Blog Kiosk: 2/12/2014 - Dodgers Links - Joe Black, Kenley Jansen and Dee Gordon

Steve Garvey shared a great pic of the time he went on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, circa 1977, on twitter.

• Cooperstowners in Canada shares a great vintage photo of the 1954 Montreal Royals (a Dodgers farm team) and a story on former Dodger Joe Black.

Black told Kahn that it wasn’t until he was 11 that he fell in love with baseball. He didn’t own a real baseball, so he taught himself to pitch with a sponge ball. As a kid, Black cut photos of Lou Gehrig, Met Ott, Paul Waner, Paul Derringer, Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg out of the newspaper and glued them into a scrapbook.

• Via Richard Durrett on ESPN writes a story on Michael Young's thoughts about gay professional ballplayers titled, "Wouldn't be an issue".
• Are you wondering what former Dodger athletic trainer Sue Falsone is doing these days?  Go here to find out.  (Hat Tip: JP Hoornstra on twitter)  BTW, JP also lets us know that Stan Conte has taken over as head athletic trainer for the Dodgers.
• The Dodgers and Kenley Jansen agreed to terms for a new contract, and avoid arbitration, via @BillPlunkettocr on twitter.  Not a bad compromise, eh?

No arbitration for #Dodgers this year. They reach agreement at $4.3 million on one-year deal with Kenley Jansen. He asked for $5.05m
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) February 11, 2014

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "The Search for Answers: Yasiel Puig".
• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Gordon adds weight, ready to compete at second base".

"I eat six meals a day," he said. "I've done this on my own. I just want to be stronger. I was nervous that it would slow me down, but I played in Puerto Rico and I saw that nothing happened to my speed. That was a relief. And I'm hitting the ball with more authority."

• Josh Tucker at Dodger Insider shares some great .gifs, "Yasiel Puig takes flight".
• Via Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times, "Hanley Ramirez says he wants to be 'a Dodger for life'"
• Via Dustin Nosler at Dodgers Digest, "Report: Dodgers to sign Cuban SS Erisbel Arruebarruena"  He's a slick-fielding Cuban middle infielder.
• For those interested, here is a listing of the only Olympic hockey games worth watching - at least from the perspective of a Kings fan, via Jon Rosen at Kings (Monarchs) Insider.

* Please follow on twitter @ernestreyes *

* Like Dodgers Blue Heaven on facebook *

* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *