Rest in Peace, Leroy Neiman

I wanted to send my condolences to the family, friends and admirers of Leroy Neiman. 

Neiman was one of the more celebrated sports artist of our time.  His paintings are easily recognizable, and cherished by collectors.  Check out this great story about his career in the New York Times.

As some may know, Leroy Neiman most famous drawing (at least in this Dodgers fans mind) is the Dodgers Centennial painting.  Recently, the twitter @Dodgers account made note of this masterpiece by sharing a photo from the day Neiman originally unveiled it to a cheering crowd at Dodger Stadium.

(twitter link: @Dodgers)

(twitter link: @Dodgers)

Below is a better view of the drawing.

(Hunt Auctions Link)

Wanna See the Stanley Cup? It'll be in Hermosa Beach on Monday

With the good vibes still fresh I figure, from time to time, I'll post up some news about the Stanley Cups whereabouts.  Ya know, this happy grin hasn't left my face for days now, and I suspect it'll stick around for several more months.  Anyway, I thought I would pass along the news that Lord Stanley will be making an appearance in Hermosa Beach on Monday afternoon for a citywide rally celebrating the Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.  Kings center Jarret Stoll he be on-hand as the Hermosa Beach City Council and Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce send their congratulations.   Go here for info.

The Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau and the City of Hermosa Beach will welcome the Stanley Cup to Hermosa Beach on Monday, June 25 for a public rally to salute the 2012 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.

At 11 a.m., the Stanley Cup will be driven down Pier Avenue by the Hermosa Beach Fire Department where it will be part of a public rally in Pier Plaza beginning at approximately 11:15 a.m.

The Stanley Cup will be on display during the ceremony on stage and fans are encouraged to bring their cameras for this photo opportunity (please note that individual photos with the Stanley Cup will not be available at this event).

At approximately 11:45 a.m., the Stanley Cup will be driven north from the Hermosa Beach Pier on the strand to the Hermosa Beach/Manhattan Beach border. Fans will have the unique opportunity to take photos of the Stanley Cup as it travels up the strand in Hermosa Beach.

Fans in Hermosa Beach are encouraged to wear their Kings gear as many local restaurants will offer specials during the lunch hour for fans wearing Kings gear.

Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 6/22/2012

This makes me feel stupid.  I had no idea the Dodgers had a star on the Walk of Fame.  The Dodgers ran a twitter contest for free tickets last week, and superfan Susan G @ScumbagGF (awesome handle, btw) tweeted this pic.  Anyone know where this is?

• Keep Roberto in your thoughts.
• Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times writes that the "End is not Near: Dodgers No Longer Own Baseball's Best Record.

And on the morning of June 21, 2012, the Dodgers awoke to greet the new summer no longer in possession of the title: Team with the best record in baseball.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

OK, maybe not, but the team had sort of hung its blue cap on that recognition all spring. As the days went by and the Dodgers continued to hang onto baseball’s best record, non-believers continually fell by the wayside.

• The Dodgers and Angels booster clubs get together for a good cause.  Join them on June 30th for their blood drive.  All presenting donors will receive a SPECIAL Commemorative t-shirt, a voucher for 2 tickets to an Angels or Dodger Home Game. Quantities limited. Schedule an appointment now!  (Hat Tip: Sons of Steve Garvey)
• This is pretty interesting.  The Rockies have moved to a 4 man rotation, via Shlomo Sprung at the Business insider.

The experiment: A four-man starting rotation with each starter on a 75 pitch limit. After the pitch limit is reached, the Rockies turn the ball over to a set of longer relievers to ease the strain on a bullpen and rotation that's been affected by injury. In the final innings they go to their set-up men and closer.

• Check out Shorpy's photo blog to see a circa 1906 pic of the Jersey Shore (at Atlantic City) on a sunny afternoon.  It shows a banner telling onlookers that a Base Ball game will start at 3:30 that afternoon.  On another note, the outfits folks wore back then are crazy- black full body swimming suits.  Modesty laws are weird.
• There is too much awesome with the Tampa Bay Rays.  They will be wearing hypothetical 1979 throwback uniforms on June 30th, and I think they got it right, via twitter @Jonathan_Gantt.  Pic at left.

• MAD Magazine gets it right with their rendition of Roger Clemen's HOF plaque.
• Tom Bartsch at Sports Collectors Digest writes about the bubble gum card wars of the early 1950's.
• This smile just won't go away.  Heck, I've been wearing my 2012 Stanley Cup Champions Los Angeles Kings cap for a full week.  I wear it to work, at home, anywhere, and everywhere.  So, forgive my indulgence as I post up this great fan made video below.  BTW, the entire Kings schedule for next season has just been released.  Also, check out this great blog post from a Kings fan who had been traveling throughout Europe the past year (even meeting Kopitar in Slovenia during this past off-season) and decided it was time to come home when the Kings were playing the Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Video Link:

Collection: Adrian Beltre UD Origins Autograph

I'm a big fan of inserted certified autograph Dodgers cards.  So much so that I will seek out just about any signed Dodgers card- as long as the player is in a Dodgers uniform.  Therefore, this card featured here qualifies.

This is a 2005 Upper Deck Origins Signature card of former Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre.  As you can see it is actually a Mariners card; since Beltre signed with them out of free agency the December before the issue of this set.  Given that, the only pictures available to Upper Deck must have only been Dodgers affiliated.  So, instead of air-brushing the photo they kept it as is.

2012 Topps Tier One- Some of the Dodgers Cards

When gambling and Baseball cards combine you get Tier One.

One box is really just one pack of three cards.  It will run you anywhere between $80 to $100 for that pack.  So, the gambling analogy above is very apt.  Even more so when you consider that there is no base cards in the product.  There is no set to complete.  It is a product consisting of only "hits."  Given that, I figured I'd feature some of the cards pulled so far to show here since I doubt I'll be adding any of these cards to my collection any time soon.  It's like this post is my version of online window shopping.

BTW, if I see any of the rarer "1 of 1" cards going forward I'll be sure to post about them in the future.  These cards here are some of the more common hits you might find. The big Dodgers stars you would expect are in here.  You can pull autographs of Matt Kemp and Sandy Koufax.  Unfortunately, you won't be able to see any of them for awhile.  Only redemption cards are inserted in packs for them. 

Below is a Crowd Please Autograph of Andre Ethier and a "silver ink" parallel below that card.

CPA-AE Andre Ethier

This is a Top Shelf Autograph Relic of Dee Gordon.  Considering the price of the pack I would be mighty disappointed in pulling a Gordon card. 

TSAR-DG Dee Gordon

The next three cards are called On The Rise Autographed cards.

OR-CKE Clayton Kershaw /50

OR-DG Dee Gordon /75

OR-NE Nathan Eovaldi /395

Here is a Top Shelf Relic of Andre Ethier; including a base jersey card and a parallel triple jersey relic card.

TSR-AE Andre Ethier

Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 6/20/2012

The Dodgers recently released the second Dodger Stadium collector cup to certain concessions (so be sure to ask), pic via twitter @DodgersManny58.  It features some pitching greats. 

• Get well soon, Roberto.
• I don't know how much of this really matters, but since Dodger Stadium is running up against the Brewers Miller Park I thought a little mention was in order.  ESPN has a "Battle of the Parks" contest right now, so be sure to go here to vote for Dodger Stadium.
• Stacie Wheeler at Lasorda's Lair recaps the recent AJ Ellis signing at All Star Collectibles.
• Save the Dodgers briefly speaks with AJ Ellis about everything from his season to Between Two Palm Trees.
• Orbit has been named the best mascot in Minor League Baseball, via the Isotopes Twitter.

• A little bit of cross-promotion never hurt anybody.  The Dodgers team up with Nickelback ... no, I mean Linkin Park in a ticket package that includes a game ticket (June 29 vs. NYM, 7:10 p.m.) and a digital copy of the band’s fifth studio album “LIVING THINGS."  It will cost $23.00 and will include an Infield Reserve ticket and a redemption code for a digital copy of “LIVING THINGS” that will be available for download on the June 26th. Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda will be at the game.  Go here for details.
• LA Blue Crew has photos from the recent Manny Mota signing at El Tepeyac, and from the James Worthy signing at Living Spaces.

(2012 Topps Pro Debut)

• Dodgers prospect O'Koyea Dickson makes an impression at the Midwest League All-Star Game, via Patrick Brown at MLB.com.

Dickson helped lead the charge as the East Division scored 13 times over the first two innings and coasted to an 18-2 thumping of the West Division All-Stars in front of 7,528 fans at Kane County's Fifth Third Field.

Dickson went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and two runs scored and was named Most Valuable Player.

• I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier.  Harry at Eye on LA Sports has a great rundown; including plenty of photos from several games and his autograph "gets," from the Brewers series a few weeks ago.