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Dodgers to Honor Duke Snider With Patch and Event

March 30, 2011 By


The Dodgers just announced that the team will be wearing an memorial patch featuring Duke Snider’s number throughout the 2011 season and will host a celebration of his life on Aug. 9 at Dodger Stadium.

Snider passed away on Feb. 27 at the age of 84.

The event on August 9th will include Snider’s family as part of a pre-game celebration of life and the first 50,000 fans will get a Duke Snider bobblehead.

The Dodgers official press release:

DODGERS TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE
OF HALL OF FAMER DUKE SNIDER
Team to wear a memorial patch in 2011 and host a celebration on Aug. 9,
which will include a bobblehead of the late Dodger outfielder

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers announced today that the team will wear a patch in memory of Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider throughout the 2011 season and will host a celebration of his life on Aug. 9 at Dodger Stadium.

The memorial patch (photo attached), will feature Snider’s uniform No. 4 and will be worn on the Dodgers’ home, road and alternate Brooklyn uniforms at every 2011 game beginning tomorrow night when the team opens the season against the San Francisco Giants. Snider’s uniform number was retired on July 6, 1980 and is one of just 10 retired numbers in franchise history.

The club also announced it would celebrate the life of the legendary Dodger outfielder at the Aug. 9 game against the Philadelphia Phillies. The first 50,000 fans in attendance will receive a bobblehead featuring the likeness of Snider, whose family will participate in a special pregame ceremony honoring the franchise’s all-time leading home run hitter. The sixth bobblehead of the season is presented by Kaiser Permanente.

Snider passed away on Feb. 27 at the age of 84. He was born Edwin Donald Snider in Los Angeles, CA on Sept. 19, 1926 and became one of the game’s most feared hitters during his 16 seasons with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers (1947-1962), playing on a pair of World Championship teams (1955 and 1959) and in six World Series overall.

The eight-time All-Star center fielder ranks as the franchise’s all-time leader in home runs (389) and runs batted in (1,271) and during the 1950s, he topped all Major Leaguers with 326 homers and 1,031 RBI. He slugged four home runs in both the 1952 and 1955 World Series.

The last time the Dodgers wore a memorial patch on the team’s uniforms was in 2000 in memory of Snider’s teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese. Other memorial patches worn by the Dodgers were done so in tribute to Jim Gilliam (1978), coach Don McMahon (1987), Tim Crews (1993) and a combination patch for Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and Roy Campanella, who passed away within a week of one another in 1993.

Snider is survived by his wife, Bev, children Kevin, Kurt, Pam and Dawna and 10 grandchildren.

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Talking Dodgers with C70 At The Bat

March 9, 2011 By

Chris and I recently sat down (virtually) with Daniel from C70 At The Bat to discuss The Los Angeles Dodgers upcoming season. Daniel began reaching out to blogs across MLB a few years ago, and his efforts eventually spawned the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, an organization designed to improve the communication and collaboration of bloggers across baseball.

There are several good interviews for many of the teams he’s done thus far, so be sure to take a look

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Lopes, Wallach Highlight 2011 Coaching Staff

November 23, 2010 By

The Dodgers officially announced their 2011 coaching staff and, as expected, all of the rumored names were there.  The big one was the return of Dodger legend Davey Lopes as first base coach, but this roster is packed full of major league experience – something that will be of great value to rookie manager Don Mattingly.

The rest of the 2011 staff includes bench coach Trey Hillman (the former manager of the Royals), hitting coach Jeff Pentland, third-base coach Tim Wallach (the Dodgers former Triple-A manager), pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, bullpen coach Ken Howell, hitting instructors Dave Hansen and Manny Mota and bullpen catchers Rob Flippo and Mike Borzello.

“I’m extremely excited about this coaching staff, which has a great combination of experience and youth that will create a positive environment for our team,” said Mattingly in a statement released by the Dodgers. “We’ve been able to reach back and bring in a number of coaches with Dodger roots and that’s one of the things that was very important to us. Not just the quality of the people and the experience they bring with them, but the history of this organization – where it came from and where we want to go.”

