National Little League Appreciation Day with Green & Hershiser

This past Wednesday was National Little League Appreciation Day and a couple of former Dodgers came out to celebrate the occasion with an afternoon of Baseball. To assist them was SUBWAY restaurants who sponsored the event to coincide with their Baseball DeSIGNS tour in benefit of the Little League Baseball Urban Initiative. The event was held at La Cienega Field in Beverly Hills, and Orel Hershiser and Shawn Green came out to coach the kids.

The Baseball DeSIGNS tour was put together by Subway as a way to help the kids. To raise funds they had various celebrities sign Baseballs that were then painted on by some of the Little Leaguers. On August 19 the balls will go on auction, so I will be sure to highlight them when whey become available. Go here to see some of them now.

In the meantime, check out some of the photos from Wednesday that they provided below.

(Casey Rodgers / AP Images for SUBWAY)

(Casey Rodgers / AP Images for SUBWAY)

(Casey Rodgers / AP Images for SUBWAY)

(Casey Rodgers / AP Images for SUBWAY)

The Sinking Ship

We are truly on a sinking ship. ESPN just came out with their 2011 Ultimate Team Rankings for every North American major sports franchise and, as you would expect, the Dodgers are near the bottom. In fact, they have us at 99 out of 122 different teams. I guess our only saving grace is that our team is better off than the Clippers.

To add to the misery, the two Orange County franchises (Angels and Ducks) rank far higher than any other LA team. This might cause you to ask, which LA team ranks highest? Well, my beloved Kings is the best Los Angeles franchise at #55. Go Kings Go!

Blog Kiosk: 6/17/2011

Here's Matt Kemp enjoying his day off with the family yesterday at Magic Mountain. (Pic Link: Twitter Lockerz.com)

• Here is a great story from Opinion of Kingman's Performance about a hot afternoon Baseball game and the kindness of a great employee at Dodger Stadium.
  
• The greatest Bastardo post ever, courtesy of Night Owl.
  
• MLB expands their investigation of the Dodgers, via LA Times.
  
• The LA City Council sent a resolution to Congress seeking fan ownership of the Dodgers, via the Daily News.
  
• You gotta check out the Infinite Baseball Card Set story on Farmer Dean.
  
• Missing Kings hockey? Well, check out Kings Cast for their complete Roundtable Roundup video cast with local hockey writers and bloggers.
  
• Hockey Night in Canada does it again with a phenomenal closing video montage of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Next season it's our turn. Go Kings!
  

YouTube Link:

Daily Conlon: 19 through 27

The Conlon goodness continues. Here are cards 19 through 27.

Former Dodger and Hall of Famer, Burleigh Grimes is featured on card #25, but wears a Pirates uniform. Here's an interesting story about the old spit baller from Wikipedia.

According to Baseball Digest, the Phillies were able to hit him because they knew when he was throwing the spitter. The Dodgers were mystified about this; first they thought the relative newcomer of a catcher, Hank DeBerry, was unwittingly giving away his signals to the pitcher, so they substituted veteran Zach Taylor, to no avail. They suggested that a spy with binoculars was concealed in the scoreboard in old Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, reading the signals from a distance, but the Phils hit Grimes just as well in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. A batboy solved the mystery by pointing out that Burleigh's cap was too tight. It sounded silly, but he was right. The tighter cap would wiggle when Grimes flexed his facial muscles to prepare the spitter. He got a cap a half-size larger and the Phillies were on their own after that.

It's amazing how the little things is often all that matters.

1987 Dodgers Police

Check out the 1987 Dodgers LAPD Police set below. The stadium card is easily the best of the bunch. Also note the makings of a soon-to-be championship team. They are just one year away from making history.