of 1."

Framed Paper Parallel Inserts

#105 Hanley Ramirez

#122 Adrian Gonzalez

#243 Matt Kemp

#250 Sandy Koufax

#276 Duke Snider


#300 Clayton Kershaw

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Blog Kiosk: 4/16/2014 - Dodger Links - A Billingsley Roadblock, Puig and Pederson


Even the Empire State Building got into the act.  Last night, they lit the fabled building with Dodger Blue in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.  Pic via @EmpireStateBldg on twitter.
  • As I'm sure you know by now, Brian Wilson has returned to the Dodgers from the DL.  In turn, Paco Rodriguez has been optioned back to AAA.
  • Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider writes, "When Jackie realized his impact: Interview with Sharon Robinson."
“It was a whole dawning of a reality once he stepped out there and he understood the pressure he was under and that he was doing it not just for himself but an entire race, and he had no choice but to be successful because he was setting an example, and he wanted the doors to open up for others,” Sharon said. “It’s a gradual process. He learned it, and it added to the stress when he realized how much pressure he was under. But he had a wonderful support system and a wonderful partnership with my mother (Rachel) and wonderful partnership with (Dodger General Manager) Branch Rickey, so he persevered and was successful. Not to mention an incredible talent.”
  • Chad Billingsley has run into a roadblock.  Via Bill Plunkett on twitter, he stopped a bullpen session short and will have an MRI.



“He hasn’t changed since he’s been here, really. He’s still Yasiel. He’s been the same kind of kid, really, the whole time. Hopefully, from our standpoint, baseball-wise, he’s getting a little better all the time.”

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