The Yasiel Puig McFarlane Figurines are Now Available

The McFarlane MLB Series 32 figurines are now out, and it includes Cuban slugging sensation Yasiel Puig.  Head over to your favorite hobby shop or toy store to find one.

Of special note, there are at least three different versions available.  Directly below is the normal Puig figurine and its packaging.  It shows Puig in his home white uniform.

 

 

This next figurine is considered the Bronze Collector Level Yasiel Puig action figure.  They are limited to just 2,000 serial numbered figurines.  As you can see, this action figure features a rather large over-sized head - like, freakishly big.

The scarcest figurine is below.  It is the Silver Level Variant, numbered to only 750 copies and features Yasiel Puig in the Dodger road grey uniform.

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The Draft Continues for Dodgers - Here are their 3rd, 4th & 5th Round Picks

This morning starts where the Dodgers left off.  They will be choosing picks #3 to #10.

At #3 for the Dodgers, 98th overall, is right-handed hurler from UNLV John Richy.  He is originally from Golden, Colorado, is 6'4" tall, 210 lbs. and is a junior at UNLV.  In 2014 he went 11 - 4 with a 3.20 ERA.  Richy completed 5 games, threw 121 inning, struck out 113 and walking only 24.

In celebration of his selection I made the above fantasy card for him.  As you can see he sports a mighty fine Rollie Fingers-style mustache.  I grabbed the photo from the Las Vegas Review-Journal (pic by Chase Stevens) and used the vintage 1987 Topps Baseball card design.  BTW, Ron Kantowski at the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote an interesting story about the origins of the mustache, here.

Chambers said he did it to support the team. The UNLV players recently started growing mustaches to express camaraderie and esprit de corps.

It's akin to what NHL players do during the playoffs - they all grow beards.

Below are his stats from the his UNLV biography page:

Here are a couple of links about what he brings to the table:

• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Dodgers pick John Richy in 3rd round of 2014 MLB Draft."
• Via Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider, "Dodgers draft UNLV RHP John Richy in third round."

BTW, Richy is apparently a True Blue Dodger fan.  Check out his tweet here: (Whoops!  Sorry, I must learn to read this twitter thing.  A teammate of Richy is actually the Dodger fan - My Bad!)

A big shout out to @jrichy45 of @unlvbaseball getting drafted to my favorite team @Dodgers
— Anthony Zuniga (@PapaZuni) June 6, 2014

I like this kid already!

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For the 4th Round, 129th overall, the Dodgers picked University of Washington junior right-handed pitcher Jeff Brigham.  Per Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider, he had Tommy John surgery in 2012.  Brigham measures 6'0" tall, 200 lbs. and is 22 years old.  Per the MLB draft tracker:

He regained his velocity, albeit inconsistently, with a fastball that sits 92-94 mph and has touched 97. The life on Brigham’s fastball has led to a ton of ground-ball outs but not many strikeouts. His slider and changeup are both well behind his fastball, however, and both will need a good amount of development to be useable pitches. Brigham does go right after hitters and has been generally around the strike zone. His health history, his size and his stuff might mean a path to the bullpen at the next level.

It appears he might be a work in progress.  If he figures it out he'll be slated to join the Dodger bullpen someday.  BTW, Jeff is on twitter, and can be followed here @Jbrigs34.  You can check out his biography page at UofW here.  Eric Stephen at True Blue LA also has a report on him, here.

In celebration of his selection I made the above fantasy card for him.  I grabbed a photos from a Seattle Times article (pic by Jim Bates) and used the 1987 Topps Baseball card design.  I would have used a different design, but I currently only have this template at my disposal.  Maybe I'll make more fantasy cards for these kids using a different design later on.

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The Dodgers 5th round pick, 159th overall, is McEachern High School 3rd baseman Jared Walker.  He measures 6' 3", 200 lbs., bats left-handed, but throws right.  He is projected as having plus power potential.  At just 18-years of age he'll have plenty of time to develop.

Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA:

"The lefthanded hitter has hitting instincts and a line-drive stroke with natural strength. He has good bat-to-ball skills, though his approach will require refinement, and average raw power that projects to plus down the road," read the Baseball America scouting report. "A team might try him at third base, but his defensive future likely lies in left field."

Eric shares a video of Jared in action.

In celebration of his selection I made the above fantasy card for him.  I grabbed a photo of Jared from his Perfect Game biography and used the 1987 Topps Baseball card design.


UPDATE:  BTW, Jared has a couple of cards in 2013 Leaf Perfect Game Showcase Baseball set.  Check them out below.

