Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 2/12/2013 - Spring Training has Begun!

Even some position players showed up to Camelback Ranch today.  A pic via the @Dodgers on twitter shows Carl Crawford in Dodger Blue for the first time.

• David Schoenfield at ESPN provides his off-season report card on the Dodgers.

Few teams have as much upside as the Dodgers if everything goes their way. With the depth of their rotation, they should be a lock to win 85 games. It's also necessary to point out that they won 86 games last year without Greinke and without full seasons from Gonzalez, Beckett, Crawford, Ramirez and Kemp (who played 106 games) and thus they should easily win 90-plus games. 

• Roberto Baly at VSIMH post up a video featuring Mike Piazza talking about his new book on CBS This Morning.
• Bill Plunkett at the OC Register asks Five Key Questions about the Dodgers.
• Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times tells us on twitter that Clayton Kershaw will 'slow-play' the negotiations for a new (and no doubt record breaking) contract.  Why anyone would think it would be any other way, I do not know.  I've read numerous stories wondering why the Dodgers don't lock him up now.  Well, it takes two to tango, and I would be surprised if Kershaw's representatives rushed the process.

(twitter link)

• The signing parade has begum at Camelback Ranch.  Via a twitpic by 'goodgoer', we see Hyun-Jin Ryu providing his signature to fans on Day 1.  (Hat Tip: MyKBO on twitter)  In fact, Ryu has a new twitter account.  Check it out here, @HyunJinRyu99.  His very first tweet says it all- translated into English: "It Starts Now."  There is also a video on twitter of him tossing the ball around, here.

• David was at the Compton Community Day event at the MLB Urban Youth Academy this past Sunday.  He also visited the Padres FanFest and shares a bunch of his autograph gets.
• True to the Blue was at the Long Beach Expo, as well, and shares his Jerry West autograph.
• Best Tumblr ever!  Check out Bad Spring Training Twitpics.
• All About Cards tells us about Topps big announcement this morning.  They unveiled the world's largest Baseball card in Florida.

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My Take from the Long Beach Expo

Following up on yesterdays post regarding my day at the Long Beach Expo, today I share my purchases.  As I had written previously, I hadn't planned on buying much of anything, but a table filled with $3.00 PSA graded cards called to me.  I spent a good half an hour (or longer) sifting through several giant stacks of PSA graded cards.  It was filled with mostly vintage Baseball and football cards, and I could help myself as I snagged just a couple of cards for my collection.  I figured at $3 bucks a piece I couldn't go wrong. 

Check out a 1969 Topps Stamps Paul Popovich and a 1968 Topps Game Tommy Davis cards below.  I know Tommy was on the Cubs at this time, but to me he looks like he's wearing a Dodger uniform in the picture.  Popovich spent about 1.5 years with the Dodgers before being trade bait (along with Ron Fairly) in 1969 for Manny Mota and Maury Wills.  I think it's fair to say that we won that trade.

I also figured I couldn't go wrong with a handful of 1965 Disney Puzzleback cards.  Check them out below.  Some research revealed that there are 66 cards in the entire set, so I am seriously considering added this set to my ever growing wantlist.  On top of that, $3 each wasn't a bad price.  BTW, other non-sport cards in the pile included numerous 1950's Bowman 'Power for Peace' cards that I regret not taking home.

Oh, yeah!  The original Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse is in the card below.  A couple of weekends ago I visited Disneyland for the first time in years and discovered that they now call this Tarzan's Treehouse, to my consternation.

I also bought a couple of display supplies that includes the below two pin display boxes.  Fading has become a concern for my collection, so I figured it was time to take down some of my displayed items from the wall and put them into something more safe.  Check out some of my vintage pins in their new home, below.

These are some more modern Dodger pins; including several Spring Training commemorative pins (at the top left) and a bunch of Unocal 76 Dodgers give-away pins. 

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A 1949 MLB All Star Game ticket stub from Ebbets Field

Historical does little to describe the significance of this item.  Featured here is a 1949 MLB All-Star Game ticket stub.  This was the one and only time this event was played at Ebbets Field, and it appropriately was the first Midsummer Classic to include African-American ballplayers.  Those first-timers were Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Larry Doby.

This game was played on July 12, 1949 in front of 32,577 fans.  The American League defeated the National League, 11 to 7.  Check out the box score here.  The ticket stub sold for a healthy value on eBay, $343.44. 

(auction link)

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Pitchers & Catchers Report Today!

Today is the day we have all been waiting for.  Dodger Pitchers and Catchers are to report to Camelback Ranch for Spring Training today.

Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

On Tuesday, the excitement shifts to Arizona, where Dodgers pitchers -- plenty of them -- and catchers report to Spring Training.

The first battery workout at Camelback Ranch-Glendale will be Wednesday. Position players report Friday, with the first full-squad workout scheduled for Saturday.

"Yes, if everything goes right we could be better than anyone," club president Stan Kasten told MLB Network Radio. "But we have question marks like every team has question marks. We have to see if we can avoid injuries. Still, it's very exciting that we can begin the season thinking we really do have a chance, for real. You don't have to imagine a lot of things happening for it to result in a postseason team, if we can get some breaks to go our way."

I can't wait to see how things develop. 

For those folks heading out to Arizona to enjoy some Spring Baseball and to hunt down some Dodgers for autographs, I put together a list of Dodger players with their jersey numbers to help you out.  The list isn't entirely complete, but it should provide a good starting point.

0                      Alfredo Amezaga (non-roster invitee)        
3                      Skip Schumaker           
5                      Juan Uribe  
7                      Nick Punto                   
6                      Jerry Hairston Jr.
8                      Don Matingly (Manager)
9                      Dee Gordon   
10                    Tony Gwynn Jr. (non-roster invitee)
12                    Mark McGwire (Batting Coach)            
13                    Hanley Ramirez           
14                    Mark Ellis 
15                    Davey Lopes (1st Base Coach)         
16                    Andre Ethier                                     
17                    A.J. Ellis         
18                    Tim Federowicz                     
21                    Zack Greinke             
22                    Clayton Kershaw   
23                    Adrian Gonzalez         
25                    Carl Crawford
26                    Tim Wallach (3rd Base Coach)                 
27                    Matt Kemp           
29                    Ted Lilly                 
30                    Eliezer Alfonzo (non-roster invitee)                
31                    Brandon League   
33                    Ramon Castro (non-roster invitee)                         
35                    Chris Capuano         
36                    Matt Palmer (non-roster invitee)                                        
37                    Elian Herrera             
38                    Shawn Tolleson   
40                    Rick Honeycutt (Pitching Coach)
41                    Aaron Harang          
43                    Ken Howell (Asst. Pitching Coach)
44                    Dallas McPherson (non-roster invitee)  
45                    Trey Hillman (Bench Coach)                  
46                    Josh Wall   
47                    Luis Cruz        
48                    Brian Barden (non-roster invitee)        
49                    Alex Castellanos 
50                    Chuck Crim (Bullpen Coach)                         
51                    Ronald Belisario 
52                    John Valentin (Asst. Batting Coach)       
54                    Javy Guerra       
55                    Matt Guerrier      
56                    J.P. Howell                           
57                    Scott Elbert                                                          
58                    Chad Billingsley 
59                    Stephen Fife               
60                    Jeremy Moore (non-roster invitee)             
61                    Josh Beckett                    
62                    Omar Luna (non-roster invitee)                       
63                    Nick Evans (non-roster invitee)                       
64                    Ozzie Martinez (non-roster invitee)                  
65                    Wilkin Castillo (non-roster invitee)                  
66                    Yasiel Puig       
67                    Kelvin De La Cruz (non-roster invitee)
68                    Chris Withrow  
71                    Gregory Infante (non-roster invitee)
72                    Justin Sellers  
73                    Juan Abreu (non-roster invitee)
74                    Kenley Jansen
75                    Paco Rodriguez
70                    Jesus Flores (non-roster invitee)
76                    Peter Moylan (non-roster invitee)
79                    Steve Ames 
80                    Matt Magill
85                    Rob Flippo (Bullpen Catcher)
86                    Fumimasa Ishibashi (Bullpen Catcher)
99                    Hyun-Jin Ryu

28    Mark Lowe
77    Kevin Gregg
54    Eddie Oropeso  (Puig Mentor)

(UPDATE: numbers updated 2/12/2013)

And here is the pregame schedule for a typical spring training game.

BATTING PRACTICE:                            

Afternoon Games (1:05 p.m. starts):  

Dodger BP: Until 11:15 a.m.
Visitor BP: 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Visitor Infield: 12:20 p.m.-12:30 p.m.
Dodger Infield: 12:30 p.m.-12:40 p.m.

Night Games (7:05 p.m. starts):

Dodger BP: Until 5:15 p.m.
Visitor BP: 5:15 p.m.-6:15 p.m.
Visitor Infield: 6:20 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Dodger Infield: 6:30 p.m.-6:40 p.m.

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