Vintage 8MM film, pt. 2

Continued from 'Vintage 8MM film'

It arrived! 

The container was just like the picture. It felt heavy in my hand. The moment of truth... I lifted the lid and there it was. Looking all right. No damage what so ever.

5" of 8mm which would be something like 15 minutes of material. Not just some images from years long gone. No, color footage of either game 3, 4 or 5 of the 1955 World Series at Ebbet's Field. I closed the container and decided to wait till the next day to find out more.

That night I dreamt about the film. About the content being 1 minute of World Series footage and the rest being family trip images. I woke up early and prepped my projector. I wasn't off the mark, I'm afraid...

Not what I was hoping for
Let's get the negative out of the way first. I hate to dwell on that. Of the 15 minutes of shots, 6 minutes are from Ebbets Field. Which is a shame for an item advertised as '8mm film of the 1955 World Series'. The footage clearly is from Yankee fans who were hoping to clinch in Brooklyn, took their camera along with them. Why I think they are Yankee fans? Because the only film Yankee players. With that being said, let's move on and see what those 6 minutes brings us.

1955 World Series, game...?
The film starts with shots of Yankee players warming up at good old Ebbets Field. It felt weird, seeing Ebbets in color. Sure, I'd seen it before on youtube, but never from a World Series day, as far as I know. The 1955 World Series was the first World Series televised in color. Of the official broadcast only sections of game 5 exist. So color images of that Series are mostly those of fans bringing in their camera’s. Loads of them would have used black and white film, come to think of it.

So, there is smooching with some Yankees and a good view of Ebbets Field. I never knew the ushers wore red coats and a red cap. So there is that! The score board with the Schaefer sign and game start. Dodger players running onto the field from the dugout and then the big question. Which World Series game is this? Game 3, 4 or 5?

Welcome to game...
The starting pitchers for game 3 was Johnny Podres, for game 4 Carl Erskine and for game 5 Roger Craig. There is no time or date stamp on these kinds of 8mm films, and recognizing players in this particular film is not possible. Sure, when I see a catcher, I know it's Campanella, but who is on the mound? So, this first piece of film is followed by another (after an interlude of 'funny' takes with some cops). So, I thought the makers of the film had gone to two games, either game 3 and 4 or 4 and 5. The pitcher has a very high kick so my first guess was Erskine in game 4. Since Podres was a lefty it has to be Erskine.

More Yankee smooching
The second part brings us more smooching. We see some Yankees players up close. Not shabby ones at that. You'll see, among others, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Irv Noren and Mickey Mantle. There is some more batting practice and another view of Ebbets Field.

So, there you go, roughly 6 minutes of color images of the 1955 World Series. I had hoped for more but it's still a cool artifact to have.

Vintage 8MM film

I've been scrounging for stuff on ebay for over twenty years. Mostly Dodgers related items. Sometimes recent baseball card or pins but once in a while I go looking for vintage stuff from the Brooklyn or early LA era. Through the years I found some fun items that really tie the franchises history together. A signed book, a written letter by a world series game winning pitcher, press pins to name a few.

Recently I stumbled on something I had not encountered on ebay before. It was titled ‘vintage 1955 world series Brooklyn Dodgers vs New York Yankees color 16mm film’. Well, my interest was piqued!

The 1955 world series were the first broadcast in color, but on youtube, I have never seen actual color footage from that series. 16mm could suggest a private party having filmed it. I tried contacting the seller but all my questions stayed unanswered because they did not own a projector so could not say anything about the filmstrip. If it were damaged or what precisely was on it.

My only lead were the photographs in the ebay listing. The first was a picture of the film case on which was written ‘world series 1955’ and the ruler measuring 5 inch of film. I googled it and 5 inch of 16mm film would suggest a running time of about 15 minutes.

Then there was a picture of a few frames of the filmstrip. While grainy I clearly recognized Ebbets Field. The film would have to be from either game 3, 4 or 5 from that year’s World Series. Now, looking at those frames I realized that it was actually an 8mm film. Which made it even more certain it would be a movie shot by a fan, not a commercial party. Maybe a Brooklinite, feeling that ‘this is the year’.

I had to make a decision. Leave it or buy this piece of history, with the chance it won’t play because of old age, damage, or who knows what. But maybe... it’s fine and I get a personal view of Ebbets Field... during the World Series... in color.

