Blog Kiosk: 1/4/2012 Dodgers Odds & Ends

• Another bidder has unearthed and it is headed by Joe Torre. MLB recently announced his resignation VP of Baseball Operations, and news came through this morning that he is teaming with a real estate developer and a banker to buy the Dodgers. Dodger Thoughts has more, here.

  The group Torre is joining was not immediately named, though Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweeted that it was one led by real estate developer Rick Caruso. (Update: Torre and Caruso subsequently confirmed in a joint statement, and Bill Shaikin of the Times tweeted that the banker is Byron Trott of BDT Capital in Chicago, "called by Warren Buffett 'the only banker he trusts.'")

• Number 5 Type Collection features a great vintage 1971 Milk Duds card of former Dodgers Billy Grabarkewitz.
• The Sports collecting hobby lost another one if its pioneers. Los Angeles card/hobby shop owner, Goodwin "Goodie" Goldfaden, died this past Sunday at 97, via SCD. I've never had the opportunity to meet the man, but I understand that he was considered one of the most knowledgeable collectors in the hobby- primarily because he handled most sports related collectibles in existence today. Heck, he was a dealer before there was a collectible business (since 1925).

  West Hollywood, which was considered by those who visited to be a mind-boggling storehouse, filled to capacity with floor-to-ceiling shelves full of every imaginable type of sports collectible. He owned millions of vintage cards--multiples of many of the hobby's rarest artifacts. Old enough to have sold Babe Ruth cards for $5 and 1952 Topps sets for $100, in his shop, Goldfaden was dealing long before prices began their upward climb in the late 1970s and 1980s.

• The Wall Street Journal is taking votes for the photos of the year, and it includes a great pic of our very own Kings goalie, Jonathan Quick. Check it out here. There is also a Dodgers related photo in the sports category that is poignant, here. It is related to the Bryan Stowe incident.
• I've recently become a huge fan of Reddit. Well, the Dodgers reddit page has gone through a very cool transformation that includes up & down buttons (you can vote whether you like or dislike a post) featuring some familiar faces. Check them out here.
• Night Owl Cards has been named 2011 Sports Collectors Blog of the Year, via Jaybarkerfan. Not a very scientific poll, but I can't disagree with the choice. Night Owl Cards is always a fun read.
  
• Sit back and enjoy with me a video from the introduction to game 1 of the 1981 World Series.

Video Link: