Duke Snider Has Passed Away

The Associated Press has reported that Duke Snider has passed away at the age of 84 from natural causes.  The Duke of Flatbush was elected into The National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980 and his number 4 was retired by the Dodgers that same year.  Snider played for the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers from 1947 - 1962, played one season for the Mets in 1963 and played his final season for the San Francisco Giants in 1964.  Over the span of his career he it .295, 407 homeruns and  and drove in 1,333 runs.  Rest in Peace Duke!

Orel Hershiser Appearance @ Living Spaces

Dodger great and 1988 World Series MVP Orel Hershiser was at Living Spaces in Rancho Cucamonga this morning for a free autograph signing.  Hershiser was scheduled to appear from 10am to 12pm.  Even though I have a few items already signed by The Bulldog, I decided to make the 45-minute trek to Rancho Cucamonga because he is one of my all-time favorite Dodgers.  I have a mini-helmet signed by Mike Scioscia and thought I'd add Orel's signature since they were both on the 1988 World Series Championship team.

I arrived a couple hours before the start of the signing and the line was already starting to wrap around the Living Spaces building.  At about 9am we were told that we would be receiving wristbands so fans with late arriving friends could not let them jump in line with them.  When the staff got to me they let me know that I was the 200th person in line.  I was a bit worried because sometimes these free signings can move reallly slow.  At around 9:30 they opened the store and let the crowd move the line inside to get out of the cold & drizzle.  The line was so long there was still a large group of people outside the store.

Orel arrived on time and promptly began signing.  It only took me about an hour to get my mini-helmet signed and I would estimate there was still about 300 more people in line.  The line was still outside the store.
Check out some of the pictures I took.  Shout out to Freddy who I met in line for letting me borrow his silver paint marker. He had a cool minor league Hershiser bobblehead from the Clinton Dodgers too!!

This was the line behind me...it got longer later

This is the line in front of me



The Bulldog

The Bulldog brought his hardware! His 1988 World Series Trophy, Cy Young Award, 1988 World Series MVP Trophy, his jersey, batting helmet and game worn cap.  He was 2-0 during the series with two complete games and 17 strikeouts!

Here is the mini-helmet I got signed.

Was anybody else out there?

Remember to "like" the True to the Blue Facebook page here

True to the Blue!

Spring Training Preview

Here are two Spring Training Preview videos from Steve Lyons of Fox Sports West.
The first video is on Andre Ethier and the second is on Opening Day starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

Andre Ethier linked here
Clayton Kershaw linked here

Two for Tuesday



For those of you that have MLB Network as part of your cable or satellite package, they will start airing their 30 Clubs in 30 Days series on Monday February 28th.  Each episode is dedicated to one team and looks at their season last year, their off-season moves and their outlook for the upcoming season. The Dodgers episode will debut Sunday March 6th @ 3pm. They repeat the episodes as few times throughout the spring.  For the entire schedule, click here

Also, congratulations to former Dodger 3rd baseman and current Dodger 3rd base coach Tim Wallach on his election to the College Baseball Hall of Fame! Wallach played two seasons, 1978-1979, at Cal State Fullerton and while a member of the Titans baseball team he hit .392 with 39 home runs and 182 RBI. After his senior season he won the Golden Spikes Award as the country's best college player.  Click here to see the full article from the Orange County Register.



True to the Blue!

Upcoming Player Appearance - Orel Hershiser

This information comes courtesy of the Living Spaces facebook page . Dodger pitching great Orel Hershiser will be signing free autographs at a meet & greet.  He will be appearing from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Living Spaces in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.  For those of you not heading out to Dodger Stadium for the ticket on-sale, let me know if you make it out to Living Spaces. 

On a side note, Orel will be joining Dan Shulman & Bobby Valentine as the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball announce team for the 2011 season.  No more Jon Miller & Joe Morgan.

True to the Blue!!

In Case You Missed It - Opening Day Tickets

In case you missed it, the Dodgers announced Saturday that single game tickets go on sale Saturday February 26th @ 10a.m. There will be a limited number of Opening Day tickets available.  Opening Day tickets will be available at Dodger Stadium ONLY.  All other game tickets can be purchased at the stadium, online or by telephone.  Dodger Dogs will be sold for $2 and there will be trivia contests & prizes.  Gates will open @ 8a.m. and wristbands will be distributed at 9a.m.
For all the details click here

True to the Blue!

Who Wants to Buy Shawn Green's House?

While surfing the net the other day I came across a listing for Shawn Green's house in Irvine, CA.
Looks & sounds like a nice house from the reading the description.  Anyone in the market for a home listed at $10.9 million dollars?  You might be getting a bargain because according to the information here the house was originally listed at $17.5 million!!

