Recent history has not been kind to the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, in Paul Haddad’s new book, High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania: A Fan’s History of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Glory Years 1977-1981, the author gets the reader so immersed in what happened between these years, that it makes the reader remember what a great franchise the Dodgers have been over time.

As the Dodgers work to reclaim their glory, Haddad looks to remind fans about a different time in the city of Los Angeles when dreams were about nothing but a World Series championship on a yearly basis. Haddad depicts the Dodgers teams of these years from the fan’s perspective which one doesn’t have to be a Dodger fan to understand. All teams have had their highs and their lows and something as simple as turning on sports talk radio in any city across the country will remind one of how tied fans can become to the good times.

The book comes out at an appropriate time when the Dodgers are frequently in the news for news stories that are happening off of the field. Haddad does a great job of reminding Dodger fans of the great times that have occurred and what they have ahead of them if they stay around.

The author adds an extremely unique touch to this book that he explains very early on. While many youngsters grow up idolizing players and wanting to grow up to hit the game winning home run, Haddad grew up wanting to call the game winning home run. Throughout the author’s youth, all he ever wanted to do was to become the next Vin Scully. Not that that’s a tall order or anything.

Due to Haddad’s drive to become the next Scully, his youth was filled with times when he would emulate the Hall of Fame broadcaster and actually record himself doing so. Like many fans, Haddad kept the memories from his childhood dreams around and has them quoted multiple times in this book. While some books have quotes from well-known players or managers at the beginning of chapters, Haddad actually quotes himself from times when he was recording his amateur play by play calls.

The book is a quick read mostly because the author does a good job of splitting it up and giving the reader different topics about the Dodgers to focus on throughout each chapter. One of the tidbits that appears quite frequently throughout the book is entitled the “Fernando Watch.” This typically page long excerpt gives a snapshot of phenom Fernando Valenzuela at different parts of the seasons that are the focus of this book. Valenzuela was somewhat of a cultural phenomenon when he grew of age with the Dodgers and helped bring them a World Series championship. While many athletes become polarizing for brief periods of time in this current era of baseball, during the late 1970s it was rare that a player would garner the public attention that Fernandomania did.

This book is unlike any this reviewer has ever read due to the fact that Haddad is not scared of professing his fandom throughout the pages. While many sports writers who have published books no doubt become fans of the teams they cover for years, they attempt to stay objective in their books, which should be expected if they are reporting news. Haddad makes no ifs, ands, or buts about it in this book as his fandom for the Dodgers drips from nearly every word written in this book.

It’s somewhat refreshing to hear an educated diehard fans perspective throughout these pages. Even though it is clear that Haddad is a huge fan of the team, readers should not be turned off with the potential that they might be reading statements in line with those that they hear called into their local sports radio station.

Even if your team is not the Dodgers, this book presents itself as the perfect primer for the upcoming season. All fans will be able to relate to Haddad’s thoughts, actions and words throughout the book and most can probably even imagine themselves doing many of the same things the author does.

Rating: 3.5/5

Photo taken from Zimbio via Google Images

While the Bankruptcy Court ordered sale of the Dodgers proceeds, a very interesting development occurred Wednesday when Joe Torre suddenly resigned his position with MLB as Vice President of Operations overseeing such things as discipline and umpiring. Late word is that Torre who managed the Dodgers to back to back NLCS appearances in 2008-2009 is connected to Rick Caruso who is President of Caruso Affiliated, a real estate development company responsible for several successful retail and entertainment complexes in Southern California.

Torre as one of the best known and respected figures in all of baseball would bring instant credibility as the Dodgers begin the long process of rebuilding the franchise and re-launching the Dodgers brand inSouthern California. In Caruso, Torre seems to be aligned perfectly with someone who has an excellent business and development background that would focus on the business end of the Dodgers while allowing Torre free reign to rebuild the baseball operation in Chavez Ravine which is in tatters after the past few stormy years of team ownership under the outgoing Frank McCourt. Three years ago McCourt had developed a $500 million dollar project to upgrade the current stadium and develop the 275 acres surrounding the stadium that is currently mostly used for parking. Item of note here is that in one of his many dealings while owning the club, McCourt has separated the Dodgers Team, Dodger Stadium and the parking lots surrounding the stadium into separate entities. It is unclear as of today’s date if the parking lots would be included with the sale of the team and stadium.

The sale of the Dodgers as supervised by a bankruptcy court is the key. Bid packages have been requested by up to 6 different groups, with groups including former Dodgers  players Orel Hershiser and Steve Garvey, a group including Magic Johnson and Mark Cuban, and still another group led by former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and former GM Fred Claire. The bankruptcy court supervising the sale of the Dodgers upheld the team’s contention that they be allowed to solicit bids for the broadcast rights of the Dodgers as part of the sale of the team. The Dodgers argued that the sale of the broadcast rights is central to allowing a new ownership group to have an indentified, stable and sustained source of revenue going forward which would allow for rapid rebuilding of the franchise and finding the initial projects needed to upgrade the stadium and it’s facilities. However Fox, as holders of those rights thru 2013, filed an appeal and the appellate court issued an emergency stay against sale of the Dodgers broadcast rights. What’s interesting is that while the Dodgers argued for the sale of the broadcast rights, they argued against sale of the parking lots. This has MLB taking a long hard look at the bidding process to ensure none of any sale money is diverted for further personal use by outgoing owner Frank McCourt who needs to raise $130 million dollars as part of his divorce settlement from his estranged wife Jamie. After MLB rejected the Dodgers $3 billion, 17 year deal with Fox last summer, McCourt entered the club into bankruptcy court. MLB’s concern is that no additional monies be diverted from the team to the McCourt’s for their personal use including the payment of the aforementioned divorce settlement.

All that’s really known with any certainty as of now is that the sale must be completed by the end of April this year and that there will certainly be a number of twists and turns as this process plays itself out.

Matt Kemp & Clayton Kershaw photo taken from Zimbio via Google Images

After a horrendous finish to the 2010 season, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti attempted to make the moves that appeared to address some of the Dodgers biggest needs heading into the 2011 season. Joe Torre and his cadre of “old school” coaches were shown the door, Juan Uribe was signed away from the rival World Series Champion Giants, Hiroki Kuroda was re-signed to stabilize the rotation, Vicente Padilla was signed to be a swingman/closer in the event Jonathon Broxton didn’t bounce back (he didn’t and he got injured again requiring surgery), Jon Garland was signed to be an innings eating 5^th starting pitcher and Marcus Thames and Jay Gibbons were signed to platoon in left field. The only one of these moves that really panned out was Kuroda who turned in a solid season remaining relatively healthy. Uribe came into camp over weight and out of shape, Padilla had yet another neck injury that required surgery and shelved him for the entire season, Garland’s shoulder finally blew up after years of pitching and iffy medical reports, Thames and Gibbons were released before the All Star break and the new batting coach (Jeff Pentland) was fired on July 20^th. In addition, Casey Blake spent nearly the entire season on the DL, Rafael Furcal was inured all of April and half of the month of May, James Loney regressed terribly at the plate, Chad Billingsley really bottomed out in the 2^nd half of the season and Andre Either completely tanked power wise after his 30 game hitting streak came to an end, complaining about his lack of a long term contract (amongst other interesting things like getting his picture taken during pre-game BP giving the double “you’re number 1” sign).

All of this left the Dodgers scrambling to field a lineup much less be competitive. The good news is that with the arrival of new batting coach, (former Dodgers player Dave Hansen) Loney had a remarkable resurgence that carried over to the end of the season, rookie call up Dee Gordon showed himself ready to be the shortstop of the future, Jerry Sands showed marked improvement after returning from a stint back in AAA, Justin Sellers showed himself to have a future as a utility player, and both Aaron Miles and Jamey Carroll played solid baseball on defense and at the plate. The better news is that several of the Dodgers young starting and relief pitchers made the most of their opportunity and really thrived. Kenley Jansen in particular really caught fire after being demoted to Triple A and having treatment for a heart condition posting an MLB record 16.7 strikeout rate per 9 innings after his return to the big club.

Even all of that great news pales in comparison to the best development news for the two members of the 2011 LA Dodgers. Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp both had break through seasons of the ages for the Dodgers franchise. Kershaw (age 23) finished leading in the NL pitching “triple crown” categories: Wins (21-tied for 1^st with Arizona’s Ian Kennedy) Strikeouts 248 and ERA 2.28. After three full MLB seasons his career ERA sits at 2.88.  Kershaw is the hands down, odds on favorite to win the 2011 NL Cy Young Award (despite what the talking heads at ESPN say). The keys to his big breakthrough in 2011 were a much more consistent changeup, use of his slider more than his curve and a drastic reduction in his walk rate. The sky appears to be the limit for Kershaw.

As remarkable as Kershaw’s season was – Kemp’s may have been more notable only because it was less expected. Kemp (age 27) who has always possessed world class athleticism and ability clearly appeared to have been worn down by Joe Torre, Larry Bowa and Bob Schieffer’s old school, in your face approach, especially in the 2^nd half of the 2010 season. “Kemper”came into 2011 in great shape, focused, motivated and more relaxed with Don Mattingly’s lower key approach. Kemp found himself in pursuit of the ever elusive NL offensive triple crown chase until the final few days of the season, finishing one home run short of becoming the 5^th player in MLB history to join the 40/40 (homeruns  and stolen bases in the same season) club. For 2011 Kemp finished 1^st in homeruns (39), RBI’s (126) and his .324 batting average was good for 3^rd in the NL. These numbers put him in the NL MVP discussion. For a team that finished 82-79 to have an NL Cy Young AND an MVP candidate is really odd, but that’s a testament to the strong seasons the LA Super K’s (Kemp and Kershaw) had!

The Dodgers played much better baseball in the 2^nd half, particularly from August 1^st through the end of the season. The question going forward is can they carry over their strong finish to 2012? At 82-79 the Dodgers finished above break even but it took them until the final day of the season to be that far above .500 for the first time since mid April. Any reflection of the 2011 Dodgers must include at least a brief discussion of the absolutely dreadful ownership situation. Currently the Dodgers are in bankruptcy court and the team and MLB continue to file competing motions for various things like control of the team, its payroll and broadcasting contracts. Commissioner Bud Selig has indicated he wants the bankruptcy and ownership questions cleared up prior to the start of MLB’s off season, soon after the World Series is completed, to allow the Dodgers to secure new ownership and financing which will allow the club to set a budget going forward for roster needs for the 2012 season.

As a lifelong Dodger fan I can tell you that the beating of Brian Stow (who continues to recover slowly) on Opening Day, the discovery that Frank and Jamie McCourt have stripped the Dodgers of liquidity in support of their lavish lifestyles and watching Dodger Stadium on TV be less than half full while protests occur on the streets leading into the parking lot, and the lackluster play for a good part of the season were particularly distressing. Yet the season of Kemp and Kershaw and the emergence of some young talent do give a flicker of hope to the Dodgers in 2012. The pitching staff (under the unheralded but very effective leadership of pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, the lone hold over from Joe Torre’s tenure) looks promising, and the Dodgers offensive core has one more year under contractual control (Ethier, Kemp and Loney all are eligible for free agency after 2012). With Gordon coming and a return to health of Uribe, the Dodgers are one really big bat (Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols how you feel about LA?) from bouncing back into contention in the NL West. But all that rests on how soon the ownership situation gets worked out. Hey we are talking about LA – land of Hollywood, Disneyland, etc. where the dreams are big and hope springs eternal…right?

Image via Wikipedia

I’m finally back from my trip to Los Angeles for a Muscular Dystrophy study. Sorry for the lag in articles, but no laptop and no home = no articles. But all was not lost, my friends. My trip to sunny California gave me a chance to compare Phillies fans and Dodgers fans. I can say now with certainty that Phillies fans are far superior to the Dodgers. Let me tell you, one week in Los Angeles made me proud to be a Phillies fan.

Dodgers fans have the unfortunate reputation for arriving to games in the 3rd inning and leaving by the 7th. I always figured that was the laid back California attitude at work. I was quickly proven otherwise.

On my second day in L.A., I ventured over to the Farmers Market and The Grove on 3rd & Fairfax. What a pleasant area it was to stroll on a beautiful, sunny day. Complete with a trolley, water fountain, and gentle music, this L.A. treasure offers a magnificent array of stores, restaurants, produce, treats, and entertainment. Entirely open to the elements, you won’t see such a place in the Northeast.

Anyhow, I had been exploring for several minutes before it dawned on me: I didn’t see any Dodgers clothes. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, so I decided to take an unofficial tally of the amount of Dodgers gear.

Get this: in an entire week in Los Angeles, I counted a total of 6 pieces of Dodgers apparel. Hard to believe, I know. If I were to walk the floors of any mall or the streets of any neighborhood in the Philadelphia area, I guarantee 6 Phillies items would appear in five minutes. Admittedly, I spent about half of my time in the hospital for the MD study, but just six in a week?!

The next logical step to evaluate fans would be to catch a game at Dodgers Stadium, but I didn’t have the time. Still curious to find Dodgers Stadium, I later tried searching in a phone book map. Jeez, I would have had an easier time finding Waldo. There was no mention of it in the entertainment sections of the book and it was barely a blip on the map. Wow, a stadium that holds 56,000 people (the biggest in baseball) hidden from the world. Even the Lakers were hard to find.

That is enough evidence for me to conclude that L.A. residents simply don’t care about their sports teams. C’mon, show a little love and wear Dodger blue! When the fans don’t support the team and the city doesn’t advertise the arena, Los Angeles is announcing to the world that they have better things to do. That might be the sign of a great city, but is also signifies bad sports fans.

Enjoy the sun, surf, and movies, Los Angeles. In Philadelphia we will enjoy the Phillies.

Let me steal a moment of time if I can for a brief PSA. Muscular Dystrophy includes a group of over 30 diseases causing weakness in muscles, which in many cases leads to early wheelchair use. The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is always in great need of help. You can provide a lot of help to a lot of people by donating at www.mda.org. Whether it be $5 dollars or $500, you can make a real difference in someone’s life.

Photo of Broadcaster Vin Scully by Icon SMI

When I heard Sunday morning that Vin Scully had called a press conference for prior to the Los Angeles Dodgers game against the Cincinnati Reds, my heart sank. Could this be the end for the last of the legendary broadcasters from the golden era of baseball?

Fortunately, instead of announcing his retirement, Scully announced that he loves the game too much to walk away and will continue to broadcast at least through 2011.

Sometimes the great ones hang on too long and don’t know when it is time to walk away, but that couldn’t be further from the case for Scully. All you have to do is listen to a Scully broadcast to know that this is a man who truly loves what he does and that nobody does it better.

Just two nights ago, I listened mesmerized for more than an hour as Scully didn’t as much “call” the game between the Dodgers and Reds as he did tell the story of the game.

Unlike most broadcast booths that now include two people and include announcers who spend more time utilizing graphics and talking to each other instead of the audience, Scully works alone and I imagine broadcasts on television today much in the same way he did when he first started announcing games on the radio for the then-Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950.

When listening to Scully you can almost close your eyes and let his voice guide you through the game in a manner atypical of most modern television announcers. As he probably did 60 years ago, during the first game of a series Scully typically spells out the names of those players with unusual last names on the opposing team. Though fans today can simply go to the internet to find the live game box score, Scully still has one foot in an era when young boys sat at the radio scoring along with the broadcast.

While pausing only occasionally to catch his breath, Scully fills the air with tales about each player that make you feel like you have known them for years. Whether it is sharing stories about a player’s high school exploits on the field or in the classroom or how another player went from growing up in a small town to playing in the majors, Scully reminds viewers that these are young men living a dream and not simply highly paid athletes.

For three hours each night, Scully is having a conversation with you, the viewer. He occasionally will even ask questions as if to remind the viewer that you are in this together.

Even at the age of 82, Scully flawlessly transitions from one play to another with grace and ease. He often describes the nuances of the game in a manner that clearly illustrate that he has been doing this for a while.

When he broke into the game working with the legendary Red Barber and veteran announcer Connie Desmond, who could have imagined that six decades later he would still be going strong?

Scully now only works home games and road games against the NL West, but just to have a chance to hear his eloquent delivery on those occasions is magic.

He truly is a bridge from a time when the use of technology in baseball was still developing to a time now when you can watch games on a computer and see any team no matter where you live.

When Scully started with the Dodgers, it was only three years after Jackie Robinson had broken baseball’s color barrier. He was there in 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit the Shot Hear ‘Round the World and watched the Dodgers finally defeat the Yankees to win the 1955 World Series. He was also calling the action a year later when Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the World Series.

