The Ron Fairly 1961 Union Oil Dodger Family Booklet

Here is another post featuring the 1961 Union Oil Dodger Family Booklet set.  Go here to see my past post showcasing this set; including complete scans of both the Vin Scully/Jerry Doggett and Don Drysdale booklets.  This time I share the Ron Fairly Booklet.

Ron Fairly was a local product.  He played college ball at USC under famed coach Rod Dedeaux, and was on the 1958 team that won the College World Series.  During that season he batted .358 with 9 home runs and 67 RBI's.  Soon thereafter, he signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and quickly found himself wearing Dodger Blue in September.  In that first month of Major League ball he played in 15 games, batting .283, with 2 home runs and had a slugging percentage of .415. 

In 1961, the season when this booklet was issued, he broke out.  Fairly batted a career high .322 in 111 games; as he bounced between 4 different positions.  The next year, he planted himself on the everyday roster as the Dodgers 1st baseman, hitting a respectable .278 with 14 home runs and 71 RBI's in 147 games. 

Ron Fairly continued to play regularly, but never equaled the promise he showed as a USC center fielder.  Nevertheless, he was a fierce competitor with a disciplined bat, and a key component of 3 World Series Dodger clubs.  Over his entire 21-year playing career, he walked 1,052 times and struck out only 877 times.  He also recorded 68 career pinch hits; hitting as many as 12 in 1975 as a Cardinal.

After his playing days were over, he entered the broadcast booth.  He called games for the California Angels, the SF Giants and most notably for the Seattle Mariners.  Fairly retired after the 2006 season. 

Below are complete scans of every page from Ron Fairly's 1961 Union Oil Dodger Family Booklet.  Click any pic to embiggen.

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2014 Topps Tribute Baseball - The Dodgers Autographed Cards

Here is my last post featuring Dodger cards from the 2014 Topps Tribute Baseball card set.  This time I feature the Dodgers' autographed cards.  Go here to check out my previous post on this set.

BTW, there are also Tribute Milestones Autographed Relics of both Yasiel Puig (#TMAR-YP) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (#TMAR-HJR), but they have yet to surface.  I suspect these are extremely limited, and may be "1 of 1's".

Autographed Cards

#TA-AG Adrian Gonzalez

#TA-CKE Clayton Kershaw

Tribute Traditions

#TT-AG Adrian Gonzalez

Tribute to the Past Time

#TPT-AG Adrian Gonzalez                      #TPT-SK Sandy Koufax

According to a checklist, there are at least 3 different Duke Snider and 2 different Johnny Podres autographed cards.  Unfortunately, I have yet to see them all.  At this point, I have only seen 2 of the Snider cards and a Podres card.  Check them out below.

Tribute to the Stars Autographed Cards

(#TSA-DS, #TSA-DS1 & #TSA-DS2) Duke Snider

(#TSA-JP & #TSA-JP1 Johnny Podres)

#TSA-SK Sandy Koufax

Timeless Tribute Autographed Cards

#TTRA-KK Sandy Koufax / Clayton Kershaw

UPDATE:  Here is a look at the Timeless Tribute dual autographed card of Koufax and Kershaw below.

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Blog Kiosk: 2/27/2014 - Dodgers Links - Guerrero's First Game, Chris Reed as a Reliever and AJ Ellis Sells Jerky

Both Davey Lopes and Mark McGwire look on during yesterdays Spring contest against the Diamondbacks, pic via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014.  Go here to see more pics from him.

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Guerrero gets first game in US under his belt".

"He looked better at the plate his second at-bat," manager Don Mattingly said of Guerrero, who sat out last year before leaving Cuba. "It's his first Spring Training game. We're actually not judging off one game or two at-bats. I'm happy with what I saw.

• Via Mark Saxon at ESPNLosAngeles.com, "Dodgers ponder making Chris Reed a reliever".
• Wow!  Roberto Baly at Vin Scully is My Homboy tells us that AJ Ellis is now an official spokesman for Game On Jerky.  Check out the jerky website here.  Bacon, Baby!  And, with Sriracha!
• Daniel Brim at Dodgers Digest writes, "The Recent History of Dodgers Spring Pitching".
• Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA wonders, "Was Kershaw sending a message to Miguel Montero?"
• Via John Thorn at Our Game, "Our Baseball Presidents".  Thorn is always a great read; especially if you are interested in the history of the game.
• Night Owl Cards writes about the wonder of those little cartoons that used to show up on the backside of Baseball cards.  I, too, am disappointed that cards no longer have these.
• MLB had issued the following statement in relation to Arizona Senate Bill 1062.  The Arizona governor vetoed the bill last night.

"As the sport of Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball and its 30 Clubs stand united behind the principles of respect, inclusion and acceptance. Those values are fundamental to our game's diverse players, employees and fans. We welcome individuals of different sexual orientations, races, religions, genders and national origins.

"MLB has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment or discrimination based on sexual orientation, as reflected by our collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association. Accordingly, MLB will neither support nor tolerate any words, attitudes or actions that imperil the inclusive communities that we have strived to foster within our game."

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