The Trolley Dodger

“Papa’s Diary Project” is a fascinating look back in history as its subtitle suggests: “The 1924 diary of Harry Scheurman, transcribed and annotated by his grandson, Matt Unger.” Today’s entry, “Monday June 16″ includes a mention of Scheurman having gone to a game at Ebbets Field that day. Matt points out:

Not a bad day to be at Ebbet’s Field, where the Robins (a.k.a. Dodgers) beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2.

There are a couple of cool old photos of the diary page and a crowd outside Ebbets. Unger also includes a link to the archived NY Times story of the game: “ROBINS BEAT RIXEY AND THE REDS, 5-2; Brooklyn Batters Rout Western Invaders With Four-Run Rally in the Eighth.”.

The 1924 Brooklyn Robins came up short that season, second behind the Giants for the NL pennant by 1.5 games.

There are a few other entries that mention the Robins/Dodgers, starting with a spring exhibition versus the Yankees on “Saturday Apr 12″, which Unger has researched to get details on the teams, the game, and who played that game — including a certain Yankee home-run king in right field. Scheurman also went to the next day’s on “Sunday Apr 13″. Finally, he might have been at either Giants-Robins or Red Sox-Yankees on “Saturday Apr 26″.

While the entries themselves are rather short (this is a quotidian diary, after all), Matt Unger’s research brings them into focus and places them in time and space.

One wonders if a future generation will put their grandparents’ blog posts into proper historical perspective.

Cormac over at the Baseball in Ireland blog posted “Understated Dodger Legends” earlier this week, in which he both explains why the Dodgers have been his “second team” (he’s an unabashed Red Sox fan) and shares more about the story of the O’Malleys and baseball in his country. Not to mention a message he’s just received from Peter O’Malley.

This morning I was delighted to find a really interesting looking book on the history of the Dodgers in my mail, sent on by Peter O’Malley via Brent Shyer of the Walter O’Malley website. No longer do I have to use Brad Penny or Nomar as my excuse for enjoying watching the Dodgers play. I am going to delve into the book and get up to speed on the rich history of the Dodgers.

Inside was a short, friendly letter from Peter himself. Just an amiable hello, which ended with a typically modest, understated line that reads as such;

‘I am glad the fields are being used’.

I actually laughed to myself a little, and I thought, ‘Really, Peter, if only you knew.’ The fields have certainly been in use. They have been the scene of the majority of Irish league baseball games since their opening in 1998. Merely saying ‘the fields are in use’ though is like saying ‘The Red Sox winning the World series in 2004 was a reasonably big deal to the people of Boston’.

Continued…

The San Bernardino Sun has an article on the Eddie Murray firing that I think hints at a possible reason for the timing of things.

“Dodgers notes: Transition to Mueller begins” first of all has this quote, a classic Gradyism:

“We didn’t fire a Hall of Fame hitter,” Dodgers manager Grady Little said. “We fired a hitting coach.”

Matt Kemp seemed to have an okay time with Murray, saying he “had an open door with him.” But other players found help elsewhere:

Recently, Wilson Betemit and Rafael Furcal credited coach Manny Mota with helping them at the plate. Furcal went from a slump to a hot streak in which he tied a Dodger record with four hits in each of three consecutive games.

So Mota steps up to help, but then there’s this:

[Bill Mueller] was working in the front office and wrestled with the idea of getting back on the field before accepting the job. He said he had never thought about coaching before this opportunity.

“I had to think long and hard about it, no doubt about it,” Mueller said. “Whatever I do, I do 100 percent. It was a decision that wasn’t made quickly.”

I have to wonder if Mueller wasn’t asked if he would take the job a while ago, and only just now said yes, which would explain the odd timing to the announcement. Since both Grady and Ned have said their decision took time as well, I also wonder if they’ve been thinking about firing Murray as far back as the beginning of the season.

The quote in the title is from an unnamed Dodgers vet about Eddie Murray, who was fired today as the team’s hitting coach.

This from Tim Brown at Yahoo.com, in “Five and Fly: Murray less than a hit”.

A few weeks ago, asked about Eddie Murray’s touch with Los Angeles Dodgers hitters who ranged from the greenest of rookies to the grayest of veterans, one of those veterans sighed and shook his head.

He liked Murray. He valued Murray’s Hall-of-Fame credentials. He assumed Murray could probably teach hitting to someone.

The problem, he said, was Murray could be difficult to approach, particularly for a young player. And Murray, he said, didn’t do enough of approaching of his own.

“He’s trying, I think,” the veteran said. “He’s better this year than he was last year.”

As Brown puts it, the Dodgers installed as interim hitting coach Bill Mueller, “the anti-Murray.”

Should be interesting to see what happens from this change.

Finally got back out to see another 66ers game — I had intended on seeing more by now, but hopefully will see a few the rest of the season.

Brandon Durden (LHP) vs Marlon Arias (LHP). Arias only made it two innings, giving up 5 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 2 walks, and a homer — which always seem few and far between at this park, at least the times I’ve come here. Things were pretty sedate until the bottom of the 5th with a nice rally by the 66ers. It all came down to the bottom of the 8th.

It was an afternoon game, beautiful, with a few light breezes and sun shining (a little too much, and I forgot to put on sunscreen, ouch). The 66ers had beat up on the Nuts the night before, winning 10-3. We were in the front row, right behind the home on-deck circle.

Here’s shortstop Ivan DeJesus.

DeJesus at bat.

OF Adam Godwin, who went 1-2 with an RBI. I noticed he was always the first to congratulate his teammates at the top of the steps, always up yelling and celebrating. Seemed like a cool guy.

3B Blake Dewitt, 1-4 with a double, 2 RBI, and 2 strikeouts.

Steve Yeager on his way back from coaching 1st base.

Celebrating the 5-run rally in the 5th inning.

Thanks to some way high-inside pitching by RP Pedro Strop in the 8th, an argument ensued with the 66ers first baseman, Russell Mitchell, with Mitchell standing in front of the home plate pointing and yelling at the pitcher.

Quickly, both benches and the bullpens emptied. A few minutes of jawing later, though, things were back to normal and the game continued.

Bernie did a good job of entertaining and keeping the crowd lively.

And on the way home, somebody was taking the right to bear arms a bit too seriously. ;) Actually, from the license plate on the RV towing the trailer, these were part of a Civil War reenactment group.