Agony and anticipation. That is what the winter meetings have always felt like for me. I am pretty sure many others feel the same. It has been more that way since the advent of free agency. Back in the day when players got no more than a one year deal and were tied to their teams by the reserve clause. For you youngins, that means that the team that signed…
Until the Dodgers moved west in 1958, Los Angeles was home to two AAA PCL minor league teams. The Los Angeles Angels, and the Hollywood Stars. The PCL formed in 1903. The first six teams were the Angels, Portland Beavers, San Francisco Seals, Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons and the Seattle Indians. The Angels played in those days at what was known as Washington Park. It was also known as Chutes…
I never saw him play. He died 2 months and 2 days after I was born. But from the time I first knew about his exploits on a ballfield, he was who I wanted to be like. In many ways we had the same type of youth. I was put in foster care at 10. He went to a home at age 7. Only difference was he was considered incorrigible,…
A while back I had posted a column on Dan Bankhead, the first African-American pitcher in MLB. I knew the answer to that trivia question. To this one I did not know the answer. Namely, who was the first Puerto Rican player to play at the MLB level with the Dodgers? He was not the first to play MLB coming in second but was the first position player from Puerto…