Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Blog Kiosk: 4/15/2020 - Dodgers Links & News - Some Odds and Ends


It is Jackie Robinson Day. Featured above is a March 4, 1946 AP press photo of Jackie inspecting some bats. He is wearing a Montreal Royals uniform. (eBay auction link)

Below are more links to check out:
  • This Day in Dodgers History: In 1909, Opening Day, the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers) were no-hit by Red Ames of the Giants at the Polo Grounds for nine innings, but eventually prevailed to defeat the crosstown rival in the 13th inning, 3-0. On a side note, the Giants outfield recorded no putouts and the Superbas winning pitcher was Kaiser Wilhelm. In 1915 the Brooklyn Robins are no-hit by future Hall of Famer Rube Marquard of the Giants at the Polo Grounds, 2-0.  In 1947 Jackie Robinson makes his Major League debut at Ebbets Field. He would go 0-for-3, but would also score the go ahead run in the seventh inning after reaching base on an error during a sacrifice bunt. The Dodgers won the game 5-3. In 1958 the Dodgers and Giants play their first major league game on the West Coast. Unfortunately, Ruben Gomez of the Giants blanked the Dodgers at Seals Stadium in San Francisco, 8-0.
  • Happy Birthday, Hub Collins, Jack Sheehan, Ted Sizemore, Willie Davis, Jeremy Burnitz & Milton Bradley!
  • In case you're interested. Via Marc Richardson at Grailed -- "How to Make a Face Mask at Home."
  • On this Jackie Robinson Day, MLB.com has a page dedicated to things fans can do today. Go here to check it out. It includes education activities, video vignettes and mlb network TV schedule. Go here, as well, for more information.
  • Per Do-Hyoung Park at MLB.com -- "Jackie and the kid: Unlikely bond spans decades."
Every time the Dodgers came to Milwaukee thereafter, the Rabinovitz family met up with Robinson. In fact, in September 1955, the Dodgers were in town for one game on Rabinovitz's 10th birthday -- and wouldn't you know it, Jackie went 2-for-4 with a home run and waved to Rabinovitz in the box seats by the third-base dugout as he rounded third.
After the game, he exited the locker room, hopped into the Rabinovitz family car, and they sped off to the restaurant together. 
"It was great to have Jackie Robinson singing 'Happy Birthday' to me," Rabinovitz said. "It was probably the best birthday I ever had."
  • Check out this photo gallery featuring the groundskeeper at the home park of the Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple-A) at The Oklahoman.
  • Per Bob Nightengale at USA Today -- "Dodgers batboy for Kirk Gibson's 'impossible' 1988 World Series home run: 'I still get chills'"
“I followed (Gibson) down to the dugout, stayed in the little well area and I just remember something came over me. He was up there at the plate, and the weirdest thing happened," Poole said. "The hairs on me stood up. I was actually imagining the ball going out to right field. The same exact path. The ball landing in the same spot. It’s crazy, I know. It was like a supernatural event. In my mind, I even saw him do the fist pump around the bases, the pumpernickel as we called it. 
“Then, it happened! Oh, my God! It happened!"
This is the first time I've read Poole's description of the event, and I love that he called Gibson's fist-pump the 'pumpernickel' -- which should be spelled 'pumpernicholl.' For those who don't know, 'pumpernicholl' was a term used by LA Kings fans, at the time. They had a centerman named Bernie Nicholls and whenever he scored he would do exactly what Gibson did as he was rounding second base -- and he scored a lot during the 1988-89 hockey season (70 goals).
  • Here's Episode 2 of the Off Air with Joe and Orel, via Joe's twitter:

The Houston Astros might not be playing baseball, but the various lawsuits filed against them for the 2017 cheating scandal are making surprisingly heady progress. The team made headlines for challenging the impartiality of 90-year-old judge Malcolm Mackey, who was assigned to the case.
  • This is a fantastic write-up on Kershaw. Per Wright Thompson at ESPN -- "As Clayton Kershaw waits for baseball to return, a look at his family, legacy and future."
He's learned from experience how to create a schedule aimed at Opening Day, but with all that in the air, he's not sure what he's supposed to do tomorrow. He just needs a date, he keeps thinking.
"I'm imagining you don't like uncertainty," I said. 
"I'm learning," he said. "I'm getting better at it." 
"Are you really?" 
"Yeah," he said. "I'm getting better. I used to be ... I think, yeah, I think so."
“The prospect of mass gatherings is negligible at best until we get to herd immunity and get to a vaccine,” Newsom said, according to The Mercury News. “So large-scale events that bring in hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of strangers altogether across every conceivable difference, health and otherwise, is not in the cards based upon our current guidelines and current expectations.”
  • This seems like a good first step towards bringing normalcy back... testing! Via Jeff Passan at ESPN -- "MLB players, team employees participating in coronavirus study."
The goal of the study is to get a better sense of the virus' true infection rate by utilizing a nationwide sample. The speed with which MLB coordinated logistics and ensured participation from a wide range of people, including players, front-office staff, concession workers and others, made it the right choice for the study, according to doctors running it.

  • Glorious! Watch Baseball's first professional home run of 2020 below, via a tweet from Bob Pompeani (from a game played in the Taiwan).

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* Dodgers Blue Heaven home page *
By at Wednesday, April 15, 2020
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