Pages

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Nothing but Great Oddball Dodger Memorabilia at ITPC

If you know me then you know that I love the oddball stuff.  There's nothing like cruising around eBay in search of an unusual pin or unique porcelain statue to put on my shelf.  Those funky looking collector plates or vintage hardly-used ashtrays are my favorite kind of finds at garage sales or flea markets.  Heck, I even have a couple of children's Dodger themed dolls in my collection.  So, when something strange and great shows up in an online auction I figured I should show them here.

The current Inside the Park Collectibles auction includes this mid-50's Brooklyn Dodger World Championship doll on auction.  I've only seen a handful of these over the past decade.

I actually have one of these in my collection, but I can't display it.  Long story short, the eBay description for the doll said it had a musty smell to it (as full disclosure), but I figured it couldn't be that bad.  Well, I was wrong.  It was worse than bad, so it current sits wrapped in an air-tight plastic bag and hidden away in a cardboard box.

The doll below, on the other hand, is as mint as you can get.
(Auction Link)

This next doll is what I see in my nightmares. 

I ain't kidding... That is one scary looking creature.

The auction description claims it's from Brooklyn 1950's, but I think it's some kind of voodoo hex doll made by a Giants fan in Manhattan.  It was no doubt created to jinx our beloved "Boys in Blue."  Still, I have to seriously consider bidding on it.
(Auction Link)

This next item is not a doll, but it's just as odd.  Below is a circa 1950's cardboard visor with the famed Brooklyn Dodger "Bum" emblazoned on it.  Awesome!  If it wasn't already priced at over $100 bucks I'd be all over it.
(Auction Link)

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *

Blog Kiosk: 9/18/2014 - Dodger Links - Some Dodger Odds and Ends


I won't bother with a recap of Wednesday's game 'cause.... well... it was horrible... and embarrassing... and everything you might expect from a game at Coors Field.  Maybe it was the blistering 85 degree partly cloudy weather (I'd kill for that right now) or the high altitude air in Denver, but the Dodgers just did not come out to play.

That being said, let's just take a step back and enjoy the moment.  We have ten games left in the season, and as Jon Weisman of Dodger Insider noted we only have to go 3-3 in games not pitched by Kershaw or Greinke to win the division (assuming, of course, that they win those games). We are in a great position, and I firmly believe that they've got this. 

So, enjoy the photograph above of a couple of Dodger youngsters enjoying an evening out in Chicago.  Joc Pederson and Miguel Rojas got hazed along with other rookies by the Dodger veterans, and they were sure to enjoy every second of it - as they should.  Go here to check out more pics of this season hazing.  The pic above is via Miguel Rojas on twitter.  BTW, Blackhawks suck!

The Dodgers lead over the Giants is down to 2.0 games and their magic number to win the West stays at 9 games.  The magic number for a playoff spot (wild card berth) is down to four games.  Check out some more links below:
“I look at it as one inning, honestly, and it didn’t go good,” Mattingly said of Frias’ Coors Field nightmare. “We’re going to look at the body of work and he doesn’t have a huge body of work. He hasn’t had anything like this obviously. But he’s given up some runs and bounced back from it.

“I think he’s a kid who’ll bounce back, honestly. Hopefully he’ll put it behind him. There’s not a whole lot you can do about outings like this. It’s easier for me to say that than for him to have to deal with it. But I think he’ll bounce back.”
  • I can't wait for this to come out.  Via Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports, "Filmmaker Ken Burns vows true portrait of 'most important person in the history of baseball'" - on Jackie Robinson.
“It has to do with the laziness of our media culture, the ability for superficiality to trump depth. For us to even call someone a hero without acknowledging other sides is the opposite of what a hero is. The Greeks will tell you what defines heroism is a war between their very obvious strengths and their possibly equal weaknesses. We’re perpetually disappointed in our media culture because we assume perfection and incorrectly label heroes someone that does something out of the ordinary. But Jackie Robinson is the very definition of a hero, a vey complicated person who’s struggling in the larger stage forced upon him to deal with content of character.”
  • Panini America has shared some preview pics from their upcoming 2014 Immaculate Baseball set.  This is super high-end set.  Check out the Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig cards below.  Go here to check out more preview pics.  
There is one thing I find a bit disconcerting about this set.  The preview pics include a Satchel Paige game-used jersey relic card that appears to use a Kansas City Monarchs jersey.  My first thought is that there can't possibly be many of those in existence (if any at all), so the cost to purchase that jersey would be astronomical - like in the tens of thousands, or more.  Considering that cost and the recent game-used jersey scandal that is sending dealers to the federal penitentiary, I have to wonder if it's even real. 


  • This is a helpful guide.  Zach Helfand at the LA Times writes, "Do's and Don'ts for baseball autograph seekers."
  • I can't think of anything more worse than this.  There will be a reality show called 'Hockey Wives' and LA Kings captain Dustin Brown's wife will be in it, via Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *
* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *