Blog Kiosk: 10/16/2019 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

Check out Sandy's new ride, via an eBay auction.

Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Sandy Koufax takes possession 10/18/65 of Sport Magazine's Corvette award for his World Series heroics. Koufax won the award in 1963, too. He's the only player to win twice.

This season, like in 1963, Koufax was named the World Series MVP. He started three games, won two of them (both complete game shutouts), struck out 29 batters and allowed only two runners to score (one earned) the entire series.

On another note, please ignore the rumors that claim to link this free agent or that free agent to the Dodgers. It's a load of BS. We hear this kind of crap all year long, and I assure you that it's nothing more than an agent marketing their client or a reporter trying to stir the pot. There's no truth to any of it, and blogs that report it are doing a disservice to Dodger fans. Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1949 the Brooklyn Dodgers elect to not renew the contract of Dodger President Branch Rickey. He would soon join the Pirates the following season. In 1985 Jack Clark of the Cardinals created one of my worst memories as a Dodger fan. He belted a come-from-behind two-out, three-run home run in the ninth inning off of Dodger reliever Tom Niedenfuer to take the National League pennant. Watch it here if you must. 
• Happy Birthday, Nick Cullop & Boom-Boom Beck!
• If you're in Dallas then you should check this out. On Tuesday, November 12th Bob Schieffer of CBS News will interview Clayton Kershaw for a "A Conversation With a Living Legend" event that benefits The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and its Moon Shots Program. Go here for more information.
• Randy Wolf's Hollywood Hills home is now on the market. Per Brooke Destra at NBC Sports -- "First Slash, then former Phillie Randy Wolf — could you be next?"
• Per Steve DelVecchio at Larry Brown Sports -- "Dodgers did not allow ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza in clubhouse due to conflict of interest." The ban also included former Dodger catcher David Ross.

The Dodgers confirmed to Marchand that Mendoza and fellow ESPN analyst David Ross, an adviser to the Chicago Cubs, are not allowed in the clubhouse during the hour that it is open to the media before games. Mendoza and Ross have to set up pre-scheduled interviews, as the Dodgers do not want broadcasters who work for other teams to have open access to their facility.

• Per Jose Martinez at Complex -- "Ice Cube on How Dodgers Can Achieve Success: 'They Need to Get Some Black Ballplayers'"
• Via Seth Staskey at The Intelligencer -- "(Michael) Grove’s First Pro Baseball Season in the Books."

“It’s kind of crazy that (the season) is over,” Grove said during a recent phone interview. “It was honestly like nothing I had experienced before.”

...
“I could sense my confidence growing as the season went along and I was throwing a 12-to-6 curve ball that was really effective for me,” Grove said. “I really started to feel like I did before the injury later in the year. Early on, I felt like I was pitching and trying to get soft contact, whereas I was able to attack more hitters and try to control the game later in the season.”

• Via Nadira Hira at Newsweek -- "Baseball Won't Solve America's Problems, But It reminds Us Who We Really Are."

Baseball, though? It's even more than all that, for me, because it often feels so much less over the top, whether it's opening day or the World Series. Facts and numbers and endless statistics are hallmarks of baseball fandom, up to and including deep discussions of ball behavior this postseason that read like scientific journal articles. Nuance not only matters in this game, it's celebrated, and even a passing fan can appreciate it—the subtle adjustment in an outfielder's position or that split second when a runner hovers between stealing or staying put. Time moves only as quickly as the outs allow, and while there are certainly electric moments in stadiums, the experience is as meaningful for all those minutes when you're just chatting with the folks behind you or deciding whether you want the hot dog tummy ache or the cotton candy one.

• This is a nice article about former Dodger Rube Walker, turned revolutionary pitching coach. Via DodgerChatter at LA Dodger Talk -- "Rube Walker – A Pitcher’s Pitching Coach."

With the Mets, Rube Walker made a change in the game that still is the process used in scheduling pitching rotations to this day. He revolutionized baseball by implementing a five-man pitching rotation moving away from the long traditional four-man rotation.

Walker was a firm believer that there were only so many pitches in an arm. He watched over his young staff somewhat like a mother hen and it is said that he even instituted “Walker’s Law” that no pitcher was allowed to throw without him knowing about it. He was criticized a bit for babying his pitchers but he saw that as a write-off compared to protecting those young arms. Based on his experience as a catcher and looking at the long haul he believed he had found a way that would keep his pitchers stronger and healthier over the grind of a long 162 game season.

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