Spring Training & Spring Cleaning

Spring Training

Take a look at Steve Lyons' Spring Training Preview of the Dodger infield fox sports west

Here's Lyons' take on the 2011 bullpen fox sports west

NBCSports.com has an excellent series of articles about how tough it is to make it to The Show.  They have posted 7 different articles on 7 players that have had different levels of success in their attempt to make a major league roster.  Some are established major leaguer's, some have never made it out of the minors and some have been up & down.  Check out Bob Harkins' piece of Dodger 1st baseman John Lindsey

Spring Cleaning

Ok I was going  through some more of my Dodger stuff last night and came across an extra poster from last year's 70's Night.  It features James Loney & Casey Blake.  It can be all yours as part of my second contest.  The first person who e-mails me a picture of themselves sporting their Dodger gear gets the poster.
truetotheblue81@gmail.com

One More Nod to The Duke & a Rick Fox Signing

In talking with my dad this weekend the topic of Duke Snider came up.  My dad was looking back fondly on one of his favorite Dodgers when he mentioned the Duke Snider baseball card he bought me back in the late 80's.  So I pulled out my stash of old school Dodger baseball cards and pulled out my 1961 Topps #443 Duke Snider card.
The borders are uneven but the corners are in decent condition.  Definitely one of my favorite baseball cards.

When I started my blog last month I said its content would be 99% Dodgers and occassionally the other 1% would be dedicated to some Lakers or Rams topics.  Well, here is my first non-Dodger related post.  To make myself feel better and not as guilty, I found a picture of 3x NBA Champion Rick Fox sporting a Dodgers jersey.



This past Saturday March 5, 2011, former Laker great Rick Fox made a free autograph appearance at the Living Spaces in Monrovia.  The signing was scheduled from 10am to 12pm so I made sure to get up early and got there two hours before the signing was supposed to begin.  As with the Hershiser signing last week, the Living Spaces staff passed out wrist bands about 45 minutes before the signing was to begin.  I was lucky #99 another Dodger connection!  A few mintues before 10am, they moved everyone into the store and even provided soft drinks and water to the people in line.  We were told Rick was running late but at least Vic The Brick from AM570 was there to keep the crowd entertained.  Rick arrived around 10:20 and started signing.  I will say that the line was definitely slow moving as Rick was taking time to chat and pose for pictures with anyone who asked.  After about 40 minutes, I made it to Rick but my camera was acting up so no pictures for me.  It really doesn't matter because I was happy with my autograph! He signed my game ball that was already signed by Derek Fisher and Robert Horry.

Take a look -

Much respect to the Living Spaces staff for keeping things orderly. I also want to give a shout out to a couple people I met in line and made the time go by quicker. It was nice to meet George & his family and it was good talking with David.  Hope you've checked out the blog David. I'm sure i'll be seeing you at future signings.

True to the Blue!

Upcoming Player Appearance - "Sweet" Lou Johnson - UPDATE

A few weeks ago, I shared the information on Sweet Lou's appearance here

At the time, his appearance time had not be determined.  However, we now know his appearance will be from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

True to the Blue!

New Andre Ethier Action Figure

For those of you that collect action figures and/or sports figurines, the McFarlane MLB Playmakers Series 2 action figures have been released and are available now.  This series includes the following 10 players: Kevin Youkilis, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Stephen Strasburg, Johan Santana, Joe Mauer, Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols and Andre Ethier.  These action figures are poseable and come in either a batting or fielding pose.  However, Derek Jeter and Andre Ethier are available in both a fielding and hitting version.

I'm not quite sure if it looks like Andre but if you are a collector of these action figures, i'm sure you will be adding it to your collection.  Here are some pics of the Ethier figure:

Ethier will also have a figure when McFarlane MLB 28 is released later this summer.  Check out my post from last month here

Duke & Russell J.

I forgot to share my story of meeting Russell Martin in my earlier post

Last spring my friend A.D. and I made our first trip to Camelback Ranch for Dodger spring training.  Before the Saturday game we were part of a tour of the facility.  While the tour did not include a tour of the locker room or offices we did get to go inside the ropes that separate the fans from the main practice field.  We got a few autographs, took some pics with players and got to watch batting practice on the main field.  I'll save those stories for a later post.

On our way to the practice field we got to walk on the same path that the players do.  The very first player out was Russell Martin.  While A.D. was busy watching Joe Torre talk to the media, I quietly approached Russell with ball in hand and asked him to sign it.  He graciously signed my ball and headed to the practice field.  He didn't appear to be in the mood for idle chit-chat but I wished him well and thanked him for signing my ball.

Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. Times blogged about the Dodgers wearing a patch to honor Duke Snider.  Dilbeck stated it will be only the 6th time in the Dodgers' 121-year history that they have worn a memorial patch.

Here's a picture of the ball the Duke of Flatbush signed for me back in the early 90's, almost positive it was 1991.  I was still in high school and it was early on in my memorabilia collecting life.  It wasn't an official ball so the signature came out very light on the "u" and the "s" but it was the 3rd Dodger autograph I ever got so I never ever wanted to replace it with a better autograph on an official ball.  I will always remember meeting Duke at "The National" convention in Anaheim. 

Russell Martin Adjusting To Not Being A Dodger

Tim Brown of yahoo sports has an interesting article linked here

Tuesday Web Round-Up

News from around the web:

Tommy Lasorda discusses the passing of Duke Snider Fox Sports West

Ethier, Kemp & Kershaw model the throwback jerseys Fox Sports West

Dylan Hernandez reports that the first 4 spots in the lineup are set L.A. Times

James Loney is focused on hitting Fox Sports West