"Baseball for All – All Girls Tournament" is This Weekend

If you happen to be free this weekend, especially on Friday, this might be something fun and interesting to watch.  This weekend is the “Baseball for All – All Girls Tournament” at the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy in Compton from Friday, October 25 - Sunday, October 27. This is the only all girls' Baseball tournament in the country.

Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy
El Camino College, Compton Center (west of football field)
901 East Artesia Blvd.
Compton, Calif. 90221
310-763-3479

Participants are in the teens and will play using IBAF Women’s World Cup rules.  I encourage you to attend if you're interested; especially if you have a young daughter.  After all, maybe it's time to come out and lend some support to the ladies of Baseball.  There just might be a diamond in the rough.

To usher in the tournament will be an Opening Ceremony on Friday morning that includes several cast members from the movie "A League of Their Own" and a former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player.

Appearing will be Patty Pelton (Marbleann Wilkenson), Tracey Reiner (Betty Horn) and Anne Ramsay (Helen Haley) from the movie.  Maybelle Blair, who played for the Peoria Redwings in 1948, will represent the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and throw out the first pitch.

Friday, October 25

9 a.m. – Practice
11 a.m. – Opening Ceremonies
12:30 – Team 1 vs. Team 2
2:30 p.m. – Team 2 vs. Team 3
4:30 p.m. – Team 3 vs. Team 1

Saturday, October 26

9:30 a.m. – Team 1 vs. Team 3
Noon – Team 2 vs. Team 1
2:30 p.m. Team 3 vs. Team 2

Sunday, October 27

8 a.m. – Semifinals
10:30 a.m. - Championship

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Rudely Inviting Myself to the Blogger Bracket Challenge

I am bored... Like, really bored.

The Dodger season is over, and I deeply despise both clubs in the Fall Classic.  I've got no horse in that race.

Worse yet, Dodger drama is starting to hit its stride, and I can't stand it. We've got the idiots on the left who make up rumor after rumor, and the fools on the right pushing a high school musical drama on us like we should give a crap.

The season's over folks!  And the Dodgers will undoubtedly make some changes, but please don't tell me that we'll trade the farm for David Price or that Don Mattingly's feelings are hurt.  It just reads as mindless babble filled with a load of BS. 

So instead, I'm gonna play a game.  A game I wasn't even invited to, but I'm gonna play nonetheless.  Because, that's how I roll.

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Thanks to Stealing Home at All Trade Bait, All the Time, I came across Nachos Grande's Blogger Bracket Challenge and feel compelled to throw my 2 cents in.  Go here for his rules.  Since I'm not actually in the game, I will play along as I wish.  The topic for the evening is the card below.

And what is this card?

Beats the living heck out of me.

It looks like one of those 'Magic the Gathering' kind of cards.  Ya know, the game geeks play (I should talk!)  Thankfully, Nachos Grande informs us that it's from the 2011 Topps Attax set - a card set that doubles as a card game.  (I had previously previewed the Dodger cards from this set, here)

As for the makeup of the card, there's a bunch of numbers on the face that screams sabermetrics, and I'm sure it confuses just the same. Someone, please find me Nate Silver to explain how this all works.

The featured player is no hit/ good glove outfielder Franklin Gutierrez; who was once a top flight Dodger prospect before he was sent packing for a bag of balls and a lunatic named Milton "board game" Bradley.

That reminds me, what ever happened to Mr. Crazy?

Oh, yeah!  He was recently convicted of physically attacking his wife, but due to appeals has yet to serve any time.  Strangely, his wife died a month ago, and I have to wonder if I might be next if he reads this post.

The card hilariously points out the obvious about Gutierrez.

Easy Out: A batter who hits a single is out

Wow!  Such harsh criticism from a piece of cardboard.  Remind me to never look for a Baseball blogger themed card set.  No doubt it would say something like "fat and failed wannabe sports writer:  Hurts back on any pitch leading to long stint on DL" on my card.

Joking aside, Franklin Gutierrez has stayed in the Majors since he left the Dodger nest.  That's a total of 9 years longer than I'll ever get to experience, and 3 years short of Milton "please don't kill me" Bradley's career.  He doesn't hit much; which limits his playing time to being a spot starter or reserve defensive outfielder.  Gutierrez's value as a ballplayer is in his work on the field.  He is truly a great defender, and if you need a guy off the bench to shore up your outfield during the late innings, then I can't think of anyone better.  After all, you don't get nicknamed "death to flying things" for being a duck hunter.

