A Piece of History

I have a very strange relationship with Dodgers autographs. If I have to choose between getting an autograph or having my picture taken with a Dodgers celebrity, I choose the latter. I still am bummed I didn’t get a pic with Nomar although I did get his autograph. The best is, of course, getting both. Like I did when I met Orel Hershiser.

Maybe this has to do with the fact that I live in Europe and don’t have a lot of opportunities to get autographs, during spring training or before regular games. A picture is a better memory of a trip, in my opinion, than an autograph.

That being said… there is not much as personal as an autograph and there is a shitload to be found on various auction sites and on Ebay. Some of them are very pricey like those of Sandy Koufax or Jackie Robinson.

There are autographs everywhere. On baseballs, on cards, bats, letters, and so on. And then you have letters. I've looked at letters for years, some with great 'Dodgers' letter heads but most of them are to someone who requested an autograph or some business that had nothing to do with baseball at all. The majority of the letters is typed.

Then, one day, I found this letter that was completely hand written and signed. It was a letter from 1945 by Clem Labine. Now, Clem was no Koufax or Drysdale but he was a very important pitcher for the Dodgers. When the Dodgers played the Giants in the 1951 tiebreaker series, the Dodgers won game 2 behind a shut out by Labine to reach a deciding game 3 in which we all know what happened.

He became a fixture during the 1950's and won two World Series Championships ('55 and '59) with the Dodgers and one with the Pirates. In 1955, the Dodgers would win their first World Series during which Clem would win game 4 (Don Larsen got the loss). In 1956 he won game 6 in the World Series, the one in which Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in game 5. He was an all star in 1956 & 1957.

The Letter
This letter is so awesome because of many reasons. Like mentioned before it’s entirely handwritten. Not typed with just a signature. It’s about baseball. The core business of both sender and receiver. Oh, yeah, the receiver... who is the letter to? Only to a guy who single handedly changed the face of baseball on many levels. With the Dodgers and in St. Louis and Pittsburgh: Branch Rickey. WWII had just ended and Jackie Robinson would be called up to the majors in less than two years, exciting times.

The full text of the letter can be found below.

29 December 1945

Dear Mr. Rickey,
May I send my hearty thanks to
you for the sweet Christmas present.
I feel a little ashamed not having corresponded
with you during my time in the service!
It certainly feels great to know
someone is thinking of you while your
far away from home. Nothing would
please me more than to be back in
your employ by spring.
As you probably know I'm still in
the army, but with some luck I may
be out in time for spring training.
May I again send my thanks to
you and your staff, and wish you all the
luck in the world

Cordially yours,
Sgt. Clement W. Labine

Stamped by the Brooklyn Baseball Club on the date it was received before the letter was handed to Branch Rickey.

The envelope in which the letter arrived.

Electric October: Review

When you write a book with the title ‘Electric October: Seven World Series games, six lives, five minutes of fame that lasted for ever’… you better give the reader a lengthy introductions to those six players so you know them though and through once those five minutes come up.

It’s exactly what author Kevin Cook does. This is the story, not of baseball greats like DiMaggio or Koufax, but smaller heroes who need more introduction.
Who were they, where did they come from and how did they get where they were in 1947? This is not as much a Dodgers book as a look into the Dodgers Yankees rivalry that, in 1947, was only in it’s infancy.

It's fun to read how most of the main characters, Bill Bevens, Bucky Harris, Snuffy Stirnweiss, Al Gionfriddo, Burt Shotton and Cookie Lavagetto met somewhere along the way.

Cook knows how to describe the mood during the '47 World Series. Red Barber, Gladys Goodding and even the Sym-Phony Band make an appearance. Brooklynites were sure this was next year in a World Series that was the first one ever televised live on parts of the East Coast and the first after the breaking of the color barrier.

When all is said and done, that October in 1947, the author takes the time to let the reader know what happened to the guys after the hits, throws and catches they made during that 7-games series.
A great read, highly recommended for Dodger- and Yankees fans.

When the Dodgers were Bridegrooms: Review

For years, the Dodgers for me were from Los Angeles. Only when I started to read books about the boys of summer I got to know the heroes from the club that dazzled the late 40’s and the 50’s.

Like decending a ladder, I read about the Robins, Dazzy Vance and now finally thought the time was here to read ‘When the Dodgers were Bridegrooms : Gunner McGunnigle and the Brooklyn’s Back-to-Back Pennants of 1889 and 1890’ by Ronald G. Shafer. It’s quite a title for the 200 page book, published in 2011. It takes you on a time travel trip to the beginning of our Dodgers.

The Brooklyn Base Ball Association played it’s first season in a ‘major league’ in 1884 after one year in a minor league. The club would not be known as ‘Dodgers’ for quite some years, but in 1884 the Brooklyn Eagle did call the players ‘the boys in blue’. A term we still use today.

An interesting book for anyone who wants to know more about the beginnings of the Dodgers. How the game was played, how big names like Bob Caruthers were traded and how much money they made. The beginning of the wearing of gloves. How there was no love lost between the St. Louis Ball Club and Brooklyn from the early start. The 1890 season during which five teams played in New York and Brooklyn combined. During the season the 'Baseball war' raged. The most interesting part is the chapter about the only ever New York Giants vs. Brooklyn ‘pre-subway’ world series at the Polo Grounds and Washington Park.

Now and then a name gets mentioned of an employee who one day would own the ball club: Charles Ebbets. But that's a story for another time...