Congrats, Charley Steiner - He Will be Inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame

I would like to extend an hearty Blue Heaven congratulations to Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner.  This coming Saturday, he will be inducted in the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.  Check out his biography at the National Radio Hall of Fame, here.

Steiner joins 7 other radio legends being honored that evening; which also includes Los Angeles area Spanish broadcaster Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo.  BTW, past inductees include Vin Scully, Red Barber, Mel Allen, Harry Carey, Ronald Reagan and Ernie Harwell.

Charley Steiner has quite a resume.  He started his career in 1969 in Peoria, Illinois and quickly moved on to Davenport in 1971 to host his first sports show.  Since then, Steiner has has worked for WOR in New York, a sports director for RKO, was an ESPN sportscaster, did play-by-play for the Yankees with WCBS, then radio/television duties for the Dodgers.  Over that span he has won the Emmy 4-times.


Pic at the very top featuring Vin Scully, Sandy Koufax and Charley Steiner via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2013.

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Vintage Jackie Robinson and Some Negro League Photos at Hake's

Hake's Auctions does it again.  Over the past several years they have had some incredible Negro League photos available for sale.  As a fan with a voracious appetite for this league, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing them. They provide an historic snapshot of some long forgotten players. 

As you may know, most of them come from the Richard Merkin Collection; who was a very active collector of everything Negro Leagues related.  Others have come from the Cesar S. Lopez collection, creator of www.cubanball.com.

The below 1947 photo of Jackie Robinson comes from the Lopez Collection.  It features Jackie with Cuban Sports Director Genaro Suarez Rocabruna during Spring Training in Cuba.  As a way of hiding his true intentions of bringing Jackie up to Brooklyn, the Dodgers trained on the island to keep their plans secret.  Jackie trained with the minor league squad, but Branch Rickey kept a watchful eye.  Eventually, they made the historic announcement to the supposed surprise of Baseball.

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This next photo comes from the Richard Merkin Collection.  The next photo is of Hall of Famer Oscar Charleston and Fats Jenkins and dates to 1925.  Charleston is on the right.  Per the auction description:

Both men played for this Eastern Colored League team from 1924-1927. Clarence Reginald "Fats" Jenkins played both baseball and basketball. In his more than 20 years in the Negro Leagues, his baseball teams included the New York Lincoln Giants, New York Black Yankees and Pittsburgh Crawfords. His basketball teams included Cum Posey's Loendi Big Five based in Pittsburgh, and the New York Renaissance, the last of the Colored World Champions in 1925. Oscar was one of the greatest legends of the Negro Leagues. A multi-talented star, he was renowned by those who saw him play as the finest all-around player in Negro League history and was dubbed the "Black Ty Cobb" by sports writers.

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These next group of photos are glass plate negatives of the Royal Poinciana Hotel Baseball Club.  Per the auction description:

During the first two decades of the 20th Century, the Royal Poinciana Hotel Baseball Club included many notable Negro League baseball greats brought to Florida during the winter to play after the Negro League season was over. We believe these slides date to 1912-1913 and includes players from the Brooklyn Royal Giants including Jap Payne, Walter Ball, Pearl Webster, Frank Wickware, Sam Crawford, Frank Earle and Bill Handy. This is evidenced by two players who are shown in their Giants uniforms while the rest of the team wears their Royal Poinciana uniforms.

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Blog Kiosk: 11/7/2013 - Dodgers Links - Dodgbers Scouting, Masahiro Tanaka, and Dodgers Talking Contract with Mattingly

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Here is a vintage April 18, 1958 AP wire photo of the Dodgers welcome parade through the Streets of Los Angeles.  Coach Charley dressen and Manager Walter Alston are seen in the front car.  Photo via eBay.  More photos from this parade can be seen at the USC Digital Library, here.

• JP Hoornstra at Inside the Dodgers writes an interesting piece about, "how the Dodgers use analytics today."
• JP Hoornstra also puts up a story at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, "Dodgers signal a change in philosophy".

At the time, the Dodgers weren’t just grabbing who they thought were the best players available. They also were rolling out a new philosophy.

“A little bit of both,” general manager Ned Colletti said. “When you have gaps in the system, you have to fill them.”

The gap Colletti was targeting was mature power pitchers with major league-ready speed. And really, what general manager wouldn’t want a system full of 22-year-old fireballers?

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "Five Dodger prospects on the cusp". - Alexander Guerrero, Joc Pederson, Onelki Garcia, Ross Stripling and Matt Magill.
• Via Ramona Shelburne at ESPN, "Don Mattingly, Dodgers talking deal".
• Via Brandon Lennox at True Blue LA, "AFL recap: Seager responds in grand fashion".
• Colleen Kane at the Chicago Tribune writes, "Sox scout Pellant joining Dodgers".  Gary Pellant is noted for being the 2nd player in Baseball history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same inning.  Here's a great article by Terry Nau at the Pawtucket Times about his life as a scout.  He'll fill a vacancy with the Dodgers that covered scouting of other professional clubs; i.e. scouting reports on teams playing the Dodgers next.  (Hat Tip: Tony Jackson at Dodger Scribe)
• The Masahiro sweepstakes will be delayed.  Via Gen at Yakyubaka.com, "New posting system agreement to be delayed, Rakuten’s discussions with Tanaka also pushed back".  The Dodgers have been named as a potential destination for this Japanese pitcher.  He'll be pricey, but all indications are that he's worth it.
• Via Dustin Nosler at Fellin' Kinda Blue, "Masahiro Tanaka scouting profile: He's good, and the Dodgers could use him".

Tanaka, 25, isn’t the next Yu Darvish. Darvish is an unquestioned ace and worth every penny the Texas Rangers paid for him. In hindsight, it was a really good deal. Tanaka is a younger, better version of Hiroki Kuroda. That isn’t a straight race-based comparison. Tanaka is a little smaller than Kuroda, but their deliveries and arsenals are similar -- well, at least their first four pitches. If you want a non-Japanese comparison, a guy like Dan Haren, Anibal Sanchez or Johnny Cueto might suffice. Haren is particularly apt because, like Tanaka, he relies on a split-fingered fastball as one of his out pitches. But if you want a better physical comp, Sanchez or Cueto is the correct choice.

• Jon Heyman at CBS Sports, "Free-agent rankings: Market much stronger than some think".

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