The Trolley Dodger

One of the most polarizing Dodgers since Gary Sheffield has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for a couple of Players to Be Named Later (reportedly two minor league pitchers). The Juan Pierre Era in LA has come to a close.

The problem with Juan was pretty simple: despite constant early arrivals for practice, an inspirational work ethic, and a speedy set of legs, his offensive output and defensive liabilities made the amount of money the Dodgers were paying for him unfathomable.

With the arrival of Manny Ramirez, Juan was left out in the cold, and despite a stellar month and a half of substitution last season, he still wasn’t worth how much the Dodgers were paying.

You can be a totally nice guy, a team player, and a paragon of community involvement … and still be totally over-payed during a stretch of financial inflexibility.

So, what more can we say than thanks for the help and good luck?

Not much else.

Maybe Jason Repko will finally get another chance at being the Dodgers’ 4th outfielder. He has (along with a couple of other players) the skills to equal or surpass Juan Pierre’s contribution, at several million fewer dollars. Just keep him away from Rafael Furcal. ;)

Here’s a 1959 newsreel of the West Coast’s first World Series game, which of course took place at the Coliseum. The unmistakable voice of Ed Herlihy walks us through the action between the Dodgers and White Sox.

The YouTube title date (October 5, 1959) is incorrect, by the way — Game 3 was the first game in LA and was on October 4th. The three games played at the Coliseum were each record-breaking World Series crowds and are unlikely to be broken: 92,394, 92,650, and 92,706.

Via The Retroist, who points out, “Before we had the constant braying of 24 hours cable news, people got their ‘visual’ news via newsreel”, and links to all the Universal Newsreels now on YouTube.