Happy Roberto Clemente Day!

In honor of this special Baseball day, Roberto Clemente Day, I made the above two fantasy Baseball cards.  As you can see, they feature Clemente in 1954 Montreal Royals garb.  As the story goes, the Dodgers had signed up Clemente as a free agent that year, and due to league rules regarding roster limits decided to try to stash him in Montreal - away from the prying eyes of the rest of the league.

Unfortunately, the ruse did not work. 

Former Dodger President Branch Rickey (the man who signed Jackie Robinson) had joined the Pirates ballclub in 1950, and was apparently very aware of his abilities.  So much so, that when the "Rule 5" draft came along he quickly plucked him off the Dodgers.  The rest, as they say, is history.

BTW, in that lone season in Montreal in 1954 Clemente slashed .257/.286/.372/.657 in 148 at-bats.  He recorded two home runs, 12 RBI's and scored 27 times.  From what I understand, the Dodgers purposely had him ride the pine for a majority of the season - primarily coming in as a defensive replacement.

Also, I thought I would share a snippet about the Clemente situation that I read in the book "Mover & Shaker: Walter O'Malley, the Dodgers, & Baseball's Westward Expansion" by Andy McCue. 

Weekend Autograph Opportunities: The Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp & Sports Collectible Show

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.

As you can see, I am not aware of any scheduled sports autograph events for this weekend.  There is, on the other hand, a collector convention worth checking out.

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The Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp & Sports Collectible Show is this weekend.  It opens tomorrow morning and runs til Saturday.  Go here for information.  Admission is basically free - just be sure to go to the website and follow the steps (become a member Collectors Universe/PSA member).

This is primarily a coin, currency and stamp show, but there are a few sports collector dealers there.  In the past they had sports autograph guest, but that isn't the case this week.  BTW, this convention has been going on since 1964, and is one of the longest running shows of its kind.

Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center
300 E Ocean Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90802

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2016 Topps Archives Signature - All the Dodgers Cards

If you love to chase after buy-back autographed cards and have an affinity towards the players of yesteryear then this product is for you.  Last week Topps released, for the second year in a row, their 2016 Topps Archives Signatures brand.  As you may know, it solely focuses on older Topps cards that have been signed by the respective player.  In other words, there is no base set.  Instead, each pack/box includes a single encased certified autographed Baseball card.

There are over a 100 different players available and several of them have Dodger ties.  They include Andy Pafko, Don Drysdale, Don Zimmer, Duke Snider, Eric Davis, Frank Robinson, Gary Carter, Greg Maddux, Hoyt Wilhelm, Leo Durocher, Mike Piazza, Nomar Garciaparra, Sandy Koufax, Shawn Green and Steve Garvey.  Go here for a listing of players that can be found. There is no guarantee, of course, that the players above have a signed Dodger card in the product.  After all, both Hoyt Wilhelm and Frank Robinson were short-term Dodger players, and there are really only a handful of Topps cards of them as a Dodger available.  Nevertheless, I've done my best to catalogue what is available.  If you run across something I don't list here please let me know.

Below is a listing of known (so far to me) Dodger cards.  Of note, if your a fan of Steve Garvey or Shawn Green then chances are high you'll find one in a box.  There are a ton of them available.  Furthermore, the list below is not likely to be complete.  There are no doubt numerous "1 of 1" cards and other scarcities still lurking in unopened boxes or in private collections.

UPDATE:  You can check out a listing of the 2015 Archives Signature Dodgers cards here.

Eric Davis

• 1992 Bowman (#/30) 
• 1992 Topps Stadium Club (#/5)
• 1993 Bowman (#/39)
• 1993 Topps (#/35)
• 1993 Topps Stadium Club (#/10)

 1993 Bowman (#/39)                1993 Topps (#/35)

Blog Kiosk: 9/7/2016 - Dodgers Links - AJ Ellis, De Leon, Ethier and the Vin Scully Coin

ICYMI:  The Dodgers recently added a new game giveaway to their schedule, and it commemorates the career of retiring legend Vin Scully.  It will be given out on Saturday, September 24th against the Colorado Rockies, and that is the second to last home game of the regular season.  Check out what it looks like in the graphic above, via @Dodgers on twitter. 

As for the game, the Dodgers won their fourth game in row by taking advantage of Diamondback starting pitcher Shelby Miller, 5-2.  They recorded eleven hits and scored five runs in the 4.1 innings he pitched.  Per Jack Baer and Steve Gilbert at MLB.com:

"We put some at-bats together and got a lot of hits out there, got a lot of baserunners," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I thought it was really good. Jumped on Miller early, stressed him early. It was just a well-played baseball game."

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodger History:  In 1903 the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) and the NY Giants play a two-stadium, same-day doubleheader.  The first game began at 10:30 AM at Washington Park (Giants won, 6-4), and the second game got underway later that afternoon (Brooklyn won, 3-0).  In 1962 Maury Wills stole four bases against the Pirates to break the modern National League record for stolen bases at 82.  In 2001 Shawn Green broke the Dodger record for home runs in a season at 44.
• Happy Birthday, Willie Crawford!