Blog Kiosk: 2/28/2012

Panini provides more early pics from their upcoming Prime Cuts Baseball, via Knights Lance. Check out the Matt Kemp signature card above.

• The Albuquerque Isotopes are holding their own National Anthem auditions on March 3rd at Isotopes Park. Registration required. Go here for details. Remember, the Dodgers will have their auditions on March 31st.
• Check out Tony Jackson's great story at ESPN about Todd Coffey.

  "It was all about the learning experience for me,'' Coffey said. "It was tough. People talk about how much money baseball players make, but a lot of people don't know about the hardships ballplayers have when they're in the low minors, trying to work their way up. You don't make a lot of money. And it's tough to get a job in the offseason because who is going to hire somebody when they know they have to leave after a few months?''

• Tony Jackson unveils this seasons marketing slogan, via Twitter.
• Nathan Eovaldi is the new meatball king, via Tommy Lasorda on Twitter.
• Do not like, but will learn to accept. Hiroki Kuroda in pinstripes. Check it out here.
  
• Earliest known Babe Ruth game-worn jersey to go on the auction block, via SCD. It may reach $1Mil in bidding.
  
• Connie Marrero, MLB's oldest living player, finally receives his pension, via Peter Bjarkman.

  MLB’s Players Association has finally classified Marrero among a group of needy pre-1980 players who don’t qualify for standard pensions but deserve to be compensated nonetheless. The result will finally be the long overdue and considerable MLB financial compensation so desperately needed.

• Dustin Palmateer at Baseball Prospectus "Sizes Up the CBA Again."

  In late November of 2011, Major League Baseball and the Players Association reached a new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (PDF), guaranteeing 21 straight years of labor peace. The new CBA features some radical changes, however, and many fans, analysts, and executives are worried about how those changes might impact an already sizable gap between small- and large-market franchises.

• My new favorite website: Bad Spring Training Twitpics.