FanFest Autograph Tickets Go on Sale Tomorrow Morning!

After several days of refreshing your browser every ten minutes, the news Dodger fans have been waiting for has finally arrived.  Ticket vouchers for autographs and VIP Experiences during the Dodgers FanFest will go on sale tomorrow morning, Friday, January 23rd at 10:00 AM.

#DodgersFF VIP Experiences will also go on sale to the general public tomorrow at 10am PT here: http://t.co/CqtytW3kG9
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) January 22, 2015

Autograph vouchers per line/per session is $20.00 each.  Go here for information.  If it's like last year (and I'm certain it will be just like last year) fans can purchase a voucher and receive autographs from the two players in that line.

VIP Experience will also go on sale at the same time.  Go here for information.  Unfortunately, the cost for each experience has yet to be released.

On a side note, I am very annoyed it took this long to announce this.  Being a working stiff makes it difficult to appropriately plan when you are given just 24 hours to plan.  I had to scheduled a 9AM meeting for tomorrow morning that I confirmed an hour before the Dodgers official notice.  Now, I am afraid that I'll get shutout when I finally get back into the office.

As you can imagine, I am not a happy camper.

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Blog Kiosk: 1/22/2015 - Dodger Links - Chris Anderson, Brett Anderson and Jeff Bridges

We are less than two weeks away from the release of Topps 2015 flagship Baseball card set, so news and information about it will be coming out like a flood.  For instance, one of the subsets being released is called "First Pitch," and it includes cards of notable folks throwing out first pitches.  There are 15 cards in the subset, and three of them are from Dodger Stadium.  The above pic, via Chris Olds at Beckett, is a preview pic of a Jeff Bridges card.  Below is a checklist of Dodger "First Pitch" cards.

• #FP-01 Jeff Bridges
• #FP-08 Jermaine Jones
• #FP-13 Suzy

Out of curiosity, who the heck is Suzy?  Other notables include McKayla Maroney, Eddie Vedder, Tom Morello and 50 Cent.  As you will recall, 50 Cent hilariously couldn't throw a Baseball right during his first pitch last season.  Watch it here.  There is also a card for 105-year old Agnes McKee.  You can check out a complete checklist of the upcoming set here.

Below are some more links to check out:

• Via David Hood at True Blue LA, "Dodgers top prospects 2015: Chris Anderson, No. 8."

As a starter, Anderson has one of the livelier fastballs in the system. He typically sits at 92-94 with heavy armside run. Anderson doesn’t generate as many ground balls as you’d expect with this life, most likely because he tends to pitch up in the zone. Anderson has the potential to throw in the upper 90’s in relief stints and should maintain enough of the life on the pitch to miss plenty of bats.

• Via Jeff Bradley at Sports Illustrated, "Preston Mattingly finds post-baseball sporting life on hardwood."
• Via Wayne Cavadi at Gradin on the Curve, "Bedard Looking to Bounce Back in LA."
• Via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider, "Brett Anderson, Clayton Kershaw share 10-year history."  They were teammates on the Team USA 18-and-under squad.

Anderson called Kershaw one of “the nicest guys you could be around,” and that fondness remained long after their high school days were over. Anderson was with the opposing Colorado Rockies when Kershaw threw his no-hitter this past June 18, and couldn’t help praising the lefty.

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Dodgers lefty Anderson on track for Spring Training."

"I feel good and hope, with no setback, I should be good to go for Spring Training," he said.

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPNLosAngeles.com, "Are rehabbing pitchers the new market inefficiency?"
• Ben Badler at Baseball America takes a look at the, "2015 Los Angeles Dodgers Top 10 Prospects."

Baseball’s fattest payroll commands the most attention when it comes to the Dodgers, but the organization has built one of the game’s better farm systems, especially at the top. Aside from the Cubs, the Dodgers’ top three prospects are as strong as any other organization’s in baseball.

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2014 Panini Elite Extra Edition - All the Dodger Cards

If I'm not mistaken, this is the very last Baseball card set of 2014.  Released last week was Panini's Elite Extra Edition Baseball set, and like in years past it focuses primarily on young prospects rising through their respective systems.  Go here for a complete checklist.

Several of the Dodgers' newest and brightest ballplayers are featured in the set; including last years #1 pick Grant Holmes. Below are pics of every Dodger player available.  Of note, Mike Piazza is included as a Dodger in the set.

Base Set

#35 Jared Walker                               #47 Jeff Brigham

Blog Kiosk: 1/21/2015 - Dodger Links - Some Odds and Ends

What a fantastic vintage image of Jackie Robinson grabbing a bat and heading to the plate for the very first time as a Dodger in 1947.  Pic above via @pderrico_49 on twitter.

Below are some more links to check out:

• Via Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA, "Will Dodgers improved defense make up for their lost offense?"
• Orel at Sons of Steve Garvey provides a short, "Report from Enemy Territory."
• Via Alexis Brudnicki at True Blue LA, "Dodgers land key development piece in Clayton McCullough."

"The people who are very talented in this game are going to move up or they’re going to have opportunities to move on, and you only hope the best for them," (Andrew) Tinnish said. "The Dodgers made a great hire. He’s a great guy, he’s a great worker, he’s got a lot of energy, he has a great eye for talent, and he does a nice job of developing players."