I bought it!

Continued HERE!

Stealing Home: Review

The dramatic story of Chavez Ravine starts long before the Dodgers hit their first home run at Dodger Stadium. Eric Nusbaum paints a very lively picture of the neighborhood. He has the abillity to make the locals come alive in a way you get sucked into their history from page one.

It's a history about communism, mexican immigrants, social housing, a city council in doubt.

It might be the single most important book about the history of LA Dodgers baseball, that's 95% not about baseball. It explains why the Dodgers had so much difficulty to gain a Mexican American fanbase in the early years, before Valenzuela.

I can recommend you read it before or after 'City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles' (my review available HERE). Both books give you an excellent understanding of Los Angeles and how it's basics for the city today were laid down in the 50's and 60's.

Topps commemorative card set

The moment Urias threw out that last Ray, I started a shopping frenzy. Our boys in blue had just won their first World Series in 32 years and you bet I wanted some mementos! Caps, shirts, Christmas ornaments, you name it!

Then I came across a baseball card set by Topps. Looked interesting and every box would include an autographed card. Sounded good for $99. The cards were made by Ben Baller. I never heard of the guy so I did a search.

Ben Baller?
Turns out Baller is a quite well known actor, musician and jeweler, totally missed that apparently. He also designed cards for Topps. He did it before so I was curious and went ahead, spent $99 and waited for a few weeks.

Cards
The box arrived and it looked great. The cards were in a hard plastic protective case, which is nice! It was sealed by a Topps adhesive tape. Topps really doubled down on the Baller collaboration. His name is everywhere on the box and the cards. On every front side of the card it says ‘Ben Baller did this card’. Seriously, I couldn’t care less. His initials are in the upper left hand corner.

The back gets even weirder. Instead of mentioning the World Series stats for every player it has the same two sentences on every card. It mentions the Dodgers twice and the name of Baller FOUR times and his initials are there as well. It’s like a sponsored card, only… not cheap. He’s like the Tyler Perry of baseball card design. ‘My name first, then the rest!’.

The design is okay, not spectacular. The box holds 32 cards. 27 of our 2020 boys in blue and 5 Dodgers legends. Great to see Robinson, Lasorda, Koufax, Sutton and Snider on a modern card. The picture used for Koufax’ card is a bit blurry, though. There must be a better picture of him somewhere.

Autographed cards
Next to the base set there is an autographed card. These cards can be:

blue, unnumbered

purple, 1 thru 99

red, 1 thru 25

orange (weird choice for a Dodgers card), 1 thru 10

gold, only 1 per player

So, any of these could be in your set. I was very, very happy to find a purple card with NLCS and WS MVP Corey Seager in my set 85/99. There are 18 different autographs and they are fresh, so I might try to get my hands on some of them. Maybe frame them as a memento. One down side… no Kershaw and Betts autographs and personally I would have loved a Dave Roberts auto.

Verdict
It’s a bit of a mixed bag. Too many Baller mentions, average design, some must have autographs are missing. But I still love this set because for what it stands for: The Dodgers winning the World Series!  

World Series win in European Newspapers

Since I can’t get my hands on the Los Angeles Times, I decided to search some European newspapers for articles about the Dodgers World Series win.

In Europe there is ONE sport: soccer! Anything else is second tier or less. The World Series can count on some exposure, though. Not much, but at least there was mention.

I was surprised that Dutch newspapers didn’t have very elaborate articles about Kenley Jansen, who is from Curacao, which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We always see him as our Dutch Dodger.

There are so many newspapers all accross Europe, I had to do a sample.

Dutch Newspapers

Algemeen Dagblad, De Telegraaf and Trouw decided to go with a short press bureau piece (around 100 words).
De Volkskrant had an extravagantly large article of 517 words by one of their reporters in the USA. He writes about Kershaw finally winning his much deserved ring. Of course Kenley Jansen is mentioned as well.

Other newspapers in Europe

Italian sports newspaper Gazzetto dello Sport has an 764 word long article about the Dodgers and Lakers winning the championships with only 16 days between them. Reporter Davide Chinellato focususses on the part Magic Johnson played in both teams in Los Angeles.

In the good old jolly United Kingdom The Independent has a 400 word long article with the title ‘Dodgers’ MLB glory marred by Covid controversy’. It’s the first article I read in which not the win but Justin Turner’s positive covid test was the focus. Very sad! That same newspaper had another article titled ‘World Series TV ratings drop 32%, previous low from 2012’. A 360 word rant with numbers that are of no interest to anybody outside of the broadcast-business.

The Daily Telegraph wins the prize for shortest mention. 28 words. The entire article reads: ‘Baseball: The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988 after their 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Arlington sealed the best-of-seven series 4-2.’

In Germany, newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, goes all out with an article half a page long. 'This title comforts the city'. It touches on the difficult times people are having in California. Earthquakes, fires. That this title is for all of Southern California. Good article that goes deeper than the average ones.

Dutch News sites Other than the ‘old’ medium newspaper, there is news to find on Dutch news sites. Maybe that's why they don't print articles in the hardcopy newspapers anymore, it's all online nowadays. A selection, all in Dutch!

nos.nl: Los Angeles Dodgers winners of the World Series for the first time since 1988

nos.nl: Jansen extatic: ‘I will carry this with me for the rest of my life’

ad.nl: LA Dodgers wins World Series for the first time in 32 years

ad.nl: Baseball player misses championship party after positive covid test

ad.nl: Robert Eenhoorn proud of Kenley Jansen: ‘that ring, is what it’s all about’

nrc.nl: Baseball player leaves field because of corona, returns after win

foxsports.nl: Dodgers win world series for the first time in 32 years

World Series Press Pins II - 2017

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 6 press pins: one from the 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and 2010’s.

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 pin. Read my blogpost about that Press Pin HERE. Recently my second pin arrived. Another gem!

2017 World Series
For the 1947 World Series I can only dive into books and go on the internet to get particulars. It was a heart breaker, that much is certain! The 2017 World Series I got to witness myself. The first two games in Dodger Stadium, the third one at Angel City Brewery, the rest at home. And talking about heart breakers, this certainly was one. It took me quite a while to get over it. Then the sign stealing story broke and I felt like we were robbed (we were robbed! Read my blogpost about it HERE). But it wasn't negative at the time. I loved the vibe in Dodger Stadium. The first World Series game there since October 16th 1988, 29 years earlier. It was 103 degrees at game start and LA was ready! There also was this little trinket, which I only laid eyes on some months after the World Series: the 2017 World Series Press Pin designed by Ross Yoshida

Ross Yoshida
LA native Yoshida started working part time for the Dodgers organization when he was in college. After college he would go to Dodger Stadium and answer phone calls. In 2001 he got a job doing graphic design. He stayed with the Dodgers until 2004. He then became a freelancer until the mother ship called him back home. He returned in 2008 as Senior Manager of Design, was named Director in 2017 and Senior Director in 2019. He's also the creative overseer of the organization.

So, we're talking about a guy who knows his Dodgers and his designs are well known if you have been following the team for a while. Take the 'Dodgers 50 years in Los Angeles patch'.

There’s some great of easter eggs in the patch. Take the two palm trees, they stand for the two stadiums the Dodgers have called home in LA.
I got in contact with Ross though Twitter and he was happy to talk about the 2017 pin.

The Pin
It's fresh with clean lines, with the levels in their recognizable colors on a baseball field shaped, golden color pin. Downtown LA looms over the stadium as if it just visited the Top of the Park gift shop, bought itself a hat and a foam finger, ready to root for it's boys in blue. On the back it reads AMINCO/MLBP 2013, www.amincousa.com, Visit MLB.com, CHINA and it has a butterfly clasp. But for some details I turned to Yoshida.

I asked him about the year. Did the Dodgers organization have a good feeling about that season?

Yoshida: “The Dodgers were in the Postseason hunt up until the end of the season, and the World Series pin design has to be submitted to MLB and approved in August. Unfortunately, we missed the Postseason altogether that season. But because there was a possibility in August that we could be hosting a World Series in 2012, we had to be prepared. Not only was a design approved, but a full run of pins were produced — and kept in a safe until we were back in the Fall Classic, which would be 2017! Notice that World Series pins don't have a year anymore? The approval and production process is the reason.”

So, it looks like phantom pins are a thing of the past, then. Maybe good, but I liked those ‘what could have been’ pins. Except the 1951 one. That should have been a legitimate World Series Press Pin.

