This may not have the Hollywood ending that many would have liked to have seen, but this story does have Hollywood roots. The saga begins March 2008. Francisco “Chico” Herrera was an 18 year old high school baseball player from Hollywood High School when he was hired to be a ball boy for his Los Angeles Dodgers. Job Description: If a player needs something, he gets it. It is thankless,…
JOHNNY PODRES – THE ORIGINAL HYUN-JIN RYU
Outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, a statue depicting southpaw Johnny Podres after a pitch release stands 60 feet, six inches from a statue of catcher Roy Campanella. They commemorate the Brooklyn Dodgers winning the 1955 World Series over the New York Yankees, one of the most iconic moments in Dodger history! The photo of the elated Podres leaping into the arms of Roy Campanella, with Don…
Spring Training 2.0
DRAFT RESULTS Let’s remind what the penalties are for exceeding the slot bonus value. Bonuses that exceed the slot value by < 5% are charged an overage tax of 75% of the amount in excess of the slot value. If the bonuses exceed the stipulated slot value from between 5% to 10%, there remains a 75% overage tax assessed for the excess bonus, AND lose next year’s #1 draft pick. …
I Am At a Crossroad
First of all, thanks for putting words in my mouth Bums. What you apparently read into what I wrote is that I think COVID-19 is a hoax. Never said those words. Never hinted those words. But believe what you want. COVID-19 is very personal to me. My son and granddaughter are both considered high risk, as am I having had two significant bouts with pneumonia. Last weekend both my son…
Things That Make You Go Hmmm – July 5 Edition
The Los Angeles Dodgers have reported to Dodger Stadium; or at least some of them have. There are some who have apparently tested positive for the coronavirus, while others (so far only David Price) has opted to sit out the 2020 season. I am perfectly comfortable with any player or management personnel deciding that it is in their best interests to opt out for the season. I just hope that…
RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT “SUMMER TRAINING”
Here I am, in the office on what has to be the most unusual 4th of July holiday in my lifetime. Had several things that I wanted to write about (including the “Art of stealing pop bottles” :-), but busyness has reared its ugly head and gotten in the way. It stinks to be your own boss and then have your boss be such a jerk. ● Well looks…
The Fall of Baseball Cards
This is the second part in the two-part article on baseball cards penned back in 2012. I had collected baseball cards as a youngster in the fifties. Unfortunately, I gave my collection to a good friend in 1957 when my family moved from the small town of Lunenburg in Nova Scotia to the city of Edmonton, Alberta. At that point, my life was over – or so I thought, and…
The Rise of Baseball Cards
This is for Bear although he most likely has all of this in his data bank and more. It is a rerun of an article I posted on Think Blue LA back in December of 2012. At that time I wrote: Yesterday I spent some quality time with myself organizing and cataloging my latest Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp baseball cards. Today, I will take my Duke Snider cards out…
Six Man Rotations and a Draft Update
Players are expected to report to camp beginning today and there are a couple of topics that have caught my attention. It has been close to 50 years since MLB moved from a four man rotation into the current five man rotation. However for 2020, in an abbreviated season, the six man rotation is being considered. There are now a couple of teams coming out indicating that they are going…
GIL HODGES A HALL OF FAME PLAYER AND HALL OF FAME MAN
I’m going to come right out and say that I believe that Gil Hodges should be in the Hall of Fame. Much has been written about the subject and nothing that I offer here is unique or original to me. I will just say this, if a player can be voted in for being a tremendous person, then Gill Hodges would be a unanimous first ballot selection. I was too…