• GCRL shares, "one last oddball from the Steve Garvey oddball binder."
• Just in case you care, via Colin O'Keefe at Lookout Landing, "Mariners install LED lights at Safeco Field, first MLB park to have them." 
• Via Joon Lee at the Daily Gammons, "Are top prospects overvalued in baseball?"

Publications such as Baseball America provide great information on a wealth of young players, but a significant number of those players covered never amount to anything of significance at the major league level. Consider this study from Matt Perez of Camden Depot which concluded that from 1990 through 2006, approximately 70 percent of Baseball America Top-100 prospects failed. Over at Royals Review, Scott McKinney conducted a similar study that came to a couple of conclusions: A) 70 percent of Baseball America Top-100 prospects fail. B) About 60 percent of position players ranked in the Top-20 succeed in the majors C) About 40 percent of pitchers ranked in the Top-20 succeed.

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My First Helmar Brewing Company Card - Brooklyn Dodger Joe Dunn

For years I've been interested in something different for my collection.  For Baseball collectors that means Topps.  Sure, Panini is out there, but without team logos cards often look odd and amateurish.   There's still vintage, and goodness knows I've got a healthy wantlist there, but I firmly believe you just can't chase the old stuff alone.  I wanted something new and different to add, and I think I may have finally found something that fills that need.

Not to long ago I added my very first Helmar Brewing Company Card.

Helmar Brewing fills an niche that current products do not.  Starting in 2005 they produced retro-style Baseball cards to go along with their product line of beer, and almost immediately created a following among the collector set.  Their cards were attractive, modern day drawings of olde-tyme ballplayers that used designs borrowed from many different classic card sets.  They are not reprints.  Instead, they are unique collectible cards, often limited in number, that have the look and feel of something old.  Heck, their modern offerings are purposefully given a distressed look; including scuffed edges and rounded corners, in order to make each individual card look as unique as possible.

For years these cards were put into their beer, chips and caramel corn products, but based upon the high collector demand they now sell them directly online through eBay.  And this is where I recently got my newest card.  Check out photos of it above and below.

The card is of former Brooklyn ballplayer Joe Dunn, and it is a part of the "Our Guy" Helmar set.  The card is the same size as a vintage tobacco card, is made with thicker card stock than a vintage card and uses a design reminiscent of the T205 & T206 sets.  In fact, the drawing used for Dunn is the exact same image used in the T206 set.  

For several months I had placed numerous bids on many different Dodger Helmar cards, but always got outbid.  This time, I was able to walk away with this beaut for $13 delivered.  A steal when you consider that their cards often sell for far more; especially when they use a readily known design of a  well-regarded player.  For instance, a Burleigh Grimes Boston Garter Helmar card recently sold for $88.

BTW, Joe Dunn was a backup catcher for Brooklyn from 1908-1909 -- when they were known as the Superbas.   He got into only 30 games over that span; including 27 as a catcher. 

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Blog Kiosk: 1/20/2015 - Dodger Links - Agon, Ryu and Gabe Kapler

Adrian Gonzalez spoke a bit about his walk-up song "El Mariachi Loco" with ESPN The Magazine.  Check that out here.  The photo above via @DodgersPR on twitter/Art Streiber.

Below are some more links to check out:

• Via The Korea Times, "Ryu Hyun-jin ‘dates hard’ in offseason."

Sharing a meal with Song and the triplets, Ryu was asked about how he and his girlfriend date while in Korea.

“I come to Korea for two-and-a-half months in the winter,” Ryu said in a literal translation. “We spend time together, dating ‘hard,’ as in a condensed manner.”

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Vision takes Dodgers' system in new direction."

Via Gabe Kapler: "One thing we want to do is avoid locking ourselves into any organizational philosophy that can't be easily altered or improved," said Kapler. "While mining for best practices, we have overarching themes and philosophies, but we don't want to say, 'This is what we believe' and get so dug in that we're not capable of being nimble as new studies present better ways to approach problems and development. That flexibility is a thought process that we have to constantly talk about it with players and staff.

• Via Harold Uhlman at Think Blue LA, "Pitching prospect Caleb Ferguson hoping to make Dodgers gamble worthwhile."

It seems that the Dodgers were the only team willing to take a chance on Caleb Ferguson following his TJ surgery. It was a selection made with no risk to the Dodgers and a decision that a could reap significant rewards. Logan White, the Dodgers former Vice President of Amateur Scouting, said there is no longer a worry about athletes who have had the surgery. “It’s definitely more of a trend with the travel ball and the way these kids are playing all year round. I think it’s going to continue to be more common,”

• Via David Cycleback at Sports Collectors Daily, "8 Sports Card Issues Rarer Than the T206 Wagner."
• When I highlight an auction item I often wonder if it'll somehow make its way to a museum.  I'm happy to report that one such historically significant item will be going to a museum.  The MacPhail letter from the Lelands Auction that I shared last week will be going to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, via their tweet:  (BTW, the letter sold for $9,235.19)  You can read the entire document here.

RT NLBM acquires 1945 letter written by then @Yankees prez Larry McPhail dismissing Blacks from playing in @mlb. pic.twitter.com/YKnuFqYdNO
— negroleaguesmuseum (@nlbmprez) January 19, 2015

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