On a serious note, it's good to see Shawn back in the Dodger family making public appearances!

True to the Blue!

Dodger Player Appearance

"Sweet" Lou Johnson will appear @ Frank and Son Collectible Show on Saturday March 12th courtesy of Hall of Fame Sports.  "Sweet" Lou won a World Series ring with the team in 1965 and was with the Dodgers from 1965-1967.  He also scored the only run during Sandy Koufax's perfect game on September 9, 1965.
I will definitely be adding his autograph to my collection.

Click here for more info on his appearance.

New Nike Dodgers T-shirt takes aim at the Angels

A good friend of mine brought this to my attention.  The Angels blog on the Orange County Register website shows this new Dodgers t-shirt by Nike with the LA logo on the back and the text "The Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles" on the front of the t-shirt.

I think the Angels official name is ridiculous and really like this t-shirt!
It would be great to wear during inter-league play!!

True to the Blue!

Dodger Survey

On Monday morning I received an e-mail from the Dodgers asking me to take a survey.  It was based on the fact that I attended some games last year.  Thought I'd share what they asked because it looks like they might be changing things up as far as the in-game entertainment/music.

The first question was a general question asking how many games I attended. I attended about 15 games last year.  That's alot of parking money!!

Question #2 "How would you rate the music selection at Dodger Stadium this past season (2010)?"
The choices were Love it, Like it, Don't care/didn't notice, Don't like & Can't stand it. Not that I pay too much attention, except to maybe paying attention to the at bat songs of each player, but I said I liked it.

Question #3 "How would you rate the music volume at Dodger Stadium this past season (2010)?"
The choices were Too loud, Just right, Too soft & N/A. I went with just right.  I honestly thing the music is loud enough.

Question #4 "How would you rate the organ volume at Dodger Stadium this past season (2010)?"
The choices were Too loud, Just right & Too soft. I'm a big fan of Nancy Bea so I selected too soft!

Question #5 "During a Dodgers game, what would you prefer the organist vs music over the sound system split to be?"
The choices were 0% organist-100% music, 25% organist-75% music, 50% organist-50% music, 75% organist-25% music & 100% organist- 0% music. I actually think there is a place for both so I selected 50/50.

Question #6 "What three genres of music would you like to be played during Dodgers games?"
They listed several genres so based on my personal taste I selected classic rock, current rock & hip-hop/R&B

Question #7 "How important are the following to your in-game entertainment?"
Classic baseball songs, general sports themed songs, organ music, songs that make you want to dance, songs you can sing along to & pop music. I was asked to rate them from 5-very important to 1-not at all important.
Let's just say I didn't think classic baseball songs, general sports themed songs or songs that make you want to dance were that important. As I stated before i'm a big Nancy Bea fan so let's say I think organ music is very important and pop music and music you can sing along with are somewhat important.

Question #8 "Do you like 'Don't Stop Believin' played in the middle of the 8th?"
The choices were Love it, Like it & Don't care about it/don't notice it. Go ahead and hate me for this one but I chose that I liked it!

However, before you hate me too much, the very next section gave me the opportunity to comment.  My additional comment was that I think that 'Don't Stop Believin' being played in the middle of the 8th has run its course.  I think what Jameson Moss does with his lip synching routine is pretty funny but it is probably time to stop playing it.  I know alot of Dodger fans never liked it and even more started to not like it after Steve Perry from Journey came forward and stated his love for the hated Giants.  I think it's funny that the Dodgers chose to play this song considering the White Sox have done it for several years.

More importantly, it will be interesting to see what happens once the season starts on March 31st.  More Nancy Bea on the organ? More piped in music over the public address system? What will be the fate of 'Don't Stop Believin'?  What say you, Dodger fans?

True to the Blue!!

Garvey & Gretzky

Interesting article yesterday from ESPNLosAngeles.com via the Associated Press.
The 5th annual Southern California Invitational Showcase at the MLB Urban Youth Academy took place yesterday featuring 49 high school baseball players working out for scouts.

Steve Garvey's son Ryan Garvey, a senior third baseman from Palm Desert High School and Wayne Gretzky's son Trevor Gretzky, a senior first basemen from Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village were two of the players that participated in the showcase.

Read the full article here - Garvey & Gretzky

True to the Blue!

And the winner is...

Congrats to Evan for being the first to send in a pic of himself with anything Ethier related!
He scores the Ethier All Star fleece blanket.
Check out the pic with his autographed Andre Ethier baseball card

6 Days & Counting

Here we are, just 6 days until Pitchers & Catchers report to Spring Training.  All over the web there were stories of the Dodgers packing up all their gear into an 18-wheeler and sending it over to Camelback Ranch.  Well, in honor of the Dodgers shipping out all their gear, I figured I'd better go through my personal Dodger gear and make sure I was ready for Spring Training and the upcoming season.  While going through my stuff I came across an Andre Ethier All Star fleece blanket.  This is an extra blanket that has never been taken out of the plastic wrapping.

In an effort to celebrate the start of my blog, I will give away this blanket to the first reader that sends me a picture of themselves in an Andre Ethier jersey or t-shirt.  Heck, even if you are holding an Andre Ethier bobblehead in the picture, I will send you the blanket.  So to be clear, you + anything Ethier in a picture and the blanket is yours! Send it to truetotheblue81@gmail.com.





This is what the blanket looks like...but yours will be unopened.

True to the Blue!!

McFarlane MLB Series 27 & 28

For those of you that collect McFarlane MLB Figurines, here is some good news.  MLB Series 27 will available this April and Series 28 will be available in July. Unfortunately, I don't know the exact dates yet. Does anybody out there know?  Series 27 will include Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia, Joe Mauer, Time Lincecum and Curtis Granderson.  Series 28 includes Mariano Rivera, David Wright, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Howard, Jason Heyward, Carl Crawford, Adrain Gonzalez, Cliff Lee, Buster Posey and most important to Dodger fans, Andre Ethier!  Check out the preview picture below

What do you think?  Anyone else surprised that Andre isn't posed swinging?

TruetotheBlue81 FaceBook page

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50% Off Dodger Spring Training Tickets

For those of you thinking about heading out to Arizona for some Dodger Spring Training action, take advantage of this 50% off sale.  There are two games that this deal is available for, March 9th vs Seattle Mariners and March 10th vs San Diego Padres.  The offer started yesterday February 7th @ 9am and runs through February 9th.
Check out the link for more details.

http://ocdeals.ocregister.com/2011/02/07/50-off-dodgers-tickets/84396/

The Beginning

My earliest Dodger memory is from Game 3 of the 1981 World Series.  According to my dad, we went to a few games during the 1981 season but I truly don't have any recollection.  I was 7 years old ready to turn 8 in October of that year.  That season, I remember seeing Fernando Valenzuela on T.V. and I remember Steve Garvey being someone I liked watching.  My dad was able to purchase two tickets to the World Series and he was hoping the Dodgers could beat the hated Yankees.  Luckily our tickets turned out to be for Game 3, which happened to be the Dodgers first home game of the Series and the way the rotation was set up, it was Fernando Valenzuela's turn in the rotation.  Here is where the story gets interesting.  Once the tickets arrived in the mail, my dad gave the tickets to my mom for safe keeping.  The day before the game, my dad asks my mom for the tickets and after a few minutes she can't remember where she hid them!  All night they both frantically tore apart the house looking for the tickets but come time for us to head to Chavez Ravine, the tickets were still nowhere to be found.  Luckily, or so he hoped, my dad still had the invoice for the tickets.  So we made the trek to Dodger Stadium walked up to one of the ticket windows and my dad explained our situation.  After what seemed like forever to an 8-year old, we were finally escorted into the stadium and to our seats.  By this time, it was the top of the 3rd inning.  We were told they had to verify that nobody was actually sitting in our seats.  All these years later, I personallly remember listening and watching my dad explain the situation at the ticket window and I remember the energy that was running through the stadium. We all know the Dodgers won Game 3 and went on to win the 1981 World Series in six games.  To make the story complete, a few days after Game 3 my mom was cleaning and found the book she had put the tickets in!! This story has been repeated many times at family parties and during the holidays and I always point to this day as the day I fell in love with the Dodgers.

There were 56,236 people in attendance for Game 3 but besides me, I wonder how many of them have two unused game tickets?!?  As much grief as my mom has received over the years I'm grateful to her that I have these two great pieces of memorabilia!!

I'm sure you all have that moment when you fell in love with the Dodgers.  Thanks for checking out my blog and reading about my moment.

truetotheblue!

Welcome to my blog...True to the Blue!

After years of talking Dodger baseball with family & friends, I've been encouraged to start my own Dodger blog. Well, after some more prodding, here it is! I'm sure i'll mix in posts about my love for the Lakers, Rams & music but I'm positive 99.9% of my posts will be about me being True to the Blue! Whether it's about Dodger players, games, memorabilia, other fans or the front office i'll talk about it here.

What better day to start a baseball blog than the day after the Super Bowl?!?!

thanks for checking out my blog...make sure you tell your friends!

truetotheblue