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.

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.

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.

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! 

Remembering Vin Scully

Some people die young, which is horrible. Then there are people who reach a ripe old age and still die to young. Vin Scully is one of those people. One I thought would always be around.
He HAD been around forever! When I started to follow the boys in blue, Vin had been the voice of the Dodgers for over 30 years. He had so many famous soundbites and he kept on piling them up.
People took Vin to the Coliseum on their transistor radios and later to the Stadium. Me too, on a radio walkman. He gave you so much more insight during the game.
One of the best Vin moments for me personally was attending the Vin Scully appreciation game in 2016. The mayor, Mark Walter, Koufax, Kershaw, Costner giving heartfelt speeches and ofcourse Vin, his modest self, thanking everybody.
He retired but got to see the Dodgers win one more World Series. Beautiful!

To quote Obi-Wan after Alderaan was destroyed: “ As if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced”. The collective Dodgers fanbase fell silent after the news and we will be for quite some time.

Thanks, Vin, for being a brother, a father a grandpa, the all knowing voice of many generations, a tranquil beacon, a Dodger! 

I'll miss you, Vin!

Dodgers Live or: An Updated Blog about Seeing my Boys in Blue play!

When you live in Europe it can be hard to have your favorite baseball team play on the West Coast. Still, since 2003, when I saw them play for the first time, I've managed to visit some games. I posted about the games I visited in a blog years ago. I'll update every visit here. Even if it's just for myself, to keep tabs on box scores and lineups.

Last time I saw the boys play was in 2017. So, time to get my ass back to the States and see some more Dodger baseball!

So, without further ado... the games and links to the scores.

Attended Dodgergames since 2003

Date	Home/Away	Opponent	Score
May 3rd 2003	Home (1)	Pirates	W 4-1
September 4th 2007	Away (1)	Cubs	W 6-2
September 5th 2007	Away (2)	Cubs	L 2-8
September 6th 2007	Away (3)	Cubs	W 7-4
May 29th 2008	Away (4)	Mets	L 4-8
May 30th 2008*	Away (5)	Mets	W 9-5
May 31st 2008	Away (6)	Mets	L 2-3
June 1st 2008	Away (7)	Mets	L 1-6
August 10th 2009	Away (8)	Giants	W 4-2
April 14th 2011	Home (2)	Cardinals	L 5-9
April 10th 2012#	Home (3)	Pirates	W 2-1
April 11th 2012	Home (4)	Pirates	W 4-1
April 25th 2013	Away (9)	Mets	W 3-2
September 19th 2016	Home (5)	Giants	W 2-1
September 20th 2016	Home (6)	Giants	L 0-2
September 21st 2016	Home (7)	Giants	W 9-3
September 22nd 2016	Home (8)	Rockies	W 7-4
September 24th 2016@	Home (9)	Rockies	W 14-1
October 24th 2017$	Home (10)	Trashtros	W 3-1
October 25th 2017	Home (11)	Trashtros	L 6-7
October 27th 2024	Away (10)	Yankees	L 4-11

* Kershaw's 2nd MLB-game
# Opening Day at Dodger Stadium exactly 50 years after the first opening day on April 10th 1962
@Vin Scully Appreciation Day
$ First World Series Game since 1988

Return to Sender

I’m always rooting for a Dodgers win, so is LA and so were the Brooklynites. So when the Dodgers where in the losing side of one of the best known moments in baseball history, it must have hurt. It did hurt! You can look it up in the books that where written about that October 3rd 1951. The day of ‘The Shot Heard Around the World’. Still, even if the Dodgers were on wrong end they will forever be one of the teams that played this historic ninth inning.

Gateway Z
I never knew Gateway cachet Z silk envelopes were a thing before I found them online. Envelopes with a color printed piece of silk with a baseball theme. Celebrating rookies, stadiums, cooperstown players and... famous happenings like the one in 1951.

The Envelope
This envelope, number 425 of 500, has a print of the Polo Grounds and the face of Bobby Thomson, a bum and some newspaper headlines. It ‘celebrates’ the 35th anniversary of the homerun. There are two stamps, one of which is from 1939 and celebrates the centennial of baseball. The date stamp, of course, is October third 1986. Below the stamps is the text:

1951 national league playoff
“The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant!” Such were the the joyful shouts of sportscaster Rus Hodges as Bobby Thomson’s home run disappeared into the left field stands over Andy Pafko’s head. This home run remains as one of baseball’s most dramatic.