After moving with the Dodgers to Los Angeles, he broadcast the exploits of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax as the Dodgers won the World Series in 1959, 1963 and 1965. He then called the action as the Dodgers reached three Fall Classics in the 1970s and then finally won one for Tommy Lasorda in 1981.

Though he made his national broadcast debut in 1953, to many, Scully is best known for his work as the play-by-play voice of NBC’s Game of the Week from 1983 through 1989. This national exposure brought Scully’s style to fans every week and though he had a partner in Joe Garagiola, Scully was clearly the master of the booth.

Baseball has not been Scully’s only national exposure over the years. He was part of the CBS television broadcasting team for a decade calling NFL broadcasts from 1972 until 1982. He was in the booth during the 1981 NFC Championship Game and had the call on Dwight Clark’s game-winning catch. Scully also broadcast golf and tennis during his tenure with CBS.

But it is baseball for which he will always be remembered.

Sadly, when Scully does finally call it a career it will mark the end of an era in sports. Not just because Scully has been at it for more than six decades, but also because he is one of the final ties to the roots of broadcasting in sports and for more than 60 years has been baseball’s greatest story teller.

Close your eyes and envision you’ve been given your favorite car for your birthday. I’m imagining a 2001, Rosso Corsa, red, custom made,  Ferrari F-50. Of course it’s fully stocked, alloy wheels and even a pretty little spoiler on the back.

Now picture you’ve been handed the keys to this gorgeous vehicle and given free range on the streets. You hop in the driver’s seat, adjust the mirrors, adjust yourself in the mirror, throw on the shades you think make you look cool and slide that shiny key into the inviting ignition.

You take a deep breath because the anxiety and excitement is almost suffocating. You turn the key and KAPLUNK!  Again. KAPLUNK!. One more time, KAPLUNK! Much to your surprise and disbelief, there is no revving beast under the hood, there is not purring gyration of the seats, nothing. Nothing but a poorly assembled, 4 cylinder Volkswagon engine, with leaky hoses and clogged filters under that beautiful red hood. Crushing is it not?

That’s how myself and millions of other long-suffering Dodgers fans have felt about this team over the years. They are an alluring disappointment.

A disappointment that dates back to the Brooklyn Dodgers days when noted sports cartoonist Williard Mullin coined the team’s lovable nickname, “Dem Bums”.  How charming. However, the Brooklyn Dodgers did manage to win a World Series before their big move.

When real estate businessman Walter O’Malley moved the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958 he split Dodger fans in two.  Loyal Brooklyn fans contests that the three greatest villains of the twentieth century are Hitler, Stalin and O’Malley.  The joke was if a fan was in the locker room with the three and had only two bullets, who would he shoot? The answer: O’Malley, twice. Brooklyn fans loved their bums. However, according to the way the Dodgers have played in the last 20 years I’m sure they are no longer missed over in Brooklyn.

Since then, the Dodgers have become the love and headache of Los Angeles. After several years of sub par play in the ‘60’s, Dodgers injected new blood into the team. While under the management of hall-of-famer Tommy Lasorda, the Los Angeles Dodgers won five World Series. Great right?  Well unfortunately, the buck stops there. Out of the 18 times the Dodgers have gone to the World Series, they have lost 12 times But why?

Manny Ramirez Photo by Icon SMI

In the past 20 years the Dodgers never seemed to have a lack of talent. The truth is the Dodgers always seem to have the bells and whistles like the red Ferrari, such as Mike Piazza, Gary Sheffield and Manny Ramirez but never seem to do anything with it. Ahem…Volkswagon engine.

From 1992 to 1996, five consecutive Dodgers where named Rookie of the Year: Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Raul Mondesi, Hideo Nomo, and Todd Hollandsworth, yet the Dodgers have not been to the World Series since 1988!

How can a team with so much talent and so much potential be such bums? Bums may be a little harsh, but as a fan, I’ve earned the right to be so brash. In the past two years the Dodgers have lead the NL West at some point during the season, made it to the playoffs and DIED.

I blame the pitching staff and manager musical chairs game the Dodgers have been playing over that last ten years. Since Lasorda retired in 1996 the Dodgers have had

six different managers. Hoping we had purchased a modern day Lasorda with the signing of former Yankees manager Joe Torre, the Dodgers hope to revive the good ole winning days.  Not to mention the firing of GM DePodesta who was replaced by Nick Colleti.

The Dodgers currently have one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball, Manny Ramirez.  Although Manny is not the same as juiced up Manny, he is still walk off material. Not to mention, the Dodgers also have power hitters Matt Kemp, Casey Blake and Andre Eithier. But it seems like whenever they face an American League team, the Dodgers start playing Triple-A baseball. So what’s the problem? Is it the competition? Maybe. After all, the Dodgers aren’t able to buy championships like the New York Yankees, who the Dodgers have loss 9 World Series to. But that’s an excuse. Too weak for us Dodgers fans to accept. We believe our team can be champions. We just don’t quite understand why they’re not.

Manny Photo by Icon SMI

But to me, the biggest question will be the one in left field when Manny Ramirez departs. What will the Dodgers do to replace the left fielder who might not be what he used to be, but can still hit and is an absolute presence in the lineup.

There are a bunch of options. Free agency (a fairly big splash) is the least likely of them and giving a prospect a shot doesn’t seem to be what this team will do. Going with a patchwork guy and claiming the young guys aren’t ready seems to be this team’s speed.

Let’s pretend, for a minute, that they will give a young guy a shot. Who will it be? Who should it be?

The most advanced guy is Xavier Paul. He has spent some time at the Major League level in each of the last two seasons, and he has spent most of the last two years at Triple-A.

Paul is 25, will be 26 when next season starts and he has proven he can hit at the Triple-A level. He hit .328 in 116 at-bats down there in 2009 and was hitting .361 in 61 at-bats this year.

He has all the tools, he has some power, but thus far has not shown the ability to hit at the Major League level. However, that sample size is way too small to pass judgment. He’s only got 34 at-bats (8 for 34, .235) in the Big League’s in his career. He needs a real look, and I think that he should get it next year.

The guy I had been rooting for, and the guy who was back on track, was Andrew Lambo. The 21-year old was hitting .342 at Double-A and could have be on his way to Triple-A soon, which could have put him in Los Angeles in 2011.

He was bouncing back quite nicely from a 2009 season that saw him hit just .256. Apparently, he can’t lay off the bong. According to Tony Jackson, of ESPN Los Angeles, all signs indicate it was marijuana.

So, his development has been stunted, and his chances of being the guy next year are gone. Now he has character issues, something the Dodgers don’t normally have with their prospects, so perhaps his future with the organization is in jeopardy.

One of the most confusing things about how the Dodgers are handling the development of prospects is why Kyle Russell is still at Class-A Advanced. He’ll be 24 in June, and was a college guy, and those guys that perform usually come fast.

He’s hitting .345 with four home runs currently for the Inland Empire 66’ers, and this is after hitting .272 with 26 bombs at Single-A last year.

Sure, he needs to cut down his strikeouts (180 last year, and 25 this year in 87 AB’s) but to not even be at Double-A is confusing. A big bat like that in 2011 is enticing, but not likely to happen considering he may not see Triple-A this year.

I remember seeing Trayvon Robinson play for Inland Empire in 2008 and I thought he’d never hit enough. Well, he hit .306 for the 66’ers last year, but only .246 at Double-A Chattanooga, and is only hitting .230 this year. I don’t think he’ll ever be a viable option despite being considered one of the top 10 prospects in the organization.

Carl Crawford Photo by Icon SMI

Carl Crawford is the big free agent prize this off-season, and in the midst of financial difficulties, it doesn’t seem like the Dodgers will be able to go after him. But who knows?

With a good portion of Manny Ramirez’ salary, along with most of Juan Pierre’s gone, the Dodgers could have the money. Hiroki Kuroda’s $13 mil and Vicente Padilla’s $5 mil will be gone as well, so perhaps the team can make a run.

They will have to address the starting pitching with some of that money (which is about $33 mil between the four players, according to my calculations) but there could be enough left over to sign the speedy left fielder.

If the team is looking to just fill the void for a year, there is Jerry Hairston Jr, Reed Johnson, Willie Harris, Austin Kearns, among several other guys who aren’t even good.

Let’s hope the team makes a run at Crawford, and if not, gives one of the youngsters a chance.

