Lima to Long Beach

Jose Lima will be playing for the Long Beach Armada this season. WooHoo!

"I'm excited to have Jose Lima pitching for us this year," said Long Beach Armada Manager Garry Templeton. "His experience, skill, and leadership will be a great benefit to us. I'm glad that we have the opportunity to showcase his skills and give him the chance to rejoin a major league club."
...
"It will be a lot of fun for our fans to experience the passion and joy that Jose brings to the game," said Long Beach Armada General Manager Tony Soares. "We will definitely have special promotions and fan activities on the nights he pitches and give the Armada faithful lots of "Lima Time!"

Lima Time!!!!

Hat Tip: LA Times:

Hunt's: Great Memorabilia

This is my final installment of interesting and noteworthy items from Hunt's early March auction. Go here, here and here for my past blog stories.

Here is a little bit of folk art from the personal collection of former major leaguer Fred Haney. Some of you may remember him as the radio play by play announcer for the Hollywood Stars. He has taken 20 bats and 11 baseballs and made a very sturdy bench. The black bats are commemorative Louisville Slugger championship bats and the others are player model bats. There are even signatures of Haney, Joe McCarthy and Roger Peckinpaugh on the baseballs. It sold for $6,000.00.

Auction Link: Baseball Bat Bench:

Below are a couple of uncut sheets of probably the most attractive cards ever produced in the 80's. These are Perez-Steele postcards series 1 to 6 in uncut form. They were very popular and difficult to find during the collecting heydays of the 80's. Autograph collectors cherished this set since these postcards were a perfect backdrop for an athletes John Hancock. They could only be obtained through a subscription service and are limited in number. Another interesting thing about this particular item is that it comes directly from the collection of Frank Steele- the artist. It sold for $1,100.00.

Auction Link: Perez-Steele Collections Uncut Sheet:

Below is a photo you've probably never seen of a player wearing Baseball garb you probably never thought he put on. This is a rare St. Mary's Industrial School Baseball team photograph from 1910-1912 that features a teenage Babe Ruth (center top row) in catchers gear. It is actually a press photo that was glued onto cardboard backing and printed most likely in 1920 as a file pic to use for later stories. By that year Ruth was a member of the Red Sox and was gaining a great deal of popularity. It sold for $3,100.00.

Auction Link: Ruth St. Mary's School Team Photo:

This is for the closeted Angels fans in the audience. Here is the first 2002 World Series Angels Championship ring I've seen for auction.

Dazzling design elements include a large iconic "A" inlaid with rubies and adorned with a halo amidst a background of dozens of small diamonds on the face. The words "World Champions" appear at the top and bottom of the bezel. The left shank features the recipients name "Espino" and year "2002" above a World Series logo in relief and the Angles season record "99-63". The opposite shank features the proclamation "Angels 1st Championship" above a rendering of a World Series trophy set inside Edison Field.

It sold for $10,500.00. Click the photo to enlarge it. Anyone know who Espino is?

Auction Link: 2002 Angels World Series Ring:

Blog Kiosk 3/22/2009

Baseball couldn't come soon enough.

• Here is a great story in Baseball Digest recounting the "water world" experience between the Dodgers and Giants during the 1962 season.

  During the 1962 season, Maury Wills was wreaking havoc on opposing teams while setting a (then) major league record of 104 stolen bases. However, in that three game stretch in San Francisco Wills failed to tally a single one. During the series the Dodgers claimed the Giants were watering down the basepaths in efforts to neutralize the advantage of the stolen base speedster that was Wills.

• O'Malley talks about his love of Vero Beach.
  

  While it might’ve been good business to move the Dodgers’ camp to Arizona, only a five-hour drive from their Southern California fan base, O’Malley said he would’ve found a way to keep the team at Dodgertown.

  “Would have,” he said. “Not could have. Would have.

  “I would have found another way to generate the revenue they’re generating in Arizona.”

• Love those Big Lebowski cards. From Punk Rock Paint. Here is Cardboard Junkies and Achiever Card Blog 1, 2, 3, contributions.
  
• Mario recounts some childhood memories as he morns an old friend. Mario's blog, Wax Heaven, is unquestionably the best card collector blog on the net.
  
• Are you a Mantle collector? Then check out Sports Collectors Digest series on Mickey Mantle and the collectibles that surround him.
  
• I hate to hit a guy while he's down, but this one is too easy. Besides, I love making fun of a Yankee. Wax Heaven shares a homemade ARod Baseball card.
• Here a video of Dolphins at Sea World tripping out over a robotic toy dinosaur. Fast forward to 1:46.
  

YouTube Link: sirensgrotto:

Cricket? Really?!

