How many of these guys do you remember? John Wyatt, Larry Hutton, Don Denbow, Terry McDermott, Jim Haller. Don’t ring a bell? How about Bobby Valentine? Oh, him, you know. Well, all those guys were the Dodgers’ first-round picks – their first six, as a matter of fact. None of them was drafted #1 because the Dodgers were not picking that high. Valentine was the highest pick at #5 in…
After a week of games, we see things happening and note who is doing what! If you are forming an opinion about certain players… keep forming! There are four more weeks. Some guys are working on certain aspects of their games and others are trying to “show out” in order to make the team. Sometimes the “plodders” win out… you just never know – have you ever heard the term…
Charles Arthur Vance was born March 4, 1891, in Orient, Iowa. His father was Albert Theophilus Vance, a farmer, and his mother, Sara Elizabeth; He was their fifth child. When he was young, they moved to a farm in Pleasant Hill Township. Located in Webster County, Nebraska. Webster County is very near the Kansas state line. Vance attended high school but made his baseball reputation pitching for a semi-pro team…
Disclaimer: What follows only applies to those that say this really silly stupid stuff. Do you really believe that the Dodgers will have a poor offensive lineup? With Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Mookie Betts, Will Smith, and JD Martinez? That also means that you don’t think anyone else will step up, right? No rookies. No non-roster invitees. Not Miguel Rojas. Nobody… because everybody sucks! Here is what we have heard…
Dear Poor Dodger Fans, Your season is over! You are so screwed! The end is here! The Dodgers will finish last in the NL West. Forget about the season. It’s all over now. This is too horrible to contemplate! Signed, A World Class Moron! Yes, that is what some people think, but they are sooo wrong if you think Miguel Rojas cannot be the SS of a Championship team. I…
Harry ” Cookie” Lavagetto was the son of Italian immigrants Luigi and Adelaide Lavagetto. Luigi came to the United States in 1901. Adelaide arrived in 1906. Harry was the youngest of four sons born on December 1, 1912, in Oakland, California. He was christened, Enrico Attillo Lavagetto. He would have his name changed twice. After his confirmation in the Catholic church, Attillo was changed to Arturo. In school, a teacher…
The first (5th, 16th, etc.) Game of Spring Training means nothing, but there were things that you should write down and remember for future meaning: James Outman had a good game – He will benefit greatly (as he did yesterday) from the ban of the shift. He did nothing to hurt his stock, and while these early games don’t mean a lot, he actually earned points toward promotion to the…
How can that be? Does Spring Training mean everything, or does Spring Training means nothing? Well, it depends… and if you are a person who sees everything as black or white, you may never understand how those two opposing statements can embody what Spring Training is all about. It seems like every year, some player comes out of “nowhere” and hits .350 or .400 in Spring Training and yet is…
You go back to 1958 when the Dodgers moved west, and I would bet without going to the Dodgers baseball reference page, few here could name their starting rotation, let alone the guys in the bullpen. And the same would be true of most of the pitching staffs going back, say, 15-25 years or more. For the record, they finished 7th that year, 21 games behind the pennant winners, the…
I have been away for a little while, and during that period, a lot of baseball news trickled in. One item I wanted to address was the Evan Drelich book on the Houston Astros 2017 scandal titled Winning Fixes Everything. First off, the title of the book. It says it all. This was/is a corrupt baseball organization that got away with cheating their way to a title. As much as…