1. R.J. Reynolds
2. Pedro Guerrero, at his peak, the best offensive player to ever play for the Los Angeles not named Mike Piazza.
3. Farmer John
4. Andy Messersmith, the player who changed baseball.
5. How Bob Costas won the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers.
6. Best Weekend in Dodger history, Astros vs. Dodgers, 1980.
7. Vic Davillio
8. May 7, 1970
9. Junior Gilliam
10. Jerry Doggett

I must admit I have little to offer in the way of ideas. I'm sure anything I could mention would already be on your list, but it will be great to see everyone's ideas flow in and I can't wait to see the final result.

So awesome.

It remains one of Allen's best.

http://www.dailynews.com/dodgers/ci_9306112

When do the pre-orders start??

Glad to hear about the new one sleeping, I was just thinking about that this weekend, my second is sleeping really well now (16 mos). Knock on my head.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/19/lonianderson.weds.ap/index.html

Looking forward to bringing at least one copy of your book to this side of the pond. And thank you as always (to Ken, also) for providing a valuable and civil forum.

But as for your comment about Jones -- what data was there available to support the idea that Jones would be any good? I know that there were a lot of sabermetric types who liked this deal; Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus was one, calling it "far and away the smartest thing any team does this winter". But for me the crucial information was

1) reports of his increased weight last year, and a general tendency towards apathy about conditioning. Having suffered through most of the Angels' contract to Bartolo Colon, that makes a huge difference.
2) Dave Studeman's piece at THT about Jones' line drive rates, which had been declining for some time, which was written as a companion piece to the contemporaneous John Beamer article, also on Jones:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/andruw-jones-batted-balls/
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/will-batting-220-hurt-andruw-jones-contract-chances/

FWIW, I wrote a roundup post with a bunch of links to various opinions on the signing here:

http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2007/12/dodgers-sign-andruw-jones-to-2-year.html

It was an awful risk to take.

Stan from Tacoma

Another one: learn about the shin-kicking contest between Leo Durocher and Jocko Conlan. One of the great moments at the Coliseum.

Things that should be in the book:

- The 22-inning marathon games of 1989.
- The last game of the 1993 season.
- Jack Fimple.
- How Jody Reed doomed the Dodgers for a decade.
- Cool-a-coos.
- Ross Porter and Jerry Doggett.
- Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS.
- Mike Piazza getting hosed out of back-to-back MVPs in 1996-97.
- Dave Kingman's performance.
- 4+1, of course.
- A visit to Dodgertown, even though the Dodgers aren't there anymore.
- A visit to the former site of Ebbets Field, even though the Dodgers aren't there anymore.
- Why Robert Moses is more of a villain than Walter O'Malley.
- Why you should never pitch to Jack Clark with runners on base and first base open in the late innings of a close playoff game.

Things that shouldn't be in the book:

- Juan Pierre.

FWIW, I thought your "Buttercup" entry awhile back was fantastic and wouldn't mind reading it again in the book.

There were 183,324 events like that in his set (going back to 1956 with a few older years added in). 99.65% of the time, the batter is out. 3,311 batters reached first. 82 reached second. 10 reached third.

Some of the batters who reached third involved a combination of a wild pitch or two errors.

I agree with Disabled List's, uh, list in 23, though I should think that Jack Fimple should be at #1. That goes without saying, however.

And the last one on that list made me think maybe there should be a section of its own, for "events/plays you need to know that still make Dodger fans bitter" including Joe Morgan and yes, Jack Clark, and other painful memories that any true fan still needs to be aware of when some of us mopes bring it up.

See how many Dodger Dogs you can eat in the right field pavillion (I am doing that one tonight)

Pop a beach ball at Dodger Stadium

Do "The Wave"

Go to a day game in August and not sit in the shade

Go on the field for Picture Day

Watch fireworks for the field

--that all i have for now, but I'm sure more will come to me

He must have got caught thinking 2007 was just an aberration, instead of the start of a decline.

Druw was never a high OBP guy, and as player age they tend to lose their power first (due to loss of bat speed).

Sheehan must have only loved the contract, but still 36 mils over two years is nothing to sneeze at.

