Blog Kiosk: 5/24/2018 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

I think we're all feelin' it. Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

After taking the rubber game of the series, the Dodgers are 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Rockies, their smallest deficit since April 10, and have won six of their last seven games. 

"You can see the energy in the clubhouse," said closer Kenley Jansen, who picked up his 10th save and fourth in the last five days. "Everybody's like, we're going to get out of this. Things are finally starting to go our way."

Photo above of Maeda via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2018 at Dodger Insider. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1947 Carl Furillo hit a three-run pinch-hit first inning home run against the Phillies at Ebbets Field. The early pinch-hit at-bat only occurred because Philly manager Ben Chapman (yeah, that guy) chose to use his right-handed starting pitcher for Brooklyn's first two batters only -- Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. Then substituted in a lefty for the next three batters. In 1973 the Dodgers and Mets play a 19-inning marathon at Dodger Stadium that takes a then-club record five hours and 42 minutes to complete. The Dodgers lost, 7-3. Outfielder Willie Davis would collect six hits -- tying a NL record. In 2000 sixteen Dodger players and coaches are suspended (a total of 60 games for players and 24 games for coaches) for a fighting incident at Wrigley Field that resulted in numerous players jumping in the stands on May 16th.
• Happy Birthday, Wilmer Font, Billy Otterson, Fred Jacklitsch, Joe Oeschger, Gus Felix, Clancy Smyres, Ellie Rodriguez, Carlos Hernandez, Jason Grabowski, Jae Weong Seo,  Brad Penny & Andrew Toles!
• Cat Loves the Dodgers shares her pics from last night victory, here.
• Trump has finally done something I agree with. Per an AP report at Politico; "Trump pardons late boxer Jack Johnson."
• Kershaw will be back soon. Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com; "Kershaw extends bullpen session to 54 pitches."

"He thought it wasn't good because of pitch execution, but he said he felt fine," said Roberts, who confirmed that Kershaw is on track to throw a four-inning simulated game on Saturday, the next step in his recovery from left biceps tendinitis.

If Kershaw comes out of the workouts Wednesday and Saturday with no issues, management will decide whether to send him out for a Minor League rehab start or place him back in the big league rotation. 

Wednesday's session was originally planned for 30 pitches. Instead, Kershaw threw 30 pitches, took a break, then came back with 24 more throws as Roberts stood in the batter's box from both sides.

• A book review. Per Stacie Wheeler at Dodgers Digest; "Q&A with author Michael Schiavone about ‘The Dodgers: 60 Years in Los Angeles’"
• Per WEHOville; "Varsity Gay League Partners with WeHo Gateway, LA Dodgers to Improve Poinsettia Park Security."

The Varsity Gay League will join forces with the Los Angeles Parks Department, the LA Dodgers and  the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center  to stage a “Drag Ball” kickball game next month to raise money for Poinsettia Park.

The goal of this second annual kickball game is to raise $10,000 to help improve security at the park, where an influx of homeless people and nearby tent encampments have worried nearby residents and users of the park.

• OMG! It's unbelievable finds like this still happen. Via Rich Mueller at Sports Collectors Daily; "The Cards This Guy’s Mom Didn’t Throw Away Are Worth Over $1 Million."

“He was never sure about how many Mantles he traded for, but even if it was one, he made out like a bandit,” Iskowitz joked.  “When the 1952 season was over, his mother placed them in a box and they went away until now. He really liked the gum out of the packs and kept buying them, because of it. He had no idea that his chewing habit would turn into a windfall like this.”

For decades after his brief stint as a childhood collector, they remained untouched thanks to his mother, who unlike many others of the era, didn’t throw them out. 

• Per njwv at SABR's Baseball Card Committee; "Anti-Product Baseball Cards." I had no idea Jean-Michel Basquiat did this.

Last winter I started seeing writeups about the big show at the Barbican. So I started skimming; those kind of retrospectives—when done right—are an easy way to get a bit more context about an artist and even the reviews of them tend to be pretty educational. In this case, the writeups often mentioned how before he made it big he sold defaced baseball cards outside MoMA for a buck. Interest seriously piqued. 

...
The baseball cards are part of a larger project called “Anti-Product Baseball Cards” consisting of postcards that Basquiat and Jennifer Stein collaborated on. They’d make a collage consisting of printed material, paste four of them on a letter-sized page, photocopy the page, spraymount the copy to cardboard, then cut it into fourths to create four 4¼”×5½” postcards.

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