Manny Being Manny: Cricket Edition from Big League Stew on Vimeo.

It's a bit disconcerting that Manny would be doing this, especially considering his hammy issues. Nevertheless, this is fun to watch. Check out Big League Stew for more.

Ramirez, the best right-handed hitter of his generation, swung through a couple of the tosses, but connected on a few more. After one long drive to what would have been center field, Ramirez tossed aside the cricket bat and started his trot, only to be sternly reminded that cricket players must run at all times with the bat in their hands.

"But no running today," one of his handlers quickly reminded.

In the end, I'm sure that Manny is going to draw a lot of criticism for coming out to play cricket for cash when he's not yet healthy enough to play left field at Chavez Ravine. It's definitely warranted, though the whole exercise didn't look overly strenuous.

Also, look at it this way: Maybe now a few cricket teams will actually be able to create a real bidding war once Scott Boras has Manny opt out of his contract after this season.

Hunt: More Dodger Items

Here is my third installment of auction items from Hunt's recently closed March offering. Check my recent stories featuring collectibles from the estates of Negro Leaguer J. Leonard Mitchell and former Brooklyn Dodger Van Lingle Mungo.

I thought I would start out with this fun press photo (circa 1950's) of Roy Campanella and Duke Snider straddling a bunch of bats. It sold for $225.00.

Auction Link: Campanella/ Snider Photo:

Some of you may know that Brooklyn also hosted a professional football team known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. How original, eh! There were actually 2 different Brooklyn Dodgers football franchises, so I'm not sure which one this belongs to. My guess is that it's the old NFL team that played in Brooklyn from 1930 to 1943. This coat sold for $1,300.00.

Auction Link: Dodgers Football Overcoat:

There were numerous game used Dodger jerseys available in this auction, from Gary Sheffield and Manny Mota to Claude Osteen and Steve Bilko. Below is a game used 1992 Dodger jersey of Orel Hershiser. What I found notable about this jersey are some of the patches. It includes a commemorative patch for Roy Campanella and Don Drysdale who died in 1993 and a special patch for pitcher Tim Crews (#52) who died the same year. It sold for $1,200.00.

Auction Link: 1992 Hershiser Game Used Jersey:

Here is a 1963 World Series banner featuring the Dodgers against the hated Yankees. "Mangle Mantle! Murder Maris! Whack Whitey! Klonk Kubek! Bop Berra!" It sold for $225.00.

Auction Link: 1963 WS Banner:

Campanella game-used bats are the rarest of Hall of Fame bats from the era. This bat is stamped World Series 1952 and has evident game use attributes.

The bat exhibits evident use including ball marks, cleat marks, rack marks, and general surface wear. Model #G80 is stamped on the knob end... This bat has never before been offered publicly and originates from the family of a gentleman whose godmother was a family friend and neighbor of the Campanella's when they lived in Hollis Queens. According to family history, the bat was received from the Campanella's in the mid 1950's and reportedly hung over a bar in Campy's home.

It sold for $23,000.00.

Auction Link: Campanella Game Used WS Bat:

Hunt: Van Lingle Mungo

I've been a bit negligent in my posting recently of some of the bigger and better auctions in the market place. So, I hope to make up for that over the next several days.

A week or so ago I wrote about the collection of mostly Negro League items in Hunt's March Auction, but there was much more to that auction then the items from Mr. J. Leonard Mitchell's estate. In fact, the estate of former Brooklyn Dodger Van Lingle Mungo (The greatest Baseball name ever!) was featured in the auction as well. Check out some of his items below.

The Dodger have always been a family and the letter below certainly supports that. Dodgers General Manager, Larry MacPhail, offers the Dodgers support to Mrs. Mungo regarding Van Lingle's excessive drinking. It is signed by MacPhail and states pointedly, "Your problem and our problem is identical. If any of us quit on him, he won't make the grade." This letter sold for $550.00.

Auction Link: Letter between MacPhail and Mrs. Mungo:

This is one of the nicest items in this collection. Here is a circa 1931 team issued Brooklyn Robins belt buckle given to Mungo his rookie season.

(It) Features various design elements including his raised initials "VLM", enameled Robins bird logo, and decorative figural baseball in relief bearing his number "33" surrounded by the words "Base Ball Club" set in enameling.

It sold for a very affordable $325.00.

Auction Link: Mungo's Brooklyn Belt Buckle:

Here is a group of World Series ticket stubs for 1947, 1949 and 1950. No doubt that his wife or other family members used these tickets to root for the "Boys in Blue." The lot of 9 tickets sold for $800.00.

Auction Link: Mungo's WS Ticket Stubs: