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!