Sure, the Dodgers were very recently hamstrung by financial constrictions due to the very public and ugly divorce of Frank and Jamie McCourt, but even before any of that took place the club did not express interest in these guys. All of this is bringing me to a larger question.

Where is the Dodgers influence among the Latin American ballplayer? It has been a very long time since the Dodgers made a significant signing (maybe any signing, for that matter?) with a player from what is considered Latin America, and one has to wonder why that is. They are still effective in East Asia, with Chin-lung Hu and Hong-Chih Kuo most recently, but the last Spanish-speaking player of any consequence that I can remember them signing is Joel Guzman, and he was signed in 2001. Before that they signed Franklin Gutierrez in 2000.

Now, of course a lot of ballplayers don’t pan out, and Guzman certainly did not live up to the hype that came with him playing in two Futures Games, but the point of the matter still remains. Before Guzman and Gutierrez, the last significant signing was that of Adrian Beltre in 1994.

In the late 1980s and early 90s, the Dodgers were one of the premiere teams in signing International players be it from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Japan or what have you.

They signed Ramon Martinez in 1984, then followed that with Jose Offerman and Jose Vizcaino in 1986. Raul Mondesi and Pedro Martinez were both signed by the Dodgers in 1988. All of these players had enormous potential.

Wilton Guerrero and Ismael Valdez were signed in ’91 and Dennys Reyes in 1993, but after Beltre the the club has really fallen off the map, save for East Asia with guys like Hideo Nomo and Chan-Ho Park.

So why exactly have the Dodgers disappeared among competing for the top talent in Latin America? How have clubs like the Pirates and Reds suddenly become bigger players when it comes to this pool of talent?

The Dodgers are known, especially recently, for drafting and developing home-grown domestic talent, and maybe in an attempt to save a few bucks, they’ve kept their noses out of the running for the guys like Pablo Sandoval, Jesus Montero, etc…

But for a club that is in the top ten in payroll year in and year out, it doesn’t seem to make sense. Why is this happening, Dodger fans?

I pose this question to you.

I recently had the privilege of asking Dodger great, Steve Garvey (1B) a few questions. I was put in contact with Mr. Garvey by Athlete Promotions.  
AthletePromotions manages the website, corporate appearances, speaking engagements and endorsement deals for 10 time All-Star, Steve Garvey. To see who else Athlete Promotions represents please visit their website: www.AthletePromotions.com.

Steve Garvey: Raising three children (Ryan16, Olivia 15 and Sean 10). Also continuing to help others through charity and foundation work.

SG: Albert Pujols in the NL and Mark Teixeira in the AL

SG: My favorite pitchers were all lefties and least favorite was knuckleballer Phil Niekro

SG: Without a doubt, my family

I would like to thank Steve Garvey for his time and answers as well as Ryan at AthletePromotions for making this interview possible.

Look for more player interviews thanks to AthletePromotions periodically here at Baseball Reflections.

We will be raffling off 9 MLB team keychains. There will be links below to the WholesaleKeychain.com page of the 9 teams (these links will open up in a new tab or page) selected for this raffle.

There will be at least 1 team representing all 6 divisions! I looked up the Baseball Reflections.com demographics to find the cities that have the most Baseball Reflections readership, per the AW Stats (our site stats counter).

The winners will have their choice of keychains from that team’s page and if it is an engravable keychain, WholesaleKeychain.com will engrave 3 lines up to 11 characters per line for you, too!

So, without further ado, here are the teams:

AL

East:

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

Central:

Cleveland Indians

West:

Texas Rangers

NL

East:

New York Mets

Central:

Chicago Cubs

St. Louis Cardinals

West:

LA Dodgers

SF Giants

Here’s how this will work: For each dollar donated to Baseball Reflections between Sunday, 8/9/09 and Sunday, 8/23/09 you will receive a virtual raffle ticket to win 1 of the 9 MLB keychains listed in the promotion above! Please specify which team keychain you are buying a raffle ticket for in the notes section on the screen you make your donation from.

You can make donations for this raffle by clicking on this button below:

If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail at peter@baseballreflections.com.

But, if you don’t want to wait to buy a MLB keychain (others, too), please check out WholesaleKeychain.com and use the promotion code: breflections for 10% off your purchase now through the end of August!