Autographs
Collector and dealer Carl Pettit was able to make this envelope even more interesting. While setting up at baseball card shows he got the John Hancocks of the leading men in this drama: pitcher Ralph Branca, home run hitter Bobby Thomson and the guy in the outfield who could only watch it fly into the stands Andy ‘at the wall’ Pafko. Pettit remembers Bobby and Ralph having a lot of fun together.

All in all a great piece with some awesome autographs of men who where a part of history. I must say, I’m glad I wasn’t born yet, because that loss would have been hard to swallow after a season where the boys were still 13 games up on August 11th.

Hang it up!

This one is a bit of a stretch, wait... I said that before, I might have lost my touch. But honestly, I’m very happy with this item. Let’s make it interesting. I posted a picture of it below, now... let me know if you get how it’s tied to the Dodgers.

Hit sign, win suit
For those of you who got it: you know your Dodgers history, well done! Abe Stark was a tailor and got famous in Brooklyn because of his advertisment on the right field wall. Players who hit the sign got a free suit. In 1931 the sign moved under the famous Ebbets Field scoreboard and was way more difficult to hit. Partly because of great fielding by the likes of Furillo and Walker. One player, Mel Ott, hit it twice, though.

Abe Stark
Stark became so famous he even got himself elected as president of the New York Council, twice. During his time as president (1954-1961) he had two alternatives to the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn. First he suggested building the new stadium in Prospect Park, later he pitched the idea of the city of New York to become stockholders of the Giants and Dodgers to keep the teams in town. After his stint as president he was elected borough president of Brooklyn three times!

The Hanger
It’s not much to look at, but it breathes that film noir kinda vibe. The name Abe Stark is near the top twice. The left arm says ‘Brooklyn’s finest clothes shop’. The right arm ‘opp. Loew’s Pitkin Theatre’. The arms are connected by a horizontal rod for some trousers, fancy! It sure feels special to hang my Dodgers jersey on this hanger.

World Series Press Pins III - 2020

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. 

I did some research and have decided on the ones I want, if I can get my hands on them. They are the ones I think are the most interesting of their decade. First I got my hands on the 1947 and 2017 pins. Read my blogposts about those Press Pins  HERE and HERE. Recently my third pin arrived. 

For the 2020’s I didn’t have much of a choice. It’s because I found it at a reasonable price I decided to buy it. It’s quite unimaginative to say the least.
We see a home plate with at the top the words ‘world series’. The Dodgers script is in white on a dark blue background. In the background, in black, we see ‘a piece of metal’, better known as the commissioners trophy.
On the silvercolored back, under the pin which has a butterfly clutch, are the words:

WINCRAFT / MLBP
WINONA, MN
800-533-8006
MADE IN CHINA

It’s a surprise it’s this bland, after two great designs for the 2017 and 2018 World Series. Still, it’s the first one I own of a World Series they won. Hopefully I’ll be able to replace it with a better designed one somewhere along the next eight years.

Fan's notes

Sometimes you find stuff on the internet that’s very loosely tied to what you collect. Recently I found a licence plate topper which only had a small reference to the Brooklyn Dodgers. This item might be stretching it juuuust a bit more.

I can just imagine a kid from the knot-hole-gang waiting at the gates for the players to arrive to chalk up their licence plates and car brand  in a notepad. Even following them around on their western flyer and figuring out their addresses. But since most players lived in Brooklyn, it pretty much was common knowledge where they lived.

I’m just fantasizing. But it could just have been like that. Who knows, still, it’s a fun piece of fan 'art'. 

All the big names are on it. Some with address, some with licence plate and / car brand. I tried to look up some of the cars. Googled player names and car make, but I only got one hit: Jackie Robinson's steel grey Buick. In the picture below with Rachel Robinson and one of their sons.  

Licence Plate Topper

Topper

Licence Plate toppers, you don’t see those a lot nowadays. In their heydays during the 40s, 50s and 60s they were mostly used as mobile billboards. Advertising companies, events or places you should visit.