Franklin Gutierrez is likely to be a free agent this Winter (Seattle holds a $7.5Mil option/$500k buyout for 2014), so if your team is shopping I'd suggest looking Franklin's way.  His glove will probably be a difference maker in tight-hard-fought games.

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Weekend Autograph Opportunities: Jose Canseco and Robert Horry (UPDATED with a Clipper Free Signing on Saturday)

Here are this weekends autograph opportunities and events throughout the Southland. As always, be sure to check the Blue Heaven Calendar for other events (a link can always be found on the tab at the top of this page, just left of center), and always confirm with the establishment. Everything is subject to change.  Please email me with any tips about upcoming events in Southern California.  As the rest of the week progresses I'll update this post with other events (if there are any) as I become aware of them.  Also, I don't always list every event below, so be sure to check my Calendar.  I always try to favor free signing events over paying events.  Click on any pic to embiggen.

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Former slugger Jose Canseco will be signing autographs at Harry's Dugout in Whittier on Saturday, October 26 from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM.  Go here for more information.

Harry's Dugout
10715 Beverly Blvd.
Whittier CA 90601
310-606-1548

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UPDATE:  This is a Free Signing event for Clipper Lamond Murray on Saturday.

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2013 Topps Update Baseball - 1971 Mini's & Silk Dodger Insert Cards

Do you want to see some more Dodgers' cards from the 2013 Topps Update set?

Well... I got them for ya.

Shown below are the Dodgers' silk and 1971 Topps mini insert cards from the set.  Go here to see the other Dodger cards from the Update set that I've shown so far.

Silk Collection

#SC233 Yasiel Puig                         #SC277 Nick Punto

#SC281 Skip Schumaker                          #SC282 Juan Uribe

Have I told how great the 1971 Topps set design is?

Well, it's phenomenal.  They have beautiful black borders and a simple framing design that really allows a photograph to "pop".  Better yet, the 2013 incarnation includes Dodger super-rookies Hyun-Jin Ryu and Yasiel Puig.  See them below.

BTW, a checklist tells me that there is Hanley Ramirez game-used relic card inserted into packs, but I have yet to see an example.

1971 Topps Mini

#TM15 Clayton Kershaw                    #TM16 Jackie Robinson

#TM17 Hyun-Jin Ryu                             #TM31 Yasiel Puig

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Blog Kiosk: 10/23/2013 - Dodgers Links - A Dodger Halloween, the Dodger Coaches and AJ Ellis

Are you still preparing for Halloween?  The Dodgers want to help.  Go here to see some Dodgers themed pumpkin stencils that you can use; including the Vin Scully stencil above.

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "Is there disagreement about handling Yasiel Puig?"

“Leave it to me, it’d be one way, but that’s not necessarily the way the organization wants things to go,” Mattingly said. 

• For some Dodger coaching contract news, check out these various tweets.

Davey Lopes, Rick Honeycutt and Tim Wallach's options were exercised by the #Dodgers. Mark McGwire already under contract.
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) October 22, 2013

Dodgers hope to retain coaches John Valentin, Chuck Crim and Ken Howell, but they didn't have options.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) October 22, 2013

• Tony Jackson at Dodger Scribe has more info on the Dodger coaching situation.
• BTW, as a part of the recent Alexander Guerrero signing, reliever Peter Moylan has been DFA'd, per Zach Links at MLB Trade Rumors.
• Eric Stephen at True Blue LA takes a look at the 2013 Dodger season in thirds.
• "SportsDash: Carl Crawford thinks Cardinals will win World Series," via NBC on Yahoo Sports.
• "The Dodgers' A.J. Ellis breaks down the World Series matchups," via AJ Ellis in the LA Times.

"The best part of winning the World Series is you don't have to experience the devastation of losing." 

• Baseball America names Hyun-Jin Ryu and Yasiel Puig to their 2013 Major League All-Rookie Team.
• Nathan Masters at KCET shares a bunch of turn-of-the-century vintage photographs featuring Los Angeles area street.

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