Pieces of Johnny Podres

After the daffiness years and 5 lost World Series against the Yankees it was, finally, next year! A bunch of guys who, especially since the arrival of Robinson, almost finished first multiple times, did it. Took them seven games, but who was counting? Nothing came easy in Brooklyn, certainly not a World Series win. But in 1955 it was their time.

It was the year of Jackie stealing home and Duke Snider hitting 2 homers in game 4 ánd 5! But the series MVP was 2 game winner Johnny Podres. He pitched two complete games and shut out the Yankees in game 7 to give Brooklyn its overdue first World Series Championship.

He would go on to win a total of four World Series titles, play in four All Star games and was the National League ERA leader in 1957. Another interesting fact: Podres hit .313 in World Series games.

Now, with a career like that I was amazed to find some Podres baseball cards "cheap". With today's prices for modern day players like Ohtani $30 for two cards isn't bad for a World Series MVP.

Card #1: 2003 - Upper Deck - Sweet Spot Classic - Game Used Memorabilia

Card #2: 2005 - Upper Deck - Sweet Spot Classic - Signatures

"Game Used"
The Sweet Spot card is pretty straight forward. The Game Used piece of jersey is debatable. Because what is 'game used'? I tried to get an answer online which wasn't easy. The best infomration came from reddit and it's kinda disappointing. Game worn or game used means it was worn during a game, but that could also have been an exhibition game or minor league game AND it might not have been worn by the player on the card.
Now, if it specifically says (like it does on the Podres card) it was worn by him, only then can you be sure he wore it. Still a chance he wore it during spring training or something.
Still, while these cards can readily be found, I'm very happy with them. Remembering one of Dodgers' best!

Hollywood Ending: The Official World Series Championship Commemorative Book - Review

Rarely was a book review as easy as this one. ‘Hollywood Ending: The Official World Series Championship Commemorative Book’ is exactly what I hoped for. It was advertised directly after the Dodgers won the World Series in November, but it finally came out in February. Still, it was totally worth the wait.

It’s a good size coffee table book with a minimum of text so there is ample space for photos. This is precisely what you want. Visuals from the incredible regular and post season run.The photos are neatly put in chapters which makes it easy to relive the series you want.

Verdict
Seems like a waste to go on and on about the book. It's simply great. Loads of photos,all the exciting plays caught on camera. Skybox Press did a great job putting it together like this and it's quite affordable: $40.

2025 World Series Champions - Topps NOW 15-Card Team Set

Topps, well known publisher of baseball cards, released the 15 card team set of the 2025 World Series champions. I ordered 2 sets in November and they arrived in January. Topps was very transparent about the fact the set was a bit delayed, shipping was smooth, packaging sturdy.

I was a bit surprised the packs themselves were flimsy. At least compared to the set released after the 2020 World Series win. The 2020 set was shipped in a box and a hard plastic case. This year the packs came in a small cardboard envelope stuffed with a plastic pouch containing the cards.

The Set
Every set is comprised of the same 15 cards, all stacked in the same order: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Blake Snell, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Tyler Glasnow, Tommy Edman, Max Muncy, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Will Klein, Enrique Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, Roki Sasaki, Team Celebration and last but not least one:

guaranteed numbered parallel or

image variation or

autograph/Triple Autograph or

parallel

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. This is Topps Now so you get to know how many sets are gonna be out there. So, at the end of the ordering window (first week of November) it turned out there would be 118,459 sets printed. Now, this is the amount of parallels/short prints we get:

/99 Green Foil

/50 Gold Foil

/25 Orange Foil

/10 Black Foil

/5 Red Foil

/1 FoilFractor

That's not a lot to look forward to. The chance of getting anything worthwile is close to zero.

Should I Open it or Should I Keep it Sealed?
These sets cost $75 each, a total of $178 for two sets including shipping to Europe. When they arrived, I wrestled with the thought of maybe keeping them sealed because I see them for sale from $150 to $300 and even higher on Ebay. But curiosity got the better of me. Maybe I DID get that 1 of 1 triple auto card with Yamamoto, Ohtani and Sasaki.

I had some luck with earlier sets. When I bought the 2020 Championship set, see blog about that set, I did get a /99 signed Corey Seager card which was amazing! So, why keep the sets sealed? I dug in!

The Cards
As far as design goes, the cards look very clean and the photo’s used are great. It really takes you back to some of the exciting World Series action. I was surprised not to find Miguel Rojas or Andy Pages in the set. They did their part, didn’t they?
The first set had an alternative short run pic of Yamamoto. Nice but nothing fancy. The second set had an alternative short run pic of Kershaw. Turnes out there was some misinformation on the back as well. Kershaw is a 2 time World Series winner, not three. More about that later!

Verdict
Nice set! But don't pay $75 for a chance to get an autograph or parallel. Buy the base set from Ebay and enjoy the memories.

"World Championship"

The [insert MLB-team name] are World Champions or even weirder: The [insert MLB-team name] are Champions of the World!

Some people and even MLB-teams really say this, which is nonsense because there is NO baseball world championship for teams. Sure, we have the World Baseball Classic (WBC), the unofficial World Championship for countries, but that’s it!

For an MLB-team to become World Champion there would have to be a WBC kinda setup.

The winners of the World Series would play the winners of the European Cup and comparable tournaments in Asia, South America, Afrika, Carribbean and Oceania (if they even exist).

Or you could invite the club champions of the countries playing at the WBC. That would be 20 teams from all over the world.

Then and only them would you be able to crown a World Champion.

In 2025 you could have the World Series winner LA Dodgers playing the European Champions Heidenheim Heideköpfe or Japans’ champs Fukuoka Hawks vs. Diablos Rojos del México, champs of Mexico.