Vernon Co.
One of the companies that produced toppers was the Vernon Company based in Newton, Iowa. The branding company was founded in 1902 and still operates from Newton today.
Apparently the borough of Brooklyn found it necessary to advertise its potential as a holiday destination, sometime before 1958. Vernon delivered!

Visit Brooklyn
A brightly colored topper tries to lure people with some of Brooklyn’s mayor attractions. In a circle in the upper left corner, made to look like a baseball we see, starting at the bottom, Brooklyn Bridge. The middle part is for Brooklyn’s team: the Dodgers. There’s the logo, an umpire and a ballplayer. At the top the words Coney Island and the, now defunct, parachute jump. The attraction was created for the 1939 World’s Fair and ceased operations in the 1960s.

All in all it’s a meager Dodgers related item, but it looks amazing, even after rougly six decades. It’s a stretch, but I had to have it.

Pafko at the Wall: Review

Imagine having a drone at the Polo Grounds at game three of the 1951 National League play offs, flying from one vantage point to the next. Catching dialogues, seeing the crowd in a partly empty stadium that still is filled with electricity and hope. You might get something like ‘Pafko at the wall’, a novella that reads like a 90 page poem.
Don DeLillo, famous author and multiple Pulitzer winner, sketches scenes of that faithful day, like no one else. If you want to feel, smell, see and be in the stands on that October 3rd 1951, read this piece.

Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra and others take center stage in a cast of extras. Among showers op ripped up pieces of paper and one boy who jumped the turnstiles, defeated the ushers and stadium cops to leave the game with a piece of history.
Then a dance commences between boy and man, focussing in a nine inch circumference red stiched sphere.

The whole thing is a shakespearean play, where the underdogs had to put across the message ‘it’s over, only when the fat lady sings’. And she sung her heart out.
More than 70 years later, a Dodger fan can still feel the pain, but it was never brought so painfully beautiful as in DeLillo’s novella.

If you want more from the lead actors of this play... read ‘The Echoing Green: the untold story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the shot heard around the world’. Reviewed here.

Hollreiser Comic Art

Van Lingle Mungo

Mungo was one of those Dodger players, like Wheat and Vance, whose name caught my eye once my interest in the team focussed on the 20s and 30’s, some years ago.

He’s a five time All Star with a 120-115 won-lost record (3.47 era) in 14 years playing for the Robins/Dodgers and Giants. 

Hollreiser

Well known (sports) cartoon artist Lenny Hollreiser drew this ‘This Day in Sports’ portrait of Mungo in 1971. 

He refers in this ‘day in sports’ to Mungo’s seven straight strikeouts on June 25th, 1936. He ended up being that season’s NL strikeout leader.

This is an original piece, ready for printing, with the title, copyright and registered trademark tag lines pasted on top of the original art.

It’s more than fifty years old but it was well preserved and looks very bright and crisp. 

Branch Rickey: Review

A book, barely larger than the leaflet about famous Jewish sports legends, and with a very simple title: Branch Rickey. Jimmy Breslin, author, journalist and Pulizer Prize winner, wrote the 146 page book which came out in 2011.

The title covers the subject in the most evident way. It’s about one of the most important people ever in baseball history. Branch Rickey was a man of God. He believed to his core that man was equal. No matter the color. If you were good in something, you had to get the opportunity to do it.

The book follows Rickey from his succesful days in St. Louis to Brooklyn. He struggled to get the Ives-Quinn Bill signed, but succeded. It opened the way for Jackie Robinson to play in the majors. There is some mention of Robinson’s struggles with racism.

It’s not a pretty written book, very matter of fact full. It’s not entirely correct. Jackie didn’t play his first World Series in 1952, but in 1947. Near the end Breslin finds it neccesary to mention that the Brooklyn team plays in LA now…

It’s a good read when you want to dip your toe in the Rickey story, and the Robinson story for that matter. A good start, but there are more books about these two that go the extra yard.

The Bums' Rush

In 1959, the Dodgers and Giants played only their second year in their new hometowns. The Dodgers finished their first year in LA in 7th place (71-83), the Giants 3rd.

The 1959 season would be very different and the Dodgers would forever dump the bums nickname they lovingly adopted years before. But this team would prove to be a diesel train.