The pin was produced. Yoshida didn’t have a say in the use of the material. Yoshida: “just the color. We kind of put our trust in the vendor, who specialized in this kind of thing.”

I wondered what eastereggs were in the pin, but I was disappointed a bit. Yoshida: “I love symbolism… but in the case of the 2017 World Series Pin design, there are NO 'Easter eggs' at all!”

But, the star… with the five points… each one for an LA world series win? No? Aww… still makes this an awesome pin. The fourth one that uses Dodger Stadium as it’s center piece (after 1963, 1974 and 1981).

Yoshida also designed the 2018 pin and he tweeted “We also have an approved design for the next Fall Classic”

That guy designed three pins already, and the first two are instant classics. What about that next one? Anything he could tell us about it?

Yoshida: “Sorry, no secret info to reveal here. We had one of the top Clubs in MLB and there was a good chance that we could host another World Series in 2019… obviously, that never came to fruition, but we had to abide by the August deadline to get a WS pin designed and produced. I just hope people will be able to see the finished product, which is spectacular… and soon!

The future pin will probably have ‘2019’ on the back. When we’ll see it? I have no clue, but I have a feeling it will be revealed in the roaring 20’s.

Anyting else you’d like to share?

Yoshida: ”A few last comments about the pin. The design and actual final product means a lot to me for several reasons. One, to be part of a 100+ year baseball tradition of press pins isn't lost on me. Two, it was my first World Series pin design, and I never knew if it would ever see the light of day (I had been working for the Dodgers for 12 years in 2017 and the Club had never made the World Series during that time). Just seeing the pin takes me back to that magical 2017… even though we didn't win the Series, I have so many awesome memories during that time.”

Although the aftermath was all about getting cheated out of a World Series win, yes, 2017 was magical and so is this pin.

Follow Ross Yoshida on Twitter: @RYDesignLA

Dodgers Zoom Party III

On monday, the 18th of May, the fourth Dodgers Zoom party took place. It was my third and as with the earlier parties it was a blast, although a bit short (around 43 minutes).

In attendance were Justin turner, Alex Wood, David Price, Cody Bellinger, Austin Barnes, Clayton Kershaw, Dave Roberts and Andre Ethier. There was a surprise appearance by comedian Jo Koy.

Unlike earlier Zoom Parties this time Alanna and Joe tried to ask everybody the same questions so much of the time we would go around the board to get answers. That was a fun idea because it gave the party a different vibe than the previous ones.

One of the questions asked was who the players were starstruck by. Barnes, Turner and Belli all had the same answer: Kobe Bryant, Wood by former presidents George Bush and Bush Jr., Kershaw by Justin Timberlake and Price by Obama before he became president.

All agreed that it will be hard to encourage each other when there is no high fiving, slapping butts and hugs, but they will find some innovative way that’s corona proof.

How they spend their time during the coronacrisis? All of them work out, some take long walks or play video games. Roberts told Barnes that word on the street is that he’s not very good at gaming. Austin concurs. He adds that Gavin is probably the best in the clubhouse with Belli a close second.

There is some discussion about comparing athletes. Jordan vs. LeBron comparison it not possible said Kershaw. It’s two different players from two different times. JT jokingly told Kersh he thinks he’s better than Koufax.

There were some personal questions from fans as well. David Price was asked if he had other jersey numbers in mind before he chose 33. He revealed he wanted number 18 but didn’t want fans to think it would be a reference to 2018. Which is sweet. He was also looking forward to hitting but with the possible add of the DH in the NL he might not hit very soon.

A fan asked when the pitchers started throwing curveballs. Wood, Price and Kersh all started throwing them at age 11-12.

Dave Roberts, this time actually showing his wine bottle, was asked who dropped the most F-bombs last season. His top four: Rich Hill, Walker Buehler, Austin Barnes and then Dave himself.

A cute fan question was: if you had a puppy after which athlete would you name it? Some of the best: Mo (after Mariano Riviera) for Clayton, Wood would call it Barney after Astin Barnes, Price would go for Yogi and Roberts already has a dog called Maury (after Wills).

Great to see the guys again. They really wanna go to work!

If you missed it or want to try to join again, the next Zoom Party is on Monday the 25th of May.