Blog Kiosk: 11/30/2018 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

I don't know if I've ever seen a photo like this of Ebbets Field. Featured above is said to be a 1956 UPI press photo showing a gaggle of Brooklyn Dodger fans milling about within the bowels of Ebbets Field (eBay Auction Link).

Clearly under that stadium grandstands, there appears to be a ticket sales booth in the background and a large advertisement telling fans to send your kin to Dodgertown Camp in Vero Beach over the winter.

"For The Summer of His Life"

Best yet, a 'No Gambling' sign is seen, as well.

The only other photo I've seen of the innards of the historic stadium was of the famed rotunda, so this pic is a welcomed change. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1952, on a local NBC TV program called "Youth Wants to Know," Jackie Robinson charged that the New York Yankees management is racist for its failure to scout, sign and bring up black players. GM George Weiss of the Yanks denied the allegations, saying that the team welcomed black ballplayers, "good enough to make the team." (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 12/1/1952, p. 11)  Elston Howard would become New York's first black player in 1955. In 1995 the Dodgers signed free agent shortstop Greg Gagne to a two-year $5.6 Million contract. The speedy infielder slashed .253/.315/.359/.673 with an 1.9 WAR for Los Angeles.
• Happy Birthday, Tacks Latimer, Win Ballou, Gary Wayne, Clyde Sukeforth & Shane Victorino! 
• Dodgers Memorabilia: Goldin Auctions has some Dodger items worth checking out. Here is a collection of over 275 LA Dodgers line-up cards (from 1985 to 1990) that originate from the Tommy Lasorda Collection (link here). If you love Mike PIazza then you should check out his game-used catching gear from 1996 (link here) and 1997 (link here).
• Per Hayden Bird at Boston.com; "Rich Hill revealed another strange Dodgers decision from the World Series: There's a rhythm, there's a flow to the game that the starting pitcher gets into and I don’t know if the World Series is necessarily the time."

And in a recent appearance on Rob Bradford’s WEEI podcast, the Bradfo Sho, Hill revealed another strange fact: He didn’t learn for sure that he would start Game 4 until hours beforehand.

“That morning,” Hill explained, saying that the status of Game 4’s starter was “up in the air” until then. It was part of a strategy that Roberts considered using to throw off the Red Sox lineup selection. 

“The funny thing is about that Game 4 is that I wasn’t even going to start that game,” Hill said. “They were going to start a reliever. So I think that was where a lot of the confusion came in for, ‘Well, we don’t know who’s starting for the Dodgers, and we can’t set our lineup.'”

• Via NBC Sports at Yahoo; "Behind-the-scenes look at Chase Utley's last games in Philadelphia."
• Via Adam J. Morris at Lone Star Ball; "Chris Gimenez gets novel coaching job with Dodgers: Former Ranger catcher Chris Gimenez will be the Los Angeles Dodgers game planning coach in 2019."
• I had missed this from last week. Per TMZ; "Joc Pederson Personal Bird Scooter Stolen... Cops Investigating."

Sources tell us the outfielder had his electric wheels stolen outta his car recently near his San Fernando Valley home.

We're told Joc woke up and saw his car's window smashed out and his scooter taken ... and he reported the crime to the LAPD.

• Here's a robbery update. Via Renata Birkenbuel at Newsweek; "Gang of 13 men arrested in string of celebrity Los Angeles burglaries."

Police say the accused have ties to a South Los Angeles street gang. Ten of the 13 are behind (bars) held on multimillion-dollar bail.

Charged with felony burglaries, home invasion robberies and gang conspiracy, the accused targeted professional athletes like right fielder Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers and wide receiver Robert Woods of the Rams – often when they were away from home during games.

• Awesome! Via John Lyon at the Robb Report; "What Do Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Frank Sinatra Have in Common? They All Signed This Baseball." There's a great video worth checking out.

Former sports agent Dennis Gilbert knows his stuff when it comes to baseball memorabilia; the collection he keeps at his Los Angeles–area home was even dubbed Cooperstown West by former player and analyst John Kruk. So when Gilbert laid eyes on a baseball covered in famous signatures at a private fundraising event at actress Jane Seymour’s home, he knew he had to have it. But those signatures were not of revered denizens of the diamond, they were in fact the signatures of some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood at the time—including Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Abbott & Costello, Walt Disney, Judy Garland, and the Three Stooges.

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