Beckett points us to this interesting story from the National. Scotty Schwartz, of "A Christmas Story," buys a bunch of Vick autographed lithographs and shows you what he thinks of him.
YouTube Link: UDVids:
Hat Tip: Beckett.com:
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Lima Traded to the Great White North
The Long Beach Armada have traded Jose Lima to the Edmonton Capitals over the weekend. The Long Beach Armada announced tonight that they have traded RHP Jose Lima to the Edmonton Capitals in exchange for RHP Kris Honel, a former first round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox. The two pitchers have similar records in the GBL this season.That sucks! I had yet to have a chance to see him pitch in a LB uniform. Now, I never will. Click here for a interview with "Lima Time."
Just Falling Short
What a tough game last night. First, our burgeoning ace, Clayton Kershaw, faltered a bit as he struggled with the strike zone. He gave up 6 walks over 4 painstaking innings that saw him throw 92 pitches total. The 21 year old kid continues to climb that learning curve. He labored for most of his time in the game and, fortunately, gave up only 3 runs. Jeff Weaver, our long guy out of the pen, did his best to temper the game and put it back into control, but Ryan Braun had something else in mind. He cranked a 3-run homer in the 6th inning to, seemingly, put the game out of reach. The Brewers starter was just masterful.
The Brewers lead was now 6 to 2 as the game entered into the bottom of the ninth inning. The Brewers starter, Manny Parra, tried to complete the game, but the Dodger bats finally started to figure him out. The first two batters got on base (on 2nd & 3rd) and closer Trevor Hoffman was called in to shut things down.
For a awhile it seemed like this game was now ours. Loney came up and roped a double down the right field line that landed in the seats. Hudson followed him with a single to drive in Loney. The Dodgers were just one run away from tying it up. Four batters later Manny Ramirez was up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs.
Could Manny do it again? Would we all be celebrating a walk-off hit of some kind?
Nope. He hit a lazy fly to right.
Oh well, you can't win every game. At least the Dodgers finished strong.
Of special note is that twitterer, Annabel Ly, was at the game and was lucky enough to grab Loney's double to right field. See the ball below.
Hat Tip: Twitter:DodgersNation:
The Brewers lead was now 6 to 2 as the game entered into the bottom of the ninth inning. The Brewers starter, Manny Parra, tried to complete the game, but the Dodger bats finally started to figure him out. The first two batters got on base (on 2nd & 3rd) and closer Trevor Hoffman was called in to shut things down.
For a awhile it seemed like this game was now ours. Loney came up and roped a double down the right field line that landed in the seats. Hudson followed him with a single to drive in Loney. The Dodgers were just one run away from tying it up. Four batters later Manny Ramirez was up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs.
Could Manny do it again? Would we all be celebrating a walk-off hit of some kind?
Nope. He hit a lazy fly to right.
Oh well, you can't win every game. At least the Dodgers finished strong.
Of special note is that twitterer, Annabel Ly, was at the game and was lucky enough to grab Loney's double to right field. See the ball below.
Hat Tip: Twitter:DodgersNation:
What a Baseball Blogger Would Write in 1924
I am sure I've highlighted this blog in the past.
"1924 and You Are There!" blog is captivating. It is a Baseball blog set in the year 1924. Writer Jeff Polman weaves a captivating story about Vinny and Cal as they go about their daily ritual of life and Baseball. This blog is a totally different twist from the common fare found on the Internet today. Today he writes about a match between Brooklyn and Philly, and the continuing courtship of Rachel.
"1924 and You Are There!" blog is captivating. It is a Baseball blog set in the year 1924. Writer Jeff Polman weaves a captivating story about Vinny and Cal as they go about their daily ritual of life and Baseball. This blog is a totally different twist from the common fare found on the Internet today. Today he writes about a match between Brooklyn and Philly, and the continuing courtship of Rachel.
As a matter of fact, Dazzy was suffocating them to death slowly, giving them just three puny singles the rest of the game as the Robins waited around for Ring to lose his nerve. Which he did starting in the 7th. A walk and two singles gave them a run. Stock's double tied the game at 3-3 in the 8th and Steineder relieved to whiff Vance and Johnny Mitchell. But the great Fournier, quiet the whole game, smashed a triple off the fence right near me with two outs in the 9th. Brown was walked on purpose to bring up the much-weaker Taylor, who ripped a single anyway to give Brooklyn the game!Read the post here.
As you'd figure, I was sad for myself but thrilled for Rachel, who was following the action in bed on the radio machine. Her mother cooked a nice hunk of meat called brisket for dinner, and Rachel even joined us at the table. We paid another visit to her roof later on to stare at the city lights, and she asked me if I was going to college. I said we probably couldn't afford it and I wasn't much for learning things out of books anyway, which got her quiet and made me think she was looking for some kind of smarty husband. There's lots of ways to get smart, though, so I guess we'll see how this issue turns out.
Wanna See Some Old Wax?
The Beckett blog did a good job covering the National this past weekend. Go to their blog for more here. My only complaint is that there wasn't more. More pictures, more videos... just more. After all, during our high tech age of digital cameras and massive bandwidth, there is no excuse for not posting hundreds of photos- no, thousands. I want more, much more.
Anyway, like I said, they did a decent job. They had a couple of nice interviews with UFC's Rich Franklin and AND1’s The Professor, Grayson Boucher. The video that I liked the most was shot at The Baseball Card Exchanges table which featured some very old and rare wax boxes from the 1950's. See it below.
Video Link: BeckettNational30:
Beckett Blog Page:
Anyway, like I said, they did a decent job. They had a couple of nice interviews with UFC's Rich Franklin and AND1’s The Professor, Grayson Boucher. The video that I liked the most was shot at The Baseball Card Exchanges table which featured some very old and rare wax boxes from the 1950's. See it below.
Video Link: BeckettNational30:
Beckett Blog Page:
Dodger Correspondence: Ray Thomas
Here is a very simple letter written to and then responded by former Dodger catcher Ray Thomas. Ray had a very short career as he played in only one game in 1938. Fortunately, he recorded one major league hit that lead to him scoring a run. In the letter below he kindly thanks Bill for remembering him. When you work throughout your childhood and young adult life to play Baseball, but only get a "cup of coffee" I imagine you would have a certain amount of gratitude when someone remembers that you once played the game.
What I find really fascinating about this letter is that the sender refers to some postcards he included in the letter to have Ray sign. They were Jim Rowe postcards. This is a name many older collectors will immediately know. Jim Rowe was one of hobbies pioneers.
(click to enlarge)
What I find really fascinating about this letter is that the sender refers to some postcards he included in the letter to have Ray sign. They were Jim Rowe postcards. This is a name many older collectors will immediately know. Jim Rowe was one of hobbies pioneers.
(He) was and still is best known as a baseball photograph archivist, one who supplied authors, collectors and players (both active and retired) with rarely seen photographic images. Jim was a collector going back as far as 60 years. He was one of the major influences behind the early baseball collectors clubs and shows in the greater Chicago area. In 1973 he became a founding member of the Chicagoland Sports Collectors Association, the first of its kind in the nation. He wrote countless articles on baseball and well as his own book, "Baseball Portraits," in 1951. His ads for baseball postcards were a staple in early hobby publications. Jim Rowe was also an advocate for several players that he had befriended on his journey through life in baseball. One such player was Fred Lindstrom, who Jim helped (by lobbying sportswriters and writing his own articles) to get elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
(click to enlarge)