Base Card #99 Jared Walker               Base Auto #JW2  Jared Walker

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Our 2014 1st & 2nd Draft Picks Already have Baseball Cards - Check them Out Here

It amazes me that even prep ballplayers have Baseball cards today.  I never would have thunk that a major manufacturer like Topps would already have cards available on the marketplace before the amateur draft, but here we are.   

As you likely know by now, the Dodgers 2014 1st Round Draft Pick was right-handed hurler Grant Holmes, and he already has a couple of cards available to chase.  Heck, if you include cards made by Leaf Trading Cards then there are even more than that.  So, since I like to write about the Dodgers and their cards, check out what is available of Holmes below.

This is a 2013 Bowman Perfect Game "All-American Classic" card that were only available during a showcase ballgame at PETCO park in San Diego on August 11, 2013.  Attendees received only 1 random card, so it may be scarce.

#PG-GH Grant Holmes

This next cards is a 2013 Bowman Under Armour "All-America Baseball Factory" card that were only available during a showcase ballgame at Wrigley Field in Chicago on August 24, 2013.  Like the card above, attendees received only 1 random card.  BTW, our 2nd Round Pick, Alex Verdugo, also has a card in this set - you can see it to the right of Holmes, below.

The below cards were made by Leaf Trading Cards in 2013.  It is from a set called 2013 Leaf Perfect Game National Showcase Baseball, and they feature prep ballplayers who were participants of Perfect Game High School Classic Showcase events held throughout the country last year.  Hundreds of the best high school prospects in the country are featured in the set.  Check out the Grant Holmes cards below.  Unfortunately, Verdugo is not included in the set.

Base Card #260 Grant Holmes

Base Autographed Card #A-GH1 Grabt Holmes

The below card is a "1 of 1" parallel

Metal Refractor #BM-GH1 Grant Holmes

State Pride #SP-GH1  Grant Holmes

Metal Stars #PGS-GH1 Grant Holmes

Jersey Auto #JA-GH1 Grant Holmes

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2014 Topps Pro Debut - All the Dodger Insert Cards

Following up on yesterday's post featuring the Dodger prospects within the Topps 2014 Pro Debut set, featured below are all of the Dodger insert cards that can be found.  Go here to check out my previous post on this set.

Manufactured Hat Logo Patches

#MH-CSE Corey Seager - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

#MH-JU Julio Urias - Great Lakes Loons

#MH-ZL Zach Lee - Chattanooga Lookouts

You gotta love cards featuring team mascots, eh?

Mascot Manufactured Patches

#MM-LL Lou E. Loon - Great Lakes Loons

#MM-LO Looie - Chattanooga Lookouts

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Blog Kiosk: 6/6/2014 - Dodger Links - Another Fantasy Card for 1st Round Draft Pick Grant Holmes

It looks like Tommy Lasorda had a great time at the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft yesterday.  Here he is with Mike Piazza, pic via @mikepiazza on twitter.

• Awesome!  Jon SooHoo shares a couple of great vintage photos featuring Don Zimmer.  Go here to check them out.
• I had a little too much fun with photoshop yesterday.  Here's another fantasy card I made for 2014 Dodgers 1st Round Draft pick Grant Holmes sporting his Dodger Blue on the right.  I used a photo tweeted out by @MLBNetwork.  Click on the pic to embiggen.  BTW, if you're wondering who the Dodgers compare Holmes to then check out what Eric Stephen writes.  Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Grant Holmes compared to Zack Greinke, Matt Cain, Chad Billingsley."
• David Brown at Big League Stew tells us about a story Vin Scully told the audience the other day - "Delay gives Vin Scully time to tell story of umpire with no thumb on left hand."

"Tony Venzon would keep the indicator in his right hand; and every time he would raise to look, I would think it's a strike. And I was really embarrassed — I wasn't trying to give the plate umpire a bad time at all — but every time he brought that right hand up, I thought it was a strike.

"So after the game, I thought I'd best to go down to meet that umpire and apologize."

• Bob Lemke shares some great vintage photos of Don Zimmer as a Dodger in 1957 that were once a part of the Topps archives.
• Josh Kosman at the NY Post, "LA Kings owner mulls sale of team."  It's been known for some time (like, several years) that AEG would sell the team (it's on the down-low), but with the Clippers recent sale still fresh it appears they'll try to ride that coattail.  If they ever sell the team I might have to worry about my season ticket prices going up.  Until then, this is really old news.
• Topps is producing all kinds of different collectibles available only from them.  Via Chris Olds at Beckett we find out about their 11" x 17" poster prints called the "My Hero" collection.  There are 50 players available at $49.99 each or a complete set of 5" x 7.75" posters at $199.99.  Also, the posters are limited to only 99 copies, so they will be scarce.  The Dodger players available are Jackie Robinson and Yasiel Puig.  Check them out below.  Go here to check them out at Topps.com.

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