It's Sticky Fingers' Birthday! Let's Celebrate With Some Rock and Some Cardboard

Aloha, everybody, 

Not only is it Saturday (TODAY!)...it's also the 45th birthday of one of my favorite albums of all time.

So let's celebrate this legendary album's cuts, and check out some cool cardboard that I've curated to match...

BROWN SUGAR

Brown Sugar goes out to the man who if ever a man would be named Brown Sugar, this guy could pull it off. 


Mr. World Series Hero, the man who brought the big blasts...

SWAY

Sway gets a double shot of the Tornado's famous twist...

WILD HORSES

Wild Horses goes to Yasiel Puig, who was nicknamed the Wild Horse by the venerable Vin Scully. 

CAN'T YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING

This one goes out to a couple of the Dodgers' prized farm hands who are knocking on the door to the bigs...

YOU GOTTA MOVE

This one is for the middle infielders who gotta move to stay alive...

BITCH

Love is a bitch. So's loving a player who despite coming up through the ranks and embarking on a  Hall of Fame career with your favorite team, later goes on to badmouth and disown that team and its fans. 

I GOT THE BLUES

The blues are all about losing things. I will forever have the blues over losing these two players who went on to have solid careers - just not in L.A. - where they started.

SISTER MORPHINE

The tragedy of waking up in a hospital bed unfortunately belongs to the one and only Campy...

DEAD FLOWERS 

Dodger fans and his former teammates will never forget the greatness that big Don Drysdale brought to the club. 

MOONLIGHT MILE

Sure, Wally Moon is an easy choice for Moonlight Mile, but then again, however else will his baseball cards remain alive on the blogosphere? 

Happy Birthday, Sticky Fingers. Aloha!

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. 

A Trade Viewed From The Skybox

Hey everybody,

Here's one more trade, but it's not any old trade.  This was the FIRST trade with Mr. Skybox from that new blog on the block, View From The Skybox.

Meeting a new trade partner is for me, the cream of the hobby.  That was the first reason I started ATBATT, and if the trades should ever dry up, that'll be the day I hang up my cardboard guns.

 But I don't see that dark day coming anytime soon, as evidenced by the way new blogs keep popping up.  I've seen a couple of bloggers go, but I've been here long enough to see our corner of the hobby sustained by new blood joining us on a semi-regular basis.

Mr. Skybox is a great new member of the community, and his blog is coming out of the gate on fire.  He's currently running a box break; get on over there, as there's still some good teams to be chosen.  He initiated a great new idea that  I hadn't seen before - the personal repack.  He'll shoot you a repack of 100 cards in exchange for a repack from you.  Brilliant idea.

I'm proud to say I helped Mr. Skybox break in by pulling off his first trade here.  Furthermore, I'm very happy to say he's a most excellent and generous trader.  Why most excellent?  He obviously checked out my "What I Collect" page and hit on all cylinders, across the board.

Let's check out some of the cards he sent my way...

Leading off with one of my favorite rookies that played the up again- down again elevator between AAA and the big club last season.  Herrera was not a favorite of the other Dodger bloggers out there, but I liked what I saw when he played.   He showed hustle, grit and a good eye at the plate. 

Here we go now.  Can't.   Have.  Too.  Many.  Nomos.....

 Some of you out there will always associate Nomar with the Red Sox and Nomahhh.  That's fair, but I'll always link Nomar with the Dodgers.  To this day, every time I hear the opening drum roll from "Low Rider" by WAR, I see Nomar walking out to the Dodger Stadium plate in those beautiful home whites.

Long before Yasiel Puig was all the rage, the Dodgers had another young 5-tool right fielder with a cannon for an arm, Mr. Mondesi.  I've never seen these Hardball Heroes before,  and I like this design. 

Here's where Mr. Skybox separates himself into the upper tiers of traders, it's a couple of cool vintage Dodgers, and they are in no way just bench slugs...

 Sweet Lou Johnson - World Series Hero - with old time Dodger Stadium lurking behind.

One more 62 Topps Dodger.  I've sung the praises of Wally and his Moonshots at the LA Coliseum before.   Mr. Skybox wasn't done.  Nope.  He hadda go and send me...

This Great auto of our backup catcher.  "Fed X" is no slouch on the field, and neither is this great Dodger Blue signature card.  I'm digging the way Fed X slanted his sig to match the design of the card.  Nice!

Thanks for a great fistful of Dodger cardboard, Mr. Skybox.  I'm looking forward to our next trade. 

Dodgers All-Stars in World Championship Years Part 2 1959

Welcome Readers and Trade Partners,

Here's the Dodgers that were selected to the two - yes, TWO - All Star games that were played in 1959.

They actually played two A.S. games during the years 1959 to 1962.  Why two?  The long story can be found in an article here.  The short answer is, they did it for money.

It seems the players felt they weren't being paid enough to play in an exhibition game, so in order to increase revenues, MLB established a second game, with part of the proceeds going toward the player's pension fund.  After a few years of that experiment, they decided to return to just playing one game and simply paying the players more in the first place. 

In the first year of double dipper All-Stars, Game 2 was played at the L.A. Coliseum. Here are the Dodgers who made the grade...

1959 

GAME 1 -  In the first of 8 trips to the All Star game, "Knock 'Em Down" Drysdale dominated.  He was the starting pitcher, throwing three no-hit innings, while striking out four.  He struck out Nellie Fox, Al Kaline, Rocky Calavito and Early Wynn.  He was the winning pitcher.

GAME 2 - Drysdale had mixed results in the second game.  He pitched 3 innings, striking out 5.  However, he was also lit up for 2 home runs (Frank Malzone and Yogi Berra) and gave up 3 earned runs.  This time he was tagged with the loss.

For an added bonus, our Wally Moon card is brought to us courtesy of my latest trade with today's birthday boy, Mr. Night Owl.

GAME 1 - Wally Moon started in LF.  He had a walk and struck out twice, once looking. 

GAME 2- Moon again started in LF.  He walked twice, flied out and hit into a double play.

GAME 2 - Charlie Neal had one AB and he grounded out.  But as you can see in the card above, Neal followed through on that '59 season to become a World Series hero for the Blue.

GAME 2 - Gilliam had a good game considering he didn't even start.  He had 2 ABs with one solo home run and one walk. 


Next Post: 1963. Welcome to the All Stars, Mr. Koufax.

A Request, A Hootiful Trade, And A Fistful Of Awesome Cardboard!

Hey everybody,

I thought I was gonna just sit back and soak in the glory that is tonight's domination of Kid Kershaw over the frisco gang.  Well, I managed to do it for 7 innings before I couldn't resist the urge to jump online and see what's happ'ning in the blogoworlds.  BTW, it's currently the bottom of the 7th, and Kershaw still looks strong, ahead of the giants by a score of 4-2. (Update: 9th inning.  Kershaw pulled. Closer Jansen in. Update 2: DODGERS WIN !!!  We sweep them bums from the bay! YAHOOO!!!)

Well, in my blog travels I came across a request from Brian over at Play At The Plate.  It seems Mrs. PATP underwent surgery, and Brian is sitting in the hospital with lots of time on his hands.  He asked us to write some more posts so he can pass the time reading.  Well, I'm not sure Brian meant to include my rantings as "writing", but that's what he's gonna get, cuz that's how we roll out here in blogolandia.

Since I'm trying to do a humble but nice thing here - I figured I'd post up about another nice thing - a  grand package o' Dodger cards that recently arrived from the Dodgers' biggest fan on the east coast, the venerable Night Owl.  Yeah, this package was grand; it was chock-fulla Dodgers cards that were nearly all new for me.  Furthermore, it contained some real cardboard jewels.

This package had so many cool cards in it, that I was having a very hard time settling on a top nine to present, so Brian provided me with an answer.  He requested some viewing and reading fodder, so let's go ahead and check out a whole lotta cards.

Starting off with a beautiful, shiny card from another one of those guys I just can't have too many cards of,  another venerable soul, Hideo Nomo.  I love the way Nomo's eyes peek out at you over his shoulder.  I also love the understated but great die-cut design. 

 Speaking of outstanding Dodger pitchers from the past, on outstanding hunks of cardboard...presenting a motion card of Bulldog Hershiser.  Very cool!

 Not every pitcher is great.  Here's the vastly overrated, first Korean pitcher the Dodgers ever had.  The Texas Rangers threw an incredible amount of money at this guy, and I was glad to see him go.  How about that green LA cap.  This must be a Spring Training Saint Patty's Day game.

 Back to pitchers worth their mettle.  As good ol' Night Owl mentioned the other day, Greinke was also a mystery to me before he came over to the Dodgers.  I knew he put up decent numbers with his past teams, but that was about it.

This season Greinke has really shown himself to be not only a great pitcher, but a great teammate.  Even though he had his collarbone broken early in the season by that punk from San Diego, he got right back on the mound and defended his teammates by returning the favor after Yasiel Puig was hit by the Diamondbacks.  Greinke got some grit!

Lookit these swell old-time Dodgers from Swell.  These are my first cards from Swell.  How does N.O. know exactly what cards to send?  It's cuz he's swell!  (See what you get when I write a post that I hadn't planned on writing, Brian?)

 Here comes the Bison!  I totally dig this die-cut!   I know most bloggers out there ship their Dodger finds out to the Owl, and why not?  He earns them with his mastery of blogademia.  The nice thing is, us other Dodger bloggers get to benefit when the Owl ships his extras out to us.   This is one time I'm happy to catch sloppy seconds.

Another Nomo.  This card is great because
A. It's new for me, and
B. It's a checklist, but it commemorates Nomo's No-No against the Rockies.  An awesome game that I had the privilege of watching on TV.

 Night Owl really knows how to put a package together.  He sent a variety of sets from a variety of eras, and - he sent a variety of cardboard media.  Here we have a sticker with a frame of happy floating knockout stars.  Hey, Ana Lu, check out the mini dust that Saxy is kicking up in Wrigley, the home of the Cubs!

 My second Panini card, first one of Jackie.  Awesome card, in spite of it feeling like it cramped Jackie a bit around the head.  

 Absolutely cannot have too many cards commemorating this moment.  I've now got one more to add to the collection. 

Mike Piazza used to be my favorite Dodger catcher of all time.  Lately that's been lessening with his declarations that he would never enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Dodgers cap.  Hmm....

 I remember buying packs of this product back in day trying to pull a Dodger auto, any Dodger.  Well, it took more than a decade, but I finally got...any Dodger.
 

 How about this card?  EK sporting an awful goatee.  I absolutely don't remember him going through this phase.

 Vintage Dodger goodness !  YEAHHH !!! Thanks Night Owl !! Awesome card. 

 I remember the Dodgers P.A. guy used to announce World Series MVP Pedro as "Payyy - Droohhhh  Goo - Rare - Ohhhhhh !"  Loved it.

 Mondy here looks like he's gonna pop this one up, but it's a great shot, nonetheless.  Raul here is the guy I was most comparing the Dodger's young phenom Yasiel Puig to.  From the small slice of Puig I've seen so far, he's going to be well beyond "El Canon" Mondesi. 

 Yet even more vintage Dodger gold.  This is a great card featuring the King of all Unibrows.  Wally here is more than a funny tagline about facial hair, however.

In Dodger lore, he was known for launching massive home run shots over the short left field wall at the Coliseum, where the Dodgers played before moving into Dodger Stadium in 1962.  The Colesium's left field wall was a short 250 feet from home, but there was a 42 foot high net that had to be cleared in order to hit a home run to left.  Wally mastered it, and his massive home run blasts became known as "Moonshots".

 Here's the hottest Dodger hitter these days.  No, it's not Puig, it's Hanley.  This is my first card of Ramirez as a Dodger, and it's a great one. 

Closing is the all-time Dodger favorite that N.O. and I share, the Penguin.  It certainly was action packed when Cey was in the line up, and he was no slouch with the glove.  Cey anchored the hot corner in the days of "The Infield".  I have a suprisingly small collection of Cey cards considering he's my favorite, but that number just jumped up by one.

THANKS for the great cards, Night Owl.  What a great package that was.  And there are still a whole load of cards I didn't show.  Wow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!