Monday, September 23, 2013

2013 Topps Heritage MiLB - The Dodgers' Minor League Base Cards

Last week, Topps released their newest Baseball card set - 2013 Heritage Minor League Baseball.  The set pays homage to the vintage 1964 Topps set by borrowing its design.  It also focuses solely on up-'n-coming stars within the Dodgers farm system.

This set includes the normal cast and characters you would expect.  You will find the fast rising infielder and younger brother to a current Major Leaguer Corey Seager with multiple different cards, and the impressive power-hitting outfielder Joc Pederson.

One name I didn't recognize was catching prospect Gorman Erickson.  He is card #3 below.  In fact, it appears that Topps didn't know much about him either.  They indicate that he's a pitcher, when every record I could find shows him as a defense-first catcher.  Of course, maybe Topps knows something nobody else does.  Maybe the Dodgers should convert him, like they did with Kenley Jansen, into a hard throwing pitcher.  After all, there is some precedent for that.

BTW, as you'll notice below Corey Seager has 2 different base cards in the set.  There is his normal card shown directly below, and a short-printed variation card of  having fun while warming up at the very bottom of this post.  I am unsure how scarce the variation card may be, so if your in the market I would suggest waiting a bit until adding it to your collection.

Check out the Dodger prospect base cards below.

#2 Gorman Erickson                               #95 Corey Seager


#141 Ross Stripling                             #169 Garrett Gould

#175 Joc Pederson                                #215 Chris Reed

Base Variations Set

#95 Corey Seager

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Blog Kiosk 9/23/2013 - Dodgers Links - Vin Scully Way?


Andre Ethier pinch-hit on Sunday in San Diego.  He struck out.  The pic above is via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2013.
  • "Vin Scully Way coming soon to Los Angeles?"  Via KABC.
"There's no honor that could be too great for Vin Scully, and I absolutely would love to rename a street for him. We'll look at a few around the stadium as a possibility," said Garcetti. "I know there's been a lot in the Twittersphere, a lot of people tweeting and Facebooking about this."

The question that prompted the discussion came in from a viewer, who happens to be Scully's daughter-in-law, asking to change Stadium Way to Vin Scully Way.
“The mayor of Los Angeles has a great deal more important things to do than name a street after me,” Scully said in the statement. “And if he is considering the idea, better the street should be named after Walter or Peter O’Malley than myself.”
  • There was one Dodger not in Arizona when they clinched the Western Division, but he had a good excuse.  Reliever Chris Withrow was home in Texas for the birth of his first child.  Congrats, Chris!  Arash Markazi at ESPN has the story.
  • Michael Young is eyeing retirement, via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com.
  • "Brian Wilson signing working out well," via Mark Saxon at ESPN.
  • "Dodgers' Kenley Jansen well-armed from both sides ," via Kevin Baxter at the LA Times.  Jansen does everything left-handed, except throwing a Baseball.
"When I was a kid I used to use a right-handed glove and I'd just put it on the other hand," says Jansen, who grew up in Curacao. "They almost started a fight with me. They said if I didn't stop doing that they would be beat me up."
  • Panini shared a bunch of preview pic of some autographed cards from their upcoming 2013 Hometown Heroes Baseball card set.  Check out the Steve Yeager card on the right.
  • Rabbithole on Reddit shared a great aerial pic of the very first San Francisco home game between the Dodgers and Giants.
  • Tony Jackson at Dodger Scribe notes that, "There is evidence Dodgers may be hitting their stride again".
  • Here's an AJ Ellis song about Dingers - "The Wonderful Thing about Dingers".

Video Link:

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