Carl Reginald Smith was born on the 2nd of April 1945 in Shreveport Louisiana, His parents were Lonnie and Nellie Smith. His dad had played one year in the Negro American League as a catcher for the Jacksonville Red Caps. Both of his parents were capable musicians. The family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child. Their new neighborhood, known then as Zone “61”, is now South-Central LA….
The Status of Bauer?
I was all ready to post this piece and then came to realize that I miscalculated a major portion of it, which goes to show you, always do your research “before” writing. Initially I believed that Trevor Bauer’s suspension of 324 games would be retroactive to the date of his suspension of July 2, 2021, which would mean he would be back in action by the end of June this…
The Last Chance for Pete Rose
Within the past few days, 81-year-old Pete Rose wrote this letter to Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred: I became a baseball fan in 1963 when I was nine years old (FYI: I will be 69 next week!). I grew up near Dayton, Ohio (about 50 miles North of Cincinnati), and my father was a Cincinnati Reds fan. Therefore, I went to quite a few Reds games every year. “Charlie Hustle” (aka…
Payroll and Roster Planning – Still Early Edition
The first cuts are in and The Dodgers are letting go around the fringes of the payroll by not exercising club options on some lackluster players, insurance policies and one fan favorite. They’ve seemingly cut ties with total bust, Danny Duffy, mostly bust Jimmy Nelson, an underperforming clubhouse pet Hanser Alberto and roster stalwart Justin Turner. All of this adds up to about a $26 million dollars in savings and…
The State of the Pitching… and More
Now that the smoke has cleared, we can see pretty clearly that things have changed. Let’s consider what has happened or likely will happen: Craig Kimbrel is gone (YAY); Justin Turner’s option was not picked up; Andrew Heaney is likely gone; David Price allegedly retired; Danny Duffy is likely gone; Jimmy Nelson is likely gone; Blake Treinen is not a factor in 2023; Chris Martin is on the market and…
Catchers Not Named Campanella
One of our posters said he would like to see a story on Rube Walker. Rube was Campy’s caddy for several years. But I thought it would be more interesting to profile all of the catchers who played second fiddle to the best catcher in Dodger history. Mike Piazza would have easily been that guy had he not been traded. With a bat anyway. He was Campy’s equal when it…
Drew Avans -33rd Rounder Making His Mark
With the Dodgers looking to possibly lower payroll to be under the competitive balance threshold for the coming season, there are those that believe that the system is stacked enough with solid prospects to revamp the roster with talent that would keep the ball club competitive and allow them let go of the dead weight of some heavy-laden contracts. In a few days we will probably have an idea which direction…
Conventional Wisdom is Not Always Right
Dave Roberts Conventional Wisdom: Fire Dave Roberts The more things change, the more they stay the same. Many Dodger Fans blame Dave Roberts for the loss in Game 4 of the NLCS because he took Tyler Anderson out after five excellent innings. Anderson had only allowed two hits and thrown 86 pitches, and the Dodgers were ahead 2-0! What if Roberts had let Tyler Anderson pitch the 6th inning? Maybe…
Narratives, Lies and Fake News
Sometimes when certain voices are elevated, they have the power to do a lot of damage. We see this in a lot of “news” articles these days and we certainly see this during election season with all of the attack ads from politicians on both sides of the aisle. In an effort to keep this a-political, I’m not going to go into any specifics when it comes to politics. Instead,…
The Humanitarian Efforts of Roberto Clemente
With the recent attention to Justin Turner being awarded the Roberto Clemente Award, I felt the need to discuss a bit of the background regarding the Hall of Famer who gave his life to a humanitarian cause for whom the award is named. Justin and his wife Kourtney have been instrumental in aiding homeless veterans, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Boys and Girls Clubs, various food banks, and more….