Category Archives: Obituaries

Jun 16

Game 72, 2014

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Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Rockies pitch a kid making his second big league start, Tyler Matzek. The Dodgers counter with southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA on the season. Young Mr. Matzek is a native of Mission Viejo and a 2009 first-round pick (11th overall) out of Capistrano Valley High School. He will be taking on the Dodgers in front of friends and family.

The Rockies have won five straight, including three come-from-behind wins against the Giants in San Francisco over the weekend, while the Dodgers took two of three from the D-Backs.

In case you missed it, Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn died earlier today of cancer of the salivary gland. The cancer first appeared in 2009 and then came back in 2012.

My first memory of Gwynn is as a point guard for San Diego State. When he played for SDSU the school was in the WAC, as was the U of Hawaii. You know how some guys do their best against particular teams? Gwynn seemed to be on top of his game whenever UH played SDSU, as did Marshall Faulk for the Aztecs in football.

Here’s Gwynn at SDSU:

Jun 10

Game 66, 2014

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Dodgers at Reds, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Josh Beckett (3-3, 2.57 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against Mike Leake (3-5, 3.29 ERA) of the Reds. In five career appearances (four starts) against the Dodgers, he is 2-2 with a 4.80 ERA. Another thing: in the last eight games the two teams have played, each team has won four. Six have been one-run affairs.

Bob Welch, who won 211 games in the major leagues for the Dodgers and As, died yesterday. He was only 57. Here’s Jon Weisman’s appreciation of the former pitcher.

Gordon and Puig are both in the lineup, so hopefully their respective hips are fully recovered.

Mar 06

Dr. Frank Jobe died today

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SAN DIEGO PADRES VS LOS ANGELES DODGERS

“A 2013 study found that 124 active pitchers, about one-third of those in the majors, had undergone Tommy John surgery at some point in their careers.” The man who invented that surgical procedure died today at the age of 88. Here’s the NYT obituary.

Here’s a wonderful story on the occasion of his Baseball Hall of Fame commendation ceremony in July of 2013, and here’s a photo essay of the doctor by Jon Soo Hoo.

Jan 05

First flight

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Promoted from the comments to the last post: Dodgers’ Aviation! As in so many other things, the Dodgers and Walter O’Malley were the first to travel via airplane on road trips.

This is a wonderfully well-researched story with beautiful pictures, so go read it!

Update: Some very sad news today from San Diego: Jerry Coleman passed away at the age of 89. Coleman was a Yankee second baseman, a US Marine in both World War II and Korea, and a broadcaster for the Yankees and then the Padres. In 1980 he even managed the Padres for a season. He received the Ford C. Frick Award in 2005.

One hopes that he greeted St. Peter at the Pearly Gates with his pet phrase “Oh Doctor!” and that Peter in turn said “You can hang a star on that one, baby!”

Jan 11

Spring training’s a month away

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Here’s a video of Dodgers VP for planning and development Janet Marie Smith talking about the stadium renovations.

At ESPN LA Mark Saxon points out that on the day camp opens the Dodgers have six veteran relief pitchers, four utility/bench players, eight starting position players and seven starting pitchers. That’s a far cry from the last few years when there were deals for starting pitchers being done seemingly up to Opening Day. Presumably they’ll deal a starter, hopefully for a fourth outfielder. Saxon gets off a good line, noting that there are a bunch of players whose health is best described as “improving.”

Trainer Sue Falsone might have more interesting media sessions than manager Don Mattingly.

Should we start getting excited yet?

Update: ESPN has released the Sunday Night Baseball schedule through July 21, and the May 5 Dodgers – Giants game at AT&T Park is included on the list. As David Pinto points out, there’s only one Yankees – Red Sox game on the schedule, which is a welcome change as far as I’m concerned. The Angels have two games scheduled, at Texas and the White Sox.

Update: Jon has some parting thoughts about both Stan Musial and Earl Weaver at the old site.