dinsdag 12 december 2023

Ohtani deal in Dutch media

In the final days I kinda suspected the deal would not happen. Then people started to follow a flight to Toronto which had Ohtani on board... but it turned out to be fake news and shortly after, the big news broke: Ohtani moves from Anaheim to Los Angeles! Ten years, $700 million. $2 a year for the first ten years, then $68 a year for ten more years. Now, that's a smart deal!

Internet exploded but what about media in my country? Well, news travels fast and although baseball isn't very big in the Netherlands this bomb was too big to ignore. The NOS posted on its website 'Dodgers tempt superstar Ohtani with record salary' and NU.nl: 'Ohtani trumps Messi'. Multiple newspapers had extensive articles about it as well. Parts of some of the articles shown below.

donderdag 3 augustus 2023

Retired Bracelet

I’d always been looking for a way to have my Boys in Blue with me at all times. I’ve thought about a tattoo, but somehow that didn’t really do it for me.

So, some years back I found this online jewelery shop that sells bracelets with engravable beads. I was sold and had the names of the players that had their jersey number retired engraved and I still wear the bracelet with pride.

Ten beads, ten names. It’s been in Dodgers history for years and years: 10 retired numbers, 6 World Series titles. Those numbers were fixed for so long.
Then came 2020 and ‘we’ won a 7th championship. That fact had to settle into my brain for quite some time.

Then, after years of hoping, and to be honest: years of expecting, the Classic Baseball Committee in 2022 was wise enough to, finally, induct Gil Hodges into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Dodgers organization responded swiftly by retiring number 14 soon after.

Before I could get used to 11 retired numbers, the Dodgers decided to retire number Fernando’s #34! This will happen in August 2023.

Now, I have 12 name beads on my bracelet and we all know there will be al least one more in the near future, the moment he is eligible for the Hall of Fame: #22.

woensdag 10 mei 2023

Book review: A Damn Near Perfect Game

A Damn Near Perfect Game : Reclaiming America’s Pastime written by Joe Kelly with Rob Bradford sounded, to me, like a book about how Joe himself would make baseball more entertaining. I could not have been more wrong.

It is a personal book in which Joe tells the reader intimate details about his struggle as a kid with an abusive father and how the man influenced him and the way he plays the game.

It’s honest, often funny and well written with the help of Rob Bradford.

Joe is also honest about his view of the game as it is played nowadays. I was surprised by some of his opinions about altering the game, coming from a pitcher. It’s good, though, to read these kind of statements from the guy on the mount.

While Joe kelly isn’t a Dodger anymore, (july 2023 update: he's back!),there is enough stuff in the book about his time with the Boys in Blue. I always enjoyed his antics and by the looks of it, so did his teammates.

All in all a good read and I know you mustn’t judge a book by its cover, but this cover is awesome!

dinsdag 6 december 2022

Claude Shafer Cartoon (1920)

Shafer
Newspaper cartoonist Claude Shafer (1878-1962) found the fight for first place in the National League in the 1920 baseball season interesting enough to dedicate a cartoon to. The Cincinnati based cartoonist, creator of Old Man Grump, was a Reds fan and saw his team battle for a place in the World Series with the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Robins.

The Sketch
The original sketch has seen better days. It has quite some water marks and mold. It’s approximately 14x8-1/4” (35,5x20,9 cm) and signed by Shafer on the bottom right corner. It features Old Man Grump sitting in a boat, fishing while smoking a corn cob pipe. Below the hook with worms and a card saying ‘first place’ three fish jump out of the water. They all have a ‘name’: Reds, N.Y. and Brook. Grump addresses the reader: ‘Look! In all yer life did ya ever see ‘em bite like that?’


The Season
When you look up the 1920 season the three teams were closest at the beginning of September. On September 5th, for instance, Brooklyn was on 73-55 (0.5 up), Cincinnati on 71-54 and New York on 71-57 . At the end of that month, though, the Reds would be 9.5 games behind, the Giants 5. The Robins would go on and face and lose to the Indians in the World Series.

Why buy a century old drawing from a Reds fan? I think it's a nice peek into the history of the Dodgers. On the brink of their second World Series appearance in 4 years. It would be quite some time before they would reach again (1941). It predates the first Yankees win, Jackie Robinson was far away and Branch Rickey was still with the Cardinals and exactly 100 years later the Dodgers would win their 7th World Series title. I really like that way of looking at history.


woensdag 14 september 2022

A Dodgers Christmas (card)


Karl Hubenthal, cartoonist and illustrator, five time Pulizer nominee and winner of multiple awards, made striking images that always remind me of those by fellow cartoonist Eddie Germano.

Hubenthal did a lot of artwork for the Dodgers organization over the years. In the 60’s and 70’s he did covers for yearbooks, world series programs, scorecards and… at least two christmas cards.

One of them (1977), I found on Ebay, some years ago, the other (1974) just recently.

1977

Santa Lasorda, or Lasorda Claus carries a presents filled bag on the cover of this card. When you open the card up we get to see who they are for. 

No surprise, the presents are for the best players of the year. 20 games winner John, manager of then year Lasorda and All Star MVP Sutton, to name a few.

All presents are placed under a tree and Tommy is busy decorating the room with the pennant. 


1974

On the front we see a group of Dodgers hoisting the pennant high in the christmas tree which has has been trimmed with ornaments describing the feats of that years players.


When you open the card you see a big present. The best a team can get. A world series championship (card says world championship, which is weird because there is no world baseball championships for teams). I love the reference to the well known and often used quote "wait till next year". 


They make a very colorful pair and both of them will be featured in the christmas displays at my home for years to come.

woensdag 17 augustus 2022

Zack Wheat: the Life of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer: Review


Zack Wheat: the Life of the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer by Joe Niese is my first read of a book by a fellow SABR-member. And all I can say is it is well written an researched. Sure, that can be expected from SABR-members, but still…

I've mentioned it before in my blogs, for years the Brooklyn years of the Dodgers were one black and white blurr filled with players I only knew by name. Then I started reading about the boys of summer and they all came alive.

Then the daffiness boys got their turn and the Bridegrooms, but the 1910’s were still a big black hole for me. Sure, I’ve heard of the likes of Wheat and Grimes and Dahlen, but I never got to reading about them. Turns out…not many is written about those guys. So I kinda stumbled on the Niese book.


Niese manages to bring Wheat to life. With statistics but also with personal details. It takes the reader to the first two Dodgers World Series appearances and mentions plenty of teammates and even gives you a better picture of Wilbert Robinson (I really have to read more about this guy!).

In short, Joe Niese knows how to paint a picture, he got me more enthusiastic about the Dodgers era when they were called the Superbas and Robins.

vrijdag 5 augustus 2022

World Series Press Pins IV - 1974 & 1981

Press pins have been around since the 1911 World Series. Which means there is one for every Brooklyn & Los Angeles appearance. They are small and great items for collectors who do not have a lot of space, like me, to display their Dodgers related stuff. When collecting, the first thing popping in my mind is: COLLECT THEM ALL! In the case of press pins that will never work for me since some of them are quite expensive. The 1916, 1920 pins probably will set you back at least $2000 each. Maybe if I win a lottery, but for now I decided to try to get my hands on one pin for every decade our boys played in the World Series. That comes to 7 press pins: one from the 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 2010’s and 2020s. 

That being said... my favorite press pin from the 1970s is the one from 1978. But I got a good deal on the ‘74 one, so... I just broke my own rule. But together with the one from ‘81 it makes a nice pair.
Press pins are weirdly different, design wise. Sometimes it’s like the designers didn’t have any inspiration. The 1955 press pin is boring, as is the one from 1977 or the 2020 one to name a few. Dodger Stadium, though, has been a source for inspiration since 1963. Of the 12 press pins 4 featured Dodger Stadium as its center piece.


1974
The oval pin has an embossed Dodger Stadium in matt brass color in the middle and a border in blue and the text World Series Dodger  Stadium. The brass/blue combination has been used quite some times on Dodgers WS press pins. This edition looks a bit like an oval version of the 1947 pin with the Brooklyn Bridge. It's kinda classy. 

1981
Again Dodger Stadium takes center stage. In a shiny gold colored pin, we look into the stadium and see downtown LA in the backdrop. The text reads World Series LA Dodgers and two American flags flank the stadium on both sides. 
Honestly, this edition is a bit too much. Too shiny, too much going on. Still, better than the 1988 pin which compensates by being too dull.

Can't win 'em all!