Steve Lyons' is seen above sporting some St. Patrick's Day Oakley shades. Pic via twitter @SteveLyons12.
- MLB's historian John Thorn writes about Jackie Robinson and the men who built the barrier he had to cross.
African Americans had played baseball near Madison Square in the 1840s, not far from the grounds of the New York and Knickerbocker clubs before they relocated to Hoboken’s Elysian Fields. In Rochester, in 1859, Frederick Douglass Jr., son of the great abolitionist orator, played baseball with the integrated Charter Oak Juniors. When young Douglass moved to Washington, he helped to form another baseball club, the all-black Alerts, which became the first such club to play against a first-rank white one, the Olympics of Washington, DC, in late September 1869. (The first interracial game took place in Philadelphia a few weeks earlier, with the black Pythians playing against the white Olympics, both of that city.)
- Some more Dodgers' moves: Sellers, Tolleson and Flores sent down, via twitter @Dodgers.
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| (twitter link: @Dodgers) |
- TFed will be our #2 catcher. Via Eric Stephen on twitter:
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| (twitter link: @truebluela) |
- Rest Up, TJ Simers. Via Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk, the "Dodgers Training Staff comes to TJ Simers' (an LA Times reporter ) aid after he had a Ministroke.
In it he notes that when the stroke hit he was in his Phoenix hotel room and called to Camelback Ranch to tell colleagues and Dodgers people that he wouldn’t be at the ballpark. Dodgers’ trainer Sue Falsone got on the phone with him and helped diagnose the stroke (which it appears Simers didn’t immediately recognize as such) and then dispatched assistant trainer Aaron Schumacher to his hotel to take him to the hospital. Great play, Dodgers.
- Evan Bladh at Opinion of Kingman's Performance shares a bunch of pics he took at a WBC game from last night.
- The Dodgers decide that outsourcing is not for them. Via Rick Orlov at the Daily News, the Dodgers' are looking to replace private ambulatory services with the LA Fire Department.
- Via JP Hoornstra at Inside the Dodgers, he speaks with Ned Colletti and his explanation why Puig needs some molding in the minors.
- Matt Hunter at Beyond the Boxscore writes, "Are SABR's Changes to the Gold Glove Bad for Baseball?"
- Chris Olds at Beckett shares some unexpected news. Topps extends their exclusive MLB agreement to 2020.
“Since making Topps our exclusive baseball card licensee, they have continually validated that decision by bringing clarity to the marketplace and reinvigorating the hobby, especially among young people,” said Howard Smith, the MLB Senior Vice President, Licensing, in a prepared statement. “Generations of baseball fans have grown more attached to the game through collecting baseball cards, and Topps is continually coming up with new and creative ways to reach the next generation.”
A lot of collectors appear to be up in arms about this. I am not. Although I wonder what great cards Panini could make with a full license, I understand why MLB did this. Topps provides consistency while MLB's experience with other manufacturers has been less than spectacular. If you're looking for someone to blame for the use of an exclusive card license then I suggest looking at Upper Deck's way. They helped create the atmosphere that put this all together.
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