I must confess that I had set a vastly different course for this blogpost. Originally, I wanted to write an exasperating story about how much of a "bada**" Sandy Koufax looks like in the above photo -- which I found in a current auction at Small Traditions auction (link here). As I quickly found out, though there's much more to the photo than a cocky Koufax (yes, he has a cigarette in his mouth as he flaunts his prowess with the bat).
(Reverse of Koufax pic) |
And thanks to utility infielder Andy Carey, playing in his 11th and final season in the big leagues, we have some of the clubhouse antics of the Boys in Blue captured on film. As Dodgers team historian Mark Langill noted in his eponymous book on the historic ballpark, Carey's behind-the-scenes photos started off as a gag, but became a documentary of the season, all taken on the veteran's Polaroid Land Camera. Twenty of Carey's photos were sold at the stadium and marketed under the title "Camera in a Clubhouse."
Wow!