Dylan Hernandez has a nice story in today’s paper on the relationship between former Dodger playersDavey Lopes and Dave Stewart.  Apparently Lopes took Kemp’s agent (former Dodger pitcher Dave Stewart) under his wing when Stewart was a young player and the two are best friends today.  Stewart sees Lopes as someone who can do the same for Kemp, while elevating his overall performance with a special emphasis on base-running.  And given Kemp’s rocky relationship with some members of the 2010 coaching staff, the hiring of Lopes could be a critical piece to the puzzle with a needed shift in philosophy.

From Dylan Hernandez:

While Lopes talked about the importance of the Dodgers’ regaining the aura they used to have — “We had the expectation to win every single year,” he said — he said he understands the culture of the game is different than when he was a player.

Lopes said that back in his day, players had to adapt to the coaches.

“Now, it’s reverse,” he said. “You have to adapt to today’s player. You have to be able to communicate.”

Lopes said players benefit from having someone they can speak to on a regular basis. For him, that someone was manager Tom Lasorda.

“You need a guy to build you up,” Lopes said. “That helps elevate a player.”

At the very least, I’m excited to see Davey back in Dodger Blue, along with Dave Hansen and Tim Wallach!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Gibson World Series Items Net Nearly $1.1 Million

November 14, 2010 By

Back from a long vacation to the news that Kirk Gibson’s historic bat, which clubbed his Game 1 home run in the 1988 World Series, sold for $575,912.40 early this morning in a special event by SCP Auctions.  The unwashed home jersey that Gibson wore when he hit the legendary homer sold for $303,277.20 and his grimy batting helmet sold for $153,388.80.

Holy cow.  I’m not sure what SCP Auctions and Gibson were looking for these items to fetch, but $1.08 million for the entire slate seems like a healthy haul.

In addition to the premiere items mentioned above, Gibson’s NL most valuable player award sold for $110,293.20, his World Series trophy went for $45,578.40 and his World Series road uniform brought in $9,664.80. The Kirk Gibson Foundation benefited from the proceeds generated from the sale of his World Series trophy and MVP award (a total of $155,871.60), but no word from Gibson on how he plans to use the funds from the sale of the other items ($931,950) or why he chose to sell in the first place.  I suspect Gibson sold in order to establish a new legacy now that he’s been named the official manager of the Diamondbacks, but it’s an odd move nevertheless.

Frankly, I’m more interested in who purchased these items rather than the amounts they sold for.  SCA Auctions did not reveal any names, or if the items were purchased by different bidders or if one bidder managed to scoop up the majority of the memorabilia.  Here’s hoping a mysterious Dodgers benefactor stepped up to purchase the collection and return the Gibson items to where they belong…at Chavez Ravine.

Photo Credit: Credit: John Iacono

Filed Under: Baseball Memorabilia, Kirk Gibson, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Just Say No to the Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog

October 22, 2010 By

Has anyone else heard the constant barrage of radio advertisements and seen the online ads (including on this Web site) by Farmer John, touting their campaign to make their Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog “the official hot dog of Los Angeles”?

Uh, Farmer John?  Remember your other world-famous product, the Dodger Dog?  I guess not.

YouTube Preview Image

Here’s the copy from their website:

As a local company with over 70 years of experience in Los Angeles, Farmer John is proud to support the efforts to make the Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog the Official Hot Dog of our fair city.

FARMER JOHN® products, including the world famous DODGER DOG®, have been a part of the culinary history of Los Angeles for years.

So it’s truly fitting that the company that produces the highest quality hot dogs and bacon in Southern California is sponsoring the campaign to put the Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog in its rightful place as the Official Hot Dog of Los Angeles.

Sure, this is just an ad campaign and not a real vote, but I find it a little strange that Farmer John of all people is trying to pump their Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog by inadvertently slamming their own signature product: the Dodger Dog!  This may work in other cities, Farmer John, but Angelenos will not stand for such hypocrisy!

Don’t get me wrong, I love a great bacon wrapped hot dog as much as the next guy, but clearly the Dodger Dog is far and away the official hot dog of Los Angeles and in an official vote it would destroy the competition among baseball fas and general consumers.  Maybe I should take on a new job as the campaign director for the ”Concerned Citizens to Make the Dodger Dog the Official Hot Dog of Los Angeles.”  Who’s with me???

I challenge Farmer John to launch a true vote for the Best Hot Dog of Los Angeles.  Let the best dog win.

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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