Tuesday, April 07, 2020

Blog Kiosk: 4/7/2020 - Dodgers Links & News - Some Odds and Ends


Here's an awfully awkward looking photograph that appears to feature newest Dodger Ray Sanders meeting Jackie Robinson, with Pee Wee Reese in tow. It is dated to March 12, 1948 and is available through REA (auction link).

As you may know, less than a week back the Dodgers traded Eddie Stanky to the Braves for Sanders, but eventually sent him back to Boston since he had not fully recovered from injuries suffered the previous year.

Below are more links to check out:
  • This Day in Dodgers History: In 1969 Dodger reliever Bill Singer is the first Major Leaguer to officially be credited with a new fangled stat called the 'save.' It was on Opening Day in Cincinnati, and Singer pitched three scoreless innings to maintain a 3-2 victory over the Reds. Eric Stephen at True Blue LA wrote a story about it here. In 1977, on Opening Day, Don Sutton was directed to throw a gopher ball on the first pitch of the game to the Giants lead-off hitter Gary Thomasson. That ball would then be given to the home plate umpire to be sent to Cooperstown. As you might expect, the Giant batter instead hit the pitch for a home run. He claims he had no idea about the plan (yhea, right!).
"They told him that the first ball he threw would be sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown," Lasorda said. "Well, the first ball he threw was hit by Gary Thomasson halfway up the bleachers. I said to him, ‘They wanted to send the ball to Cooperstown; they didn’t want someone to hit it there.’" 
This is the same game Frank Sinatra kept his promise to Tommy Lasorda by performing the national anthem at Dodger Stadium.  In 1979 the Dodgers traded pitcher Rick Rhoden to the Pirates for pitcher Jerry Reuss.
The plan, sources said, would dictate that all 30 teams play games at stadiums with no fans in the Phoenix area, including the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chase Field, 10 spring training facilities and perhaps other nearby fields. Players, coaching staffs and other essential personnel would be sequestered at local hotels, where they would live in relative isolation and travel only to and from the stadium, sources said. Federal officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the National Institutes of Health have been supportive of a plan that would adhere to strict isolation, promote social distancing and allow MLB to become the first professional sport to return.
"Every morning I get up early and go out and get the newspaper," he said. "The first thing I do is put the coffee pot on and take out the sports page. I like to read the box scores."
...
"All of them made me look bad most of the time," Morgan said of the major league pitchers in his playing days. "I know I got one base hit off (Spahn) when I was in Brooklyn. He threw me a dinky curveball and I just kind of served it to right field. I got on first base and the umpire says, 'Bobby, that's the way you've got to hit that guy.'"
  • Here's a Baseball card blogpost on something I didn't know I needed. Per ckamka at SABR Baseball Cards -- "Donruss Diamond Kings breakdown."
  • Several of LA's top sports figures partner with LAFC to urge us all to continue practicing social distancing, via a tweet from Matthre Moreno -- it includes Walker Buehler and LA Kings winger Dustin Brown:



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By at Tuesday, April 07, 2020
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