Los Angeles Dodgers

A Dodger Trolley is Now Available to Serve the Trolley Dodgers

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:22:00 +0000

Starting tomorrow, Friday, July 25, 2008, Dodger fans will be able to go to games from Union Station to the stadium and back for free.

The service is provided on Game Days, starting 90 minutes before game time and concluding 60 minutes after the game ends.

Additionally, it will be making 2 stops along the way on Sunset Boulevard. Go here for more info.

Dodger Autograph Alert!

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:26:00 +0000

I just got an email from the Dodgers PR Department highlighting several Dodger players who will be signing autographs this coming weekend and next weekend. Below is the list of where to go.

Friday, July 25 – 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Blake DeWitt
at:Staples Los Angeles
11341 National Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 445-4041

Saturday, July 26 – 12:00 p.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Chad Billingsley
at:AT&T Los Angeles
3764 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 388-9444

Saturday, July 26 – 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Corey Wade
at:Wal-Mart Santa Clarita
25450 Old Road
Valencia, CA 91381
(661) 253-1911

Saturday, July 26 – 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Jeff Kent
at:MACY’s Northridge – Men’s Department
9301 Tampa Ave # 2500
Northridge, CA 91324
(818) 885-6611

Saturday, August 2 – 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Andre Ethier
at:AT&T
3851 Overland Ave
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 559-2019

In Case You Missed This Afternoons Game

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:30:00 +0000

Dodgers lose to the Rockies 5 to 3.

Is This Crazy or Brilliant?

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:39:00 +0000

As some you of you know, the 29th Annual National Sports Collectors Convention is taking place the weekend of July 30th to Aug 3rd in Chicago. This is the prominent show in the hobby. Dealers from across the country come out to show their best stuff. For vintage collectors this is the place to go shopping. All the card manufacturers give out free promos and autograph guest from every sport imaginable show up. It's a show you don't want to miss.

To add some mystique, the National and Sportsbuy.com have come together to offer the most hated Cubs fan of all a crazy deal. They are offering Steven Bartman, the idiot who interfered with that foul ball, $25,000.00 to come to the show and put his autograph on the picture below. Is this crazy? Will he even show up? Is this a big set up? Who knows? All I do know is that the Chicago press is starting to report it and this Baseball fanatic city is bound to go a bit nuts about the whole event.

1949 Bowman Uncut Sheet with Jackie Robinson

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:21:00 +0000

Thanks to collector Bob from NY I get to show off his uncut sheet of 1949 Bowman Baseball cards. It has 4 rows of 9 cards each and features, prominently in the center, Jackie Robinson. This is his Bowman rookie card. The consistent red backgrounds on the sheet give it a art deco look.
The best thing about how this is displayed is that you can see both the front and back of the sheet. If you are interested in the piece I know Bob would look at any offers, just let me know and I'll send you his email.

Card Of The Week: Justin Maxwell

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:02:00 +0000

OK. Now I'm just trying to catch up. The Card of the Week, however belated, is a 2008 Upper Deck card of Washington Nationals outfielder Justin Maxwell, #325. Justin is taking a swing while up to bat inside Nationals Stadium during construction. Construction workers stand in the background. One fellow is on the right taking his own photo of the spectacle.

L5's- More Leather

admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:53:00 +0000

Thanks to Roger, who sent me an email pointing out these auctions, I get to expand a bit on the leather tobacco inserts I wrote about a month ago. Below is a collection of leather premiums that sold on eBay last week. Instead of Baseball players featured on the face like the L1's these leather items feature the ladies. They are called Hamilton King Girls and are commonly known as L5 in the standard catalog. They measure 8.25" X 12.50" and where redeemed through with a collection of coupons in packs of cigarettes in 1908.

These leathers appear to highlight women from different parts of the country and their hobbies. Check them out below.

eBay Auction: Atlantic City Girl L5:

Above is the Atlantic City Girl and sold for $224.72. Below is the Coney Island Girl which sold for $133.50. What is unusual about these leathers is how different they from the Baseball version. The Baseball leathers had drawings printed on the front. These Hamilton Girl's are pressed into the leather to give it texture and then painted.

eBay Auction: Coney Island Girl L5:

Below is the Long Beach Girl which sold for $207.50.

eBay Auction: Long Beach Girl L5:

The below item has me scratching my head. What exactly is a Comfort Girl? My imagination is running wild. It sold for $99.99. UPDATE: Well, Roger tells me that this is actually Old Point Comfort which is a beach in Virginia. Whoops!!

eBay Auction: Comfort Girl L5:

Below are links to 6 other leathers that were on eBay.

eBay Auction: Asbury ParkGirl L5:
eBay Auction: Coronado Beach Girl L5:
eBay Auction: Bar Harbor Girl L5:
eBay Auction: Manhattan Beach Girl L5:
eBay Auction: Spanish Dancer Girl L5:
eBay Auction: Palm Beach Girl L5:

UPDATE: Wow! Roger has a heck of a collection. He has sent me a link that features numerous other L5 leathers. Check them out here. Also, here is a link to a great website within the Vintage Non Sports Card Chat Board featuring all kind of early 20th century leather tobacco premiums.

Blog Kiosk 7/20/2008

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Better Late Then Never.

Tatiana shares a great story about a very lucky kid. Also, check out the second edition of "The Baseball Card Show" as they break open boxes of Topps wax.
Are the Dodgers still eying Jack Wilson?
The Giants have a "Crazy Crab" mascot? Via Home Run Derby. The fans would boo the Crab (when they weren’t throwing things at it), the players would abuse it with rosin bags and bats, and the Crab would give it right back on talk radio and taunt fans and management, even after it was retired in 1985 - barely a season after it had debuted. But over the last decade, The Crab has seen a surge in popularity among fans.
Pyle of List writes about Jeff Kent mouthing off at Andre Ethier. (Hat Tip: Babes Love Baseball)
More Mars pics courtesy of the European Space Agency.
At the edges of the main valley lie smaller light-coloured tributary valleys or "sapping canyons" - around six miles long and 1800 feet deep.
The Echus Chasma - described by Nasa as one of the largest water sources on the planet - is connected to a much bigger valley system called the Kasei Valles which extends thousands of miles to the north.
The Antique Roadshow will be in Chattanooga, TN featuring Minor League Baseball Memorabilia. Check out the story here. There is a behind the scenes video. (Hat Tip: SCD)
With the recent "run on the bank" and FDIC takeover of IndyMac I thought it might be a good idea to pass along this link. "What you need to know about FDIC insurance"- Suze Orman.
Are you sick of the political season yet. Hold on, the next 4 months are gonna be crazy.

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Hat Tip: Huffington Post:

The Trolley Dodger… er, Dodger Trolley

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:40:00 +0000

My head is spinning. ;)

As mentioned recently, the City of LA and the Dodgers are making arrangements to provide shuttle service from Union Station to the Stadium. More details are now available.

We’re excited to announce a new Dodger Trolley to make getting to the stadium even more convenient! The service is provided on Game Days, starting 2 hours before game time and concluding 1 hour after the game ends.

When: Shuttle service begins Friday, July 25 and will operate for the 32 remaining home games in the 2008 season.

More on Nomar’s carne asada

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:12:00 +0000

The Times has a write-up on the Carne Asada Sunday event (covered on Trolley Dodger last month), providing a few details I was wondering about.

The mariachi band was from Baldwin Park’s Guadalajara Grill.

That was his family there:

Garciaparra was joined by his grandmother, parents Ramon and Sylvia, and sisters Yvette and Monique. (Garciaparra’s wife, former soccer star Mia Hamm, usually comes too, but she’d kept the couple’s year-old twin daughters at home during the heat wave.)

Hey, and LA Times video, too.

Lots of good details on how to make your own, including a full recipe to serve 16:

At the stadium, the carne asada is served with corn tortillas, pico de gallo, tomatillo sauce, chopped onions, chopped cilantro, grilled whole serrano chiles and slices of lime.

If I hadn’t just gotten back from the dentist this afternoon, I would be all over that right about now. :)

Dominance? Not so much

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:52:00 +0000

I’ve seen the American League’s All-Star Game victory last night referred to as their “continued dominance” of the National League, since it’s been over a decade since the last NL win.

Let’s be honest, though. The only dominance in evidence last night was Dan Uggla’s dominating three errors and 0-4, 3K, GIDP, 6 LOB line. Yikes.

Never mind that. Russell Martin surely was, as the marveling Joe Buck put it, a “magician” behind the dish last night. And how about that eight-pitch battle versus the vaunted Mariano Rivera? What a showcase of our young catcher — a true All-Star performance.

Card Of The Week: Brian Jordan

admin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:41:00 +0000

Above is a 1998 Topps Baseball card featuring former Dodger Brian Jordan. He was one of a handful of athletes to have played in both the NFL and MLB.

Blog Kiosk 7/13/2008

admin — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Getting over .500 is the toughest task of all.

I just came across this. The Long Beach Armada of the Golden Baseball League has an audio archive of nearly all of their games this year available for download. If you were interested in the games against the Chinese National Baseball Team in May you can listen to them here.
A New York Times writer shares his 1930's autograph scrapbook and a couple of stories; including being told, “I don’t ever want to see you again,” by Hall of Famer Lefty Grove.
Check out Mark Langill's interview of Tommy Lasorda recalling his days at Yankee Stadium at LA Dodger Talk. It's a great listen.
Roberto meets Joe Beimel and gets an early peek at his bobblehead. He also finds this great interview of James Loney.

Check out Falling Leaves of Sunshine's Photoblog with plenty of Dodger pics here.
Fire Ned Colletti profiles Dodger prospect Jonathon Meloan.
"Mr. Mint" Alan Rosen is a little pissed off at the obvious portrayal of him in the upcoming film "Diminished Capacity" featuring Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick. Read about it at The Baseball Card Blog and Infield Dirt.
Jose Canseco is knocked out in the 1st round in Atlantic City. (Hat Tip: Wax Heaven:)
An Indians fan is mourning the loss of their best player, CC Sabathia, by auctioning off, on eBay, his fanatic allegiance and enthusiasm to another team for the rest of the season. He receives some well deserved criticism from the truly faithful in the "Question & Answers" section. Was your rooting interest in the Tribe limitted to watching as little as one game a week and wearing some MLB merchandise as well? If that's the extend to your fandom, haven't current bids already exeeded the value of what you have offered? As an Indians fan who understood the imputus for the trade of CC, good luck with you auction, but once your services are complete, don't bother comimg back to the tee-pee.(Hat Tip: Lion In Oil)
Check out Home Run Derby's jersey of the week. This is a bad omen.
Soccer is filled with a bunch of drunken fools in the stands. Now, even the refs can't keep of the sauce. (Hat Tip: Sports Crackle Pop)

The Hall Takes But Can't Share It All

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Vintage Baseball Card Forum poster Joseph recently went on a special tour at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and discovered a hidden treasure trove of Baseball history sitting on shelves in the basement.
The rumors are that they have over 35,000 three dimensional artifacts in storage, as well as, a couple of million items within their library. Unfortunately, due to the lack of space and funding for a new building they can never show everything.

Above is a pic of the basement. You can readily see a Joe Cronin autographed ball and various trophies.

It would be a wonderful thing if the Hall of Fame could find a way to display most of what they have. Why not partner up with some Major League teams to sponsor Baseball museums at their ballparks. In fact, since Dodger Stadium is planning their own museum in their upcoming makeover maybe they can strike a deal with the Hall to bring over some items. It could potentially be a mutually beneficial relationship. Consider the cross promotional benefits. The Dodgers would be able to show their fans some great rare items and the Hall could promote their facility and sell souvenirs. It's a win-win.

Hat Tip: VBCF:

Bored of the rings

admin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:50:00 +0000

So since we should forgive Juan Pierre his shortcomings due to a ring in a box, shouldn’t we trust Joe Torre’s brand of baseball instead of the Angels’?

After all, Torre has won four rings as a manager.

I probably shouldn’t try to apply logic to this.