Sure, the World Series winner could become World Champion, but never say they are without actually playing a team that's not from North America.

Now, I recently was in contact with someone from the website Baseball Reference.com and he came up with an answer that made me look at it differently:

"Definitely one way of looking at it — a great way too. Another? Over 27% of the players on rosters opening were from countries other than the United States. Almost all of those countries have a baseball league of their own, and these players rose to the top and transitioned from their country / league to the minors, then made their way through that to join the majors. I think at season’s end this year, the number was just over 30% of the players, so it changes as the years goes on."

I can get into that view, but not entirely. When a soccer team wins the Champions League and it has players from all around the world, it still isn't world champion. No matter where the players come from.

Then I got a reply from Ross Yoshida, Senior Director, Graphic Design at Los Angeles Dodgers, who has designed amazing looking press pins and world championship logo's for the club. He said:

"All teams in every sport make their own championship marks that leave off trademarked wording and verbiage. This is so clubs, partners, etc. can avoid usage rules and fees/royalties that come with using "World Series", "Super Bowl", et al..."

If that is the case something is very wrong within the sports organizations. Using the words World Series should be free advertizing for MLB. But I get his point of view.

No matter what it is, international players, dodging royalties... a World Series winner still isn't a World Champion. But I decided not to bother anyone anymore. Case closed!

World Series win in Dutch media

“From back to the wall to back to back”. Great call for an amazing World Series which spanned over 8 games, innings wise. I aged at least 10 years, but our Boys in Blue did it again. First back to back win for the Dodgers organization ever.

I was pleasantly surprised by the level of the players of Toronto, but the Dodgers are also a bunch of friends who can be sharp when they have to. I mean come on, two game deciding double plays in the last two games? Insanity!

What is left is the commentaries, clips and articles looking back on a historical World Series. Now, the media in the US go ape shit crazy about this kind of sports event, but over here in the Netherlands it’s all far away. Still… we get some articles in newspapers and online media. A selection:

De Telegraaf has a short article in the aptly named column “sports in short”. Nothing fancy, funny thing though... they write Will Smith has won 6 World Series in a row now. Not A Will Smith. but our own. lol!

Het Algemeen Dagblad also does the bare minimum:

NRC had a fairly long piece. It mainly zones in on the budget of the Dodgers organization. which seems to me, a very easy way to explain the success of recent years.

De Volkskrant comes with a 2 pager about the World Series win and in particular the importance of Ohtani amd his stature as probably the best, most versatile player ever.

Online sources brought us more articles and even some clips. I don’t think these websites can be viewed in the US so I’ll post some images of parts of the articles. The links are added as well, maybe they DO work.

First off an article on nu.nl:

Nos.nl had articles all throughout the World Series. The one about the Dodgers winning can be found here.

Japan Experience

Vistiting Japan had been on my to do list for years. Finally, this April-May I did it. I went at a time that is interesting for Dodger fans. The Tokyo Series had just been played there and the entire country is in love with Japanese MLB-players, especially Shohei Ohtani.
Last year I visited Korea and travelled around with a baseball cap with the word ‘Dodgers’ in Hangul and a ‘Seoul Series’ patch on the side. Funny enough this NEVER EVER sparked any conversation anywhere with Korean people. This, of course, is fine, but I, at least, expected some recognition.
After this experience I was in doubt if buying a cap in katakana would be worth the trouble. On the other hand, I thought, f*ck it! I bought a great cap with ‘Dodgers’ in katakana on the front and an Ohtani patch on the side. Well, how different the Japanese experience was…
From the first day in Japan I had people pointing at my hat, smiling and/or saying Dochas! No matter where I was, people smiled and sometimes made a fist and said ‘Ohtani the best’. Even in the underground, where, normally people only look at their phones and don’t talk. So this trip I had a completely different experience, which was unexpected and nice.

Ohtani News
Now, as mentioned before, they love Ohtani in Japan. He is everywhere! But the exposure in the newspapers surprised me. Regularly the first pages were slathered with Ohtani news. When he hits another home run, when he resumed pitching and threw a very fast pitch. Japanese journalists are on him like flies, desperate to bring more news about their favorite son. See the photo’s to get an idea.

Ohtani Adverts
Not only have news outlets discovered Ohtani since he came to the US. Companies want him to advertise their products. Not one but many of them. Which leads to a lot of Ohtanies around the country, with green tea (Oi Ocha), skincare (Kosé), sports drink (Syncron Kowa) or super markets (Family Mart), you name it, Shohei is probably there to sell it.

Dodgers Plaque - NYT

I visited New York City again in 2013, one of my goals was taking the subway to Brooklyn. I wanted to visit the location where Ebbets Field had stood proudly. A nice walk through Prospect park lead to some social housing apartment buildings en lo an behold… there was the plaque I heard so much about. It was next to nothing. But still, I had a moment. Standing there where fans came to see the Dafiness Boys, the Boys of Summer play and finally win a World Series title.

Flash forward to October 2024, the 2024 World Series are in full swing and our Boys in Blue look good with a 3-1 lead against the yankees. I’m walking through the city and my eye lands on the New York Times at a newsstand. There is a article on the front page with the title “In Brooklyn, humble touch of home for the long-gone Dodgers”. I buy the paper and stuff it in my bag, to read it on the plane back home.

We take off just before the start of game five of the World Series and I dive into the article.

It tells the story of Ezra Askotzky, the maintance manager of the Ebbets Field Apartments and his encounters with people searching for the plaque that marks the location of home plate. My eyes widen. I had never heard of such a thing or else I’d visited it eleven years earlier.

so, if you're ever in Brooklyn, visit this historic place, or at least read the article in the New York Times, October 30th 2024, front page and A23.