Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 6/19/2012

Aaron Harang is quite the artist.  Via Patrick O'Neal's twitter, above is what Harang drew on the Dodgers white board.

• GCRL shares a Koufax sportscaster card.
• Team-First Culture Explains Dodgers' Success, via Alex Angert of MLB.com.

"Most teams get along," Mattingly said. "But they are united in the purpose. They are playing as a we. If you get guys that play as a group, they hold themselves accountable. It doesn't happen that often."

• Chad Moriyama follows up Angert's MLB story, above, by calling it lazy.  

Whenever a team achieves something above what was expected, the media generally takes the easy way out and attributes the success to chemistry or some other intangible. It’s a simple justification for a complicated reality, and it basically amounts to saying, “We were wrong, but not actually wrong, we just couldn’t see the things that nobody else could have seen either!” But that’s lazy to me, and it’s almost completely devoid of responsibility.

I don't entirely disagree, but I do think it's far too easy to discredit the importance of leadership within a team environment.  And I'm not just talking about generalship from the field, either. 

• Mark Langill, the Dodgers official historian, talks a bit about the old Brooklyn Dodgers football team.
• Check out Josh Suchon's great story about his first job in Baseball after college and the day he shuttled around Sparky Lyle.
• Our 1st round draft pick, Corey Seager, has been named to Baseball America's 2012 High School All-America Team.
• Youkilis in our sights? MLB Trade Rumors reports that the Dodgers are interested.  I, on the other hand, am not. 
• Bob Lemke shows a "Pretty Picture" from his collection- a Sandy Koufax pic with Mr. Ed.
• All Trade Bait, All the Time shares his two favorite vintage Baseball cards, and they are a couple of classic Dodger cards.
• Mickey Mantle's Restaurant in New York City recently closed so the memorabilia inside will be sold in a bankruptcy auction, via Sports Collectors Daily.
• How Every Club in MLB is Getting Rich, Thanks to Television, via Maury Brown at Baseball Prospectus.
• Puck Daddy has more on the Kings, The Cup and Las Vegas.  Apparently, the adage that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas doesn't apply to Stanley Cup Champions.