Dodgers Announce "Fernando Valenzuela Fix" - What a Crock

The Dodgers announced the "Legends of Dodgers Baseball", a way of recognizing great past Dodgers with plaques honoring their contributions to the team through its storied past. The inaugural class is Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Garvey and Don Newcombe.

Folks ranging from the Dodgers' beat reporters to anyone with a Twitter account were praising this "solution to the Fernando Valenzuela retired number problem". I'm calling this a complete crock and an empty way of avoiding the true recognition that Fernando deserves from the organization - the retiring of Number 34.

A Cardboard Tribute To The Thin White Duke

Aloha, everybody, 

What a sad, sad day for music fans around the world. One of the most creative, innovative and beautiful rock voices went silent last night when David Bowie returned to the stars and left us all behind.  

I've been listening to Bowie's music all day, and I figured I'd put together this humble little tribute to some of my favorite Bowie songs, but blending them with cardboard - cuz that's the way we roll here at ATBATT. 

Three.....Two....One....Liftoff....

Joc Pederson holds out the hope and potential of a promising baseball career that we all (most of us?) dreamed of as Young Americans.  

The video itself has a sketchy sound on the high end, but what a thrill to see Bowie perform. I'll take it.

"Aint there one damn song...that can make me break down and cry?"

Maury Wills pretty much re-invented the game of modern day baseball by firmly establishing the stolen base as an offensive weapon. The kid ran Wild Like The Wind. 

The song itself isn't very fast paced, but damn, Bowie steals something from me every time I hear this song. 

 Steve Howe had a promising career that was unfortunately cut short by alcohol and drug addiction. He kept trying to come back, and kept stumbling back. He would revive his brilliance, only to succumb to the demons again - Ashes to Ashes.

"Time and again, I tell myself, I'll stay clean tonight." 

Good ol' Jackie brought some much needed Changes to all of MLB.  

"These children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds...don't tell them to grow up and out of it."

Of course the big three get Heroes.  (An excellent live version here)

"We can beat them forever and ever." 

Dang, listening to this song is still bringing tears to my eyes tonight. Every time I hear it, I think Bowie is swimming with the dolphins now. 

What can be scarier than having big Don Drysdale reaching back and firing off a brush back pitch straight at your head? Oh, you're backing off that plate alright. 

"Keep me running. Running scared."

Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella and Carl Furillo

Dodger fans will always have the Golden Years of the Boys of Summer.  

"Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years."

Of course, who else but the venerable Vin Scully should get this song? Vinnie has been the Sound and Vision of my baseball summers for my entire life. 

"I will sit right down, waiting for the gift of sound and vision." 

Ol' Willie Davis was the Dodgers' Three Dog, so he gets Diamond Dogs, a song with some of the best rock lyrics ever. 

"This aint rock and roll, this is genociiiiiiiiiide!" 

So many teammates and LA fans complained about Jeff Kent when he was a Dodger. It wasn't because he was an ex-Giant, they said he was grumpy and always simmering. It seemed to me the only thing he wanted was for his team to give 100% every game, which is all I ever saw from him. 

Sometimes I think I was the only Kent fan in LA.  Kent gets Slow Burn. 

Man, that bass line cuts right to my gut and I love the way Bowie hits those notes - "Sloooow Buuurrrrrnnn."

I lived through Fernandomania, I knew Fernandomania. You "Manny bein Manny", are no Fernando. 

If you didn't live in LA or otherwise did not experience Fernandomania, check out the excellent 30 for 30 docu on it that's on Netflix. LA was bonkers for Fernando, and he deserved it all. 

Let's have some fun with that video of Bowie doing a bad lip sync job on Soul Train. Yup, Soul Train. 

Of course, the man who would be a Fashion model, Mr "The Gap" Kemp. 

"We are the goon squad and we're coming to town."  

Finally, the Dodgers' very own Starman, who hit home runs so high and so far, they were called "moonshots".  

Now Bowie is the Starman waiting in the sky.  

Aloha, David, wherever you may be. 

Yet Even More Ticket Stub Nostaslgia

Hey everybody,

Hope you all had a great Fourth.  In yesterday's Fourth of July post, I featured a couple of 1995 ticket stubs that featured a series titled  "Great Moments"  from the Dodger's history.

There are 11 moments in the series.  Yesterday showed numbers 5 and 8.  Let's see how many others I have...

1. Missing ?

2. Missing

3. Sandy Koufax hurls 4th no-hitter and the only perfect game of his career as the Dodgers defeat the Cubs. 

4.  This one would have been appropriate for yesterday also.  Rick Monday snatches an American flag from two would-be flag-burners.

5. Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, Dusty Baker and Ron Cey become the only foursome to hit 30 or more runs in a  season.

6. Bob Welch strikes out Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson in the 9th with 2 men on to win Game 2 of the '78 World Series.  AWESOME !

7. Manny Mota sets the major league record with his 145th career pinch hit. AWESOME!

8.  Fernando Valenzuela beats the Astros, 2-0, on Opening Day to start "Fernandomania".

9. Missing

10. Missing

11. Missing? 

The final stub doesn't have a Great Moments number, so I'm not sure if it's number 11 or number 1.  However, since this moment was so incredible, I'm tempted to think this was number ONE....

Kirk Gibson's two-out, ninth inning home run beats Oakland in Game One of the 1988 World Series.
But of course, AWESOMENESS PERSONIFIED! 

Thanks for reading, everybody!

Happy Independence Day Ticket Stub Memories

Hey everybody,

I was having some fun, going through a box of my old personal Dodgers memorabilia, and I came across some ticket stubs that I held on to from way back. 

In the old days, the Dodgers used to print tickets with imagery that commemorated various events, games or players from Dodgers history.

They may still do that, but now I often attend games through the connection with My Man Inside Dodger Stadium, or I purchase them online and just print out the tickets, which nowadays seem to be little more than glorified bar codes.  A real game day ticket is something I rarely hold in my hand these days.

I noticed a couple of those past tickets in my collection were for games featuring "Holiday Fireworks".  How appropriate!   So what the heck, I'll share them with you in the hopes that you'll enjoy sharing some old timey Dodgers nostalgia with me...

Check it out - this stub honors the four Dodgers who became the only four teammates to hit 30 or more homers in one season.  They were Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith.  I'm pretty sure we can safely presume they did it all PED-free. You can see they featured a series of 11 "Great Moments" on the tickets.  This one is number 5.

I love the game played is number "42", Jackie's number.  I also noticed the opponents were the Rockies, the same team we beat tonight.  I mean, the team that we have now beaten two games in a row.  

I know some of you looked...did you notice that this field level seat was only $11 in 1995?  That same season seat will cost you $35 today. 

Here's the other ticket from the same game.  This is Great Moment 8, the start of Fernandomania.  Pretty cool.

I've got a few more old stubs from this Great Moments series and a couple of most excellent Opening Day tickets; including the tickets from the day I had Opening Day breakfast with Tommy Lasorda, Vin Scully and the late, great Stu Nahan.  Oh, my old lady was there too. 

THANKS for reading, everybody!

And Happy Birthday, America!!