The Giants were off to a good start. In first for a few days, never lower than 4th. In first again on July 4th, and except for 1 day staying there until september 19th. The Giants were riding the Pennant train comfortably.

The Dodgers were trailing, sometimes from 5 games back. Then they found their groove and after the first game of a double header on Sptember 19th at San Fransisco they were tied for first and finished the season up 2 on the Braves and 4 on the Giants.

Oh, the Dodgers went on to win their second World Series, the first in LA.

Eddie Germano’s The Bums' Rush
Eddie Germano, the sports cartoonist, found the Bums rise interesting enough to devote a cartoon to it. On it, you see the pennant bound train (pennant special) carrying the Giants. On the balcony, a man* is relaxing, awaiting the train’s arrival at the next stop: the World Series. But he’s a bit surprised. A bum with an LA label on his old hat is quickly gaining on his handcar.

The drawing is a Germano original. I love this addition to my humble collection of Dodgers memorabilia.

*this probably is Horace Stoneham, the Giants owner at that time.

Duke Snider Auto

In 1988 ‘the Duke of Flatbush’ was published. A biography of Duke Snider, Dodgers retired #4. The Duke, born in Los Angeles, played center field for both the Brooklyn and the LA Dodgers. Winning the World Series in 1955 and 1959.

Since I started to branch out my interest from the LA team to the Boys of Summer, Duke was one of my instant favorites, right up there with Campanella.

Loved that guy’s smile. And his signature. It’s straightforward and curly and very recognizable.

So, when I saw an auction for a Snider auto, I decided to go for it. It was one of a lot that came from Mile High Card Company auctions. Fastforward... I got it way too cheap, which made me doubt if the document might be just a xeroxed copy. A few weeks later it arrived.

The document is a typed out first page of ‘the Duke of Flatbush’, signed with the famous Snider autograph. It was not a copy and when I felt the back of the piece of paper there was relief from the pressure of the pen.

I compared the auto to others by Snider. It looks legit! I might send it to PSA to get it authenticated, but for now, it’s going in a frame.

Branch Rickey

A long time, the period of my Dodgers in Brooklyn was a time of yore. Black and white images of people I did not really know. This totally changed when I read Kahn’s The Boys of Summer and Kearn Goodwin’s Wait Till Next Year. Many biographies and moving images like in the Lords of Flatbush and the Hollywood movie 42 later, I can say I love the Brooklyn times as much as I do their years in Los Angeles.

Reese, Snider, Robinson, Campanella, Hodges all played at Ebbets Field and under the management of Walter O’Malley won their first world series.

In the 20’s and 30’s, though, the team was known as the daffiness boys and them bums. Things weren’t good in Brooklyn. After their World Series appearances in 1916 and 1920 it took the boys in blue eleven years to reach another one.

Then, in ‘43 a new guy arrived in Brooklyn and he had a plan. He had won four World Series with the Cardinals, and stood at the birth of the modern minor league farm system. He introduced the batting helmet and batting cages. But he wasn’t done. Branch Rickey was aware what a treasure trove of talent the negro leagues were. In 1947 he added Jackie Robinson to the roster and history was made. That same year the Dodgers reached the World Series losing to the mighty Yankees. Rickey was the founder of the Boys of Summer who would blossom in the 1950’s.

For some time now, I wanted to own something related to Rickey. Because of his mark on baseball history in general and the Dodgers organization in particular. Also, we share our birthday. 89 years apart, but hey... it’s something.

Earlier this year I came across an auction of a letter signed by Rickey. It’s short and to the point. One Leslie Stockton sent some snapshots to Rickey and a request for an autograph, which he sent her back. I fell in love with it because I wanted his autograph and this letter could just well have been sent my way. I bid again and again and it finally was mine. It's a fantastic piece of Dodgers history

The letter is dated September 12th 1949. A day after finishing a four game series against the Giants, winning 3, only five weeks after he was on the cover of Newsweek magazine, some weeks before and a year before Walter O’Malley bought him out for 1,05 million dollars.

I love to look at details and I wonder what the little scratch of ink is just below his signature. Was it placed there before Rickey signed it or after? It makes the letter a little more special in my opinion.