The Trolley Dodger

Not too long now until 2009 dawns. A Happy New Year to my fellow bloggers and readers, Dodger fans all.

Here are a few blogging highlights from 2008. Here’s hoping there’s a bunch more to come in 2009!

2008 02 22: Manny and Scott Boras?

I think the word that best describes my reaction: eewwwwwww!

2008 03 09: Video: Clayton Kershaw’s Curveball

“Vin Scully gets his first chance to broadcast Clayton Kershaw’s curveball.”

2008 03 18: Video: The Final Dodgertown National Anthem

Carl Erskine, who pitched the very first game at Holman Stadium, plays the National Anthem for the very last time at Dodgertown.

2008 03 20: A new Weisman afoot

Congrats to Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts, who picked up a new member of the team this morning: a baby boy, 21 inches, 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Rumor has it he’ll be a power-hitting third baseman, which would be awesome for the Dodgers in 2027 or so. ;)

2008 04 12: Dodger bloggers are made to feel like they belong

They’ve been pooh-poohed by columnists and brutalized by reporters, but their new-media writing will benefit the team as they become complements and not the cornerstones of fandom.

2008 05 11: A Paine in the neck

“These are the times,” as Vin Scully might quote, “that try men’s souls.” It’s the first line of Thomas Paine’s essay “The Crisis.” An appropriate title for Dodger fans at the moment.

2008 05 17: Jason Schmidt rehab at 66ers

We had the opportunity to see Jason Schmidt pitch his rehab start tonight at San Bernardino. It was also Armed Forces Night, so there was a Dodger Camo Hat giveaway and several flybys from a Blackhawk helicopter. It also hovered over the outfield during “God Bless America” and the National Anthem, sending the warning track up in great boiling dust clouds and rendering the music, well, moot with the noise.

2008 06 23: Nomar’s Carne Asada Sunday

When we missed Nomar’s Carne Asada Sunday last season, I was determined to buy tickets this year before they vanished. Luckily, it worked out, and today was the day.

2008 06 23: “…the object is to go home and to be safe.”

RIP George.

2008 06 26: George Carlin talks about his Dodger memories

Carlin grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, and he talks baseball memories on Kiner’s Korner in 1989.

2008 07 18: The Trolley Dodger… er, Dodger Trolley

As mentioned recently, the City of LA and the Dodgers are making arrangements to provide shuttle service from Union Station to the Stadium. More details are now available.

2008 07 26: Manny to Dodgers!

Well, I guess I need to change that question mark to an exclamation point: Manny to Dodgers! As usual, the important thing isn’t the money, the other trade pieces, the offensive upgrade, or anything else — with both 24 and the obvious 42 reverse taken what number will he wear?

2008 07 26: Casey Blake to Dodgers

And the countdown begins to Vin’s first mention of “Casey at the bat“. :)

2008 08 14: Stark raving mad

ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark has a bee in his bonnet. I use that cliché purposefully, as his latest column chastising Dodger fans for cheering Manny Ramirez sounds nothing so much as an old biddy waggling her finger at the children playing stickball too loud in the street.

2008 08 19: Baseball at Manzanar Internment Camp

A post on MetaFilter today — “Baseball in the Japanese internment camps” — reminded me that I hadn’t posted about my visit last year to the euphemistically named Manzanar War Relocation Center, now known as the Manzanar National Historic Site.

2008 09 01: More Red Sox propaganda

Let me give you another example of the Red Sox propaganda machine hard at work. Peter Gammons (I know, big surprise) posted an ESPN Insider article on Friday in which he discusses the Pedro Alvarez situation and includes some more shots at Manny.

2008 10 16: Wait ’til next year

No more Dodger baseball this season. I’ve been steeling myself for this moment since the playoffs began — not because I didn’t hope we could win, but because I knew we might not. The odds were against us.

2008 10 30: The good old days

It’s easy to glorify the past, the proverbial good old days, the golden years. Baseball, for instance — it’s easy to set aside the bad stuff whilst remembering all the good. When you’re confronted with a picture like this one from 1940, however, you start to think maybe today’s game isn’t so bad after all.

2008 10 31: Too late

“I’ve got one more year in my contract,” said Jones, now playing with the L.A. Dodgers. “Hopefully, I can come back to Atlanta. I would love to finish my career here.”

I am jazzed that 1) the MLB Network is finally hitting the airwaves soon and 2) my TV provider will be carrying it. Alex forwarded me a note about one new feature of the network: Studio 42 named of course for Jackie, which “will allow the MLB Network experts to explain the intricate details of the game.”

So there’s that. Excitement mounting, I checked the schedule for the very first day, January 1st. The words “Brooklyn Dodgers” jumped out immediately when the page loaded. Then the full description dampened my enthusiasm:

1956 World Series Game 5 Brooklyn Dodgers @ NY Yankees featuring Don Larsen’s Perfect Game. Stay Tuned Following the Conclusion of the Game for a Sit-Down Interview with Batterymates Don Larsen and Yogi Berra

Of course they have that game. ;D More seriously, I’ll enjoy watching it, but hopefully some day they’ll show a certain Dodger game versus the Cubs on September 9, 1965.

Thanks to the Game Show Network, I’ve been able to watch a bunch of episodes of “What’s My Line?” from the 50s. Every episode has a celebrity mystery guest, the identity of whom the blindfolded panelists attempt to guess.

Earlier, I saw a special episode from Los Angeles (the show was normally shot in NYC), with an extra mystery guest of Duke Snider, Los Angeles Dodger center fielder. It was awesome to see them discussing the recent move from Brooklyn, not to mention the audience cheering about the comment that the team was “the Los Angeles Dodgers now.”

Back in NYC, and before the move west, Duke Snider joined NY Giants pitcher Sal Maglie as co-guests:

And here’s Roy Campanella from 1953:

Recently I also caught an episode of “The Name’s the Same” with Gil Hodges, but I’ve not been able to find the episode online yet.

I think Ned Colletti is getting Scott Boras back for his “serious offers” crack last month:

“[The Manny Ramirez situation] is like watching the San Andreas fault,” Colletti said. “Some days you can see it move probably, and other days, it’s just going to sit there. And in a week or two, it may move a lot.”

Via Diamond Leung

If you happen to be home Monday and have Turner Classic Movies, be sure to check out the Brooklyn-themed movies playing all day, especially Whistling In Brooklyn:

Cowboy From Brooklyn (1938)
A singing cowboy turns out to be a tenderfoot.
Cast: Pat O’Brien, Dick Powell, Priscilla Lane. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-77 mins

Brooklyn Orchid (1942)
The owners of a taxicab company become guardian angels to a beautiful blonde in trouble.
Cast: William Bendix, Joe Sawyer, Marjorie Woodworth. Dir: Kurt Neumann. BW-51 mins

McGuerins From Brooklyn, The (1942)
Two cab drivers try to make a beat up cab into their ticket to success.
Cast: William Bendix, Grace Bradley, Max Baer. Dir: Kurt Neumann. BW-46 mins

Whistling In Brooklyn (1943)
A radio sleuth infiltrates the Brooklyn Dodgers to solve a murder.
Cast: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, “Rags” Ragland. Dir: S. Sylvan Simon. BW-87 mins

Blonde From Brooklyn (1945)
An aspiring singer masquerades as a Southern belle to get a radio job.
Cast: Lynn Merrick, Robert Stanton, Thurston Hall. Dir: Del Lord. BW-65 mins

It Happened In Brooklyn (1947)
A returning GI and his friends try to make it in the music business.
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Kathryn Grayson. Dir: Richard Whorf. BW-103 mins

Two Knights from Brooklyn (1949)
The owners of a taxi company fight off gangsters and a sinister health guru.
Cast: William Bendix, Joe Sawyer, Grace Bradley. Dir: Kurt Neumann. BW-71 mins

Speaking of Dodgers on TV, I happened to catch the episode of “The Name’s The Same” featuring Gil Hodges on the Game Show Network recently — sure seemed as nice in person as reported. It was from 1955, just after the Bums beat the Yankees for their first World Series win.