Lacrosse

Welcome to the Show John Lindsey

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:46:00 +0000

Welcome to the Dodgers and the big show. Your 16 year journey is really just beginning. Below is a great ESPN video about his desire to make it.
UPDATE: I just realized that the ESPN embed script is screwed up, so just click here to see the video.

Great Find: Louis Sockalexis PC

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:47:00 +0000

Here is a great, possibly one-of-kind, real photo postcard of Baseball legend Louis Francis Sockalexis found on eBay. It is dated from 1907 when he briefly played for a Maine League team.

As you may know, Sockalexis was a Native American ballplayer from the Penobscot tribe in Maine. He was born in a town called Old Town and showed a great amount of athletic prowess at an early age. Entering the College of the Holy Cross in 1894 he excelled at Baseball, football and track. Three years later he transferred to Notre Dame.

While with the Fighting Irish he played in a exhibition game against New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, and faced a barrage of taunts and racist insults. Amos Rusie, a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Giants, even remarked that he would strike out that "damned Indian." Sockalexis, buoyed by a small contingent of family and friends from the Penobscot tribe in Maine who made the trip south, socked the very first pitch from Rusie for a home run over the center field fence. The man had stepped up in the moment.

"If the small and big boys of Brooklyn find it a pleasure to shout at me, I have no objections. No matter where we play, I go through the same ordeal, and at the present time I am so used to it that at times I forget to smile at my tormentors, believing it to be part of the game." (Brooklyn Eagle, May 1897)

Later that year he went on to play for the Cleveland Spiders, but lasted only three years in the show. Problems with alcoholism had cut his career short. As is legend, the Cleveland team was named after him, but the historical record shows otherwise. The team name, Indians, was chosen through a contest held by a local newspaper.

Sockalexis legend continues to grow as collectors and fans discuss what could have been. He is noted for having a mighty bat, a strong arm and for being one of the first Native Americans to play the game professionally.

"Louis Sockalexis had the most brilliant career of any man who ever played the game. At no time has a player crowded so many remarkable accomplishments into such a short period of time as Sockalexis. He should have been the greatest player of the times — greater than Cobb, Wagner, Lajoie, Hornsby or any of the other men who made history for the game." - Hall of Famer Hughie Jennings
----------------------------------
"If Sock had stayed up for five years he could well have been better than Cobb, Wagner or Ruth." - Hall of Famer John McGraw

BTW, it sold for $810.00.

(eBay Auction Link)

Blog Kiosk: 9/5/2010

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:59:00 +0000

I think it might be about time to start focusing on next season.

Check out these new Dodger blogs called Curse of the Piazza and the hilariously named Oral Kershyster.
Memories of Kevin Malone has up a very interesting scouting report of the 1955 Dodgers written by NY Yankee coach Jim Turner.
The White Sox also considered trading for some Dodger Manny wigs, via BLS.
Dodger charity under investigation by CA Attorney General, via Baseball Mussings.
Now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is suing Upper Deck. Will the bad news ever stop for Upper Deck, via Sports Collectors Daily? “In fact, at all times, Upper Deck was fully aware that Abdul-Jabbar had never authorized Upper Deck to use his photograph, name and signature for college-themed cards, and Abdul-Jabbar had previous rejected Upper Deck’s request for such authorization.” Morons!
Wow! Rhett Yeakley found a dozy from an eBay auction- a small estate collection of an early 1900's ballplayer named David Creagan. Now that in itself is pretty cool, but the best thing of all is it included a period photograph featuring A. J. Dussault and Olympian Jim Thorpe. Apparently given to Creagan as a keepsake, it is from Thorpe's time on a professional Baseball team that eventually lead to him losing his Olympic medals. Unbelievable! Go here to check it out.

eBay: The Dodgers Love Dressen

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 21:20:00 +0000

Former Dodger skipper, Chuck Dressen, poses with what looks like a heart-shaped bouquet of flowers (the auction description states it's a cake, but I don't see how it could be considering how he's holding it). It is Opening Night at Ebbets Field, April 17, 1951. The bouquet has the number 7 on it, the number Dressen wore throughout his career.

(eBay Auction Link)

2010 Topps "206" Dodger Base Cards

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:33:00 +0000

Topps just released their 2010 "206" Baseball card set. Fashioned to resemble the vintage T206 Baseball set from 100 years ago, they feature mostly portrait photos with pastel backgrounds. They also came in mini-versions that are the same size as the original vintage cards from the turn of the century. Notice that all of the base cards have the players without a cap. Below are all of the Dodger base cards in the set.

14 Rafael Furcal

25 Jackie Robinson

40 Hiroki Kuroda

89 Matt Kemp

There are also a group of 50 different short print variations in the full set that show a player wearing a cap. The only Dodger represented is Matt Kemp. See it below.

Short Print Cap Variation

92 Andre Ethier

174 Clayton Kershaw

227 Chad Billingsley

241 Manny Ramirez

244 Russell Martin

265 James Loney

Subway Baseball Designs by Little Leaguers: Orel Hershiser

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:18:00 +0000

I'm sorry I didn't run into this auction before it ended. For the second year in a row Subway teamed up with Little League Baseball and Softball for a charity auction on eBay. They had numerous stars and athletes sign a Baseball. Then, they had some little leaguers draw a piece of art around it. All proceeds benefited the Little League Urban Initiative. Below is the ball signed by Orel Hershiser.

(eBay Auction Link)

The San Jose Sharks Mascot, Sharkie, Can't Throw

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:48:00 +0000

Several weeks ago on August 12th in San Francisco (following a Giants versus Cubs game) Comcast network held a special Authentic Postgame BBQ. On hand were a couple of Giants players, announcers and a San Jose Sharks winger Joe Pavelski. Also in attendance was San Jose Sharks mascot Sharkie.

The highlight of the event was not the athletes or the food. It must have been this typical carnival game that could only make a Giant fan smile. They had a "Dunk a Dodger" booth. Check out the video below of Sharkie doing his damnedest to throw a strike, but alas, he fails in the end. That shark can't throw. Even funnier, though, is that if you listen closely you can hear the designated Dodger scream, "you throw like a fish!"

YouTube Link:

Vintage Spokesman: Dixie Walker

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:13:00 +0000

I always marvel at vintage photographs throughout America showing men of all ages wearing those fancy hats. It makes me wonder why did it stop? Was there something in our history or culture that made everybody change this fashion trend?

Anyway, below, former Brooklyn Dodger Dixie Walker lent his name and image to a manufacturer of those hats- Champ' Hats. It is from 1947 and includes a great little cartoon created by Willard Mullin. Click the pic below to enlarge it.

click the pic to enlarge
(eBay Auction Link)

Fans Speaking Loud and Clear

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:04:00 +0000

With the season coming to a close and only 29 games left the Dodgers find themselves 6.5 games back of the wild-card spot. With that, our chances for post season glory appear to diminish at every hour. Expectedly, the fans react by not coming to the stadium. The pic above, found on Twitter, shows how empty the stadium really is this afternoon.

(pic link: tweetphoto: HipHopHead86)

Card of the Week: Triple Womack

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:52:00 +0000

I really enjoy Baseball cards with multiple negatives. They are a great way to capture the grace and majesty of the game on a little piece of cardboard. Above is Tony Womack's 1998 Upper Deck card featuring Sammy Sosa sliding into 2nd base as Womack attempts to turn a double play. Just another great addition to this weeks "Card of the Week."

Collection: N28 Caruthers

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:03:00 +0000

This is my last N28 Allen & Ginter card in my collection. Go here to check out the other cards in my yet to be completed set.

Bob L. Caruthers, also known as Parisian Bob, was primarily a pitcher and right fielder. He played for the St. Louise Browns and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms from 1884 to 1893, and is considered one of the handful of great players from the 19th Century not already in the Hall of Fame. Parisian Bob excelled as both a starting pitcher (going 218-99 with a ERA of 2.83) and a hitter (batting a career .281, On Base Percentage of .391, and a lifetime .400 slugging percentage). Furthermore, in 1885 and 1889 he won 40 games.

He was named Parisian Bob due to some highly unusual contract negotiations against Browns owner Chrin Von der Ahe from 1885 to 1886. Caruthers did all of his talking through a telegraph wire from Paris. After his playing days he became an umpire for two season in the American League from 1902 to 1903.

Legendary Auctions: Brooklyn Old Judge Cabinets

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:36:00 +0000

Legendary Auctions recently completed their most recent auction. It included the below two rare Old Judge cabinet cards featuring 19th Century Brooklyn players.

Both of the large sized (4 1/4" x 6 1/2") cards are from 1888-1889 and are referenced with the ACC number N173. They are photographs affixed onto a cardboard backing. These were produced by Old Judge Cigarettes and were attained by exchanging coupons inserted within packs of smokes.

Below, James "Hardie" Harding shows off his wind-up. Hardie played 6 years of Major League ball; including two years with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It sold for a healthy $4,147.50. Photos on black colored backings are much scarcer than the typical yellow backings.

(Auction Link)

This Old Judge features two Bridegrooms; catcher Bob Clark tagging Mickey Hughes. Bob Clark was the backup catcher on the team. In 5 season in Brooklyn he batted .241. Mickey Hughes was an excellent starting pitcher for Brooklyn. He only played 3 Major League season, two of which for Brooklyn. His rookie year he went 25-13 with a ERA of 2.13. He also finished all 40 games he started- pitching a total of 363 innings. It sold for $3,555.00.

(Auction Link)

Hearing From Red Barber

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:11:00 +0000

Here is a great letter written by former Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and mentor to Vin Scully, Red Barber found on eBay. It is to a Richard who must have asked some advice about life. Red's response is one we should all remember.

"The single best advice I ever heard was when my father said,'Son, I don't know where you are going in the world--what you are going to do--who you are going to be with. I can't know these things. But I know this--every night when you are ready to go to sleep, you are going to have to sleep with yourself.'

What great advice from a man with plenty of experience to share. It is dated from February 17, 1991 which would make Mr. Barber 91 years old.

(eBay Auction Link)

No Yogi, Jackie Was Safe

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:57:00 +0000

Here is a great little story from Politico about an unexpected gift from Yogi Berra to President Obama. Tom Murro, the Celebrity Magnet, had met the President last year while vacationing in Martha's Vineyard. As word spread of his chance encounter a neighbor, who happens to be Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, asked if he might be able to pass along a gift on his behalf. Not to pass up the opportunity to meet the President again he said "sure."

Tom was in Martha’s Vineyard with his daughter when they stopped at Nancy’s Restaurant in Oak Bluffs, MA, to grab a bite to eat. A huge crowd surrounded the restaurant, and The Magnet was quickly informed that the first family was dining inside. (Looks like Tom and Obama have similar tastes…who knew?)

The Magnet had a chance to speak with the president upon the completion of his meal. After shaking Obama’s hand, Tom reminded the commander-in-chief of their meeting with Spike Lee just a year prior – an encounter that Obama remembered. Tom proceeded to tell the President that he had a gift for him from baseball great, Yogi Berra.

“Let’s see what you have there,” Obama said. After receiving the photo, Obama exclaimed, “That’s fantastic!” before passing the signed photo off to Marvin Nicholson.

Above is a pic of the encounter. Above that is a pic of the gift Yogi gave. It is a signed photo of the Jackie stealing home plate during the 1955 World Series. To this day Yogi maintains he tagged him out. Yogi signs it: "Dear Mr. President. He was out! Yogi Berra"

BTW Yogi, I hate to tell ya, but Jackie was safe and no amount of politicking will change that fact in the record books.

(Hat Tip: Sports Collectors Daily)

Here is a video of the play.

YouTube Link:

Diamond Life with the Bakersfield Dodgers

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:07:00 +0000

Here is a great promotional photo found on eBay advertising a PBS documentary called "Diamond Life." It was all about the Class A Bakersfield Dodgers in 1991 and the young players on the team as they sought out their American dream on the base paths. Jose Offerman and Braulio Castillo are featured. Funny thing is that neither of these guys were on the 1991 Bakersfield team.

Who were on team, though, are a collection of future Hall of Famers and some other great players. They include Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi and Orel Hershiser.

This is the first time I had ever heard of the show. Has anyone ever seen it? Was this just one- one hour show, or a series of one hour shows run throughout the season? Anybody know?

I searched high and low throughout the interwebs for an archived copy, but alas one was not to be found. If you run into it please pass it along.