I think most people here thought it was an ok move, but if Pierre played LF that it was really a nothing move that would end up costing the team alot of money. No one thought Druw would be this bad, but then again I dont think anyone would give Druw 2/36 for him to repeat his 2007 season either.

there was a group of 3 girls and a guy behind us. they were having pretty interesting conversations on topics such as, how much weed they smoke, all the guys they've had sex with and their aspirations to become a stripper. they were having margarita after margirta than i hear one girl say "hun, you're under-aged and if your father see's you drunk he'll kill me." than i turned around and realized that these conversations they were having was with one of the girls mother. and of course after a few drinks i hear here say i'm going to try to be one sportscenter and she than was flashing the crowd a number of times. than i hear her mom say "it's ok there are no kids around." that makes me think soceity has take a hop skip and a jump backwards

but other than that i'm glad i went to the win, becuase the angels and their fans annoy me, but of course they take 2 out of 3 and continue to own the blue.

Glad you at least chose to see the right game.

---
Hope the Dodgers wake up against a suddenly hot Reds team at home, starting tonight.

Good news that Furcal will probably be back on Friday. Not that the team's missed him or anything...

Before I logged on this morning, I thought I'd ask you to write a post about the wall hitting Derek Lowe, but then I read your post below and thought I'd hold back. Lets just get Furcal back.

As for the book, here are my humble suggestions:
-ice cream for days in first place (I wonder if team employees gain a lot of wait in good seasons).
-Steve Yeager, the inventor
-the two Mike Marshalls and how to tell them apart (one is indestructible, and the other well, less so)
-how to perform an appendectomy at home
-Tommy Lasorda stories in shorthand

I'm sure I'll come up with more, not that I think it'll help you much, but it'll amuse me.
-

Is there anywhere that has game logs with errors included? It would make my life a lot easier.

Check the caption and the photo credit.

http://www.standard.net/live.php/news/133306?photo_id=10476

http://tinyurl.com/3henpm

Anybody know where I can find the upcoming pitching assignments for the Suns? The Suns are coming to my neck of the woods this weekend to play the Mudcats at beautiful Five County Stadium, right outside of Lizard Lick, NC. I'd like to see Kershaw or McDonald if possible but I can't seem to find out who is due to start. I suspect Kershaw will still be with the Suns and might pitch Thursday.

Thanks...

I suppose if you wedged a stadium in a place like Diamond Bar or Corona, you could conceivably say you serve four counties (L.A., Orange, San Berdoo, and Riverside), but aside from the screwball counties in the Gold Country, I can't find a spot where you can get five California counties to share a land border.

Finally something to look forward to doing in October, since I highly doubt I'll be going to Dodger games then...

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/btf/pages/essays/rickey/goodby_to_old_idea.htm

long before most others were.

if only a few more in the dodger front office would take notice.

Anyway, that grab and throw is amazing. ANd as much as I love your words, seeing it is believing it so to speak.

But I guess I will now have to declare 46 NSFW.

Zito is 0-8 so far this season. But did you know...?

If we adjust the Quality Starts rule to include the 5th inning (rule says 6 innings/3 ER), Zito has six quality starts!! Already!

Guess how many Q-starts Derek Lowe has this year? Five, and none since May 1st. Lowe is done.

sources:

Zito: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=zitoba01&t=p&year=2008
Lowe: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/gl.cgi?n1=lowede01&t=p&year=2008

63 etal. O.K., once I got over my initial revulsion and feelings of betrayal (my shattered belief that any link that Bob points out is worth a click), I clicked again and read closer. That was pretty amazing.

I was on the up and up the first two years of my life.

Something I'd suggest, which works into either a larger theme of experience the Dodgers-Giants rivalry or see the Dodgers on the road:

- Go see the Dodgers play a game against the Giants in AT&T Park (or whatever they call it the year you go). Ideally, you want to see the Dodgers both win one and lose one, just so you can see how different the home crowd is towards Dodger fans. In defeat, they are humbled and meek. In victory, they are emboldened and vicious. Sit in the bleachers if you really want to see this in full force.

So I'm watching the replay of Saturday's game against WSU and its the bottom of the 8th inning, what song do I hear in the background.

Neil Diamond's tribute to JFK's eldest.

What, no Doors?

I'm 1-0 at Angel Stadium of La Habra!

75 I was going to post a similar thought - so it's odd that we share a rather uncommon first name.

I've seen the Dodgers almost only in SF (quick back story: born in LA, became Dodgers fan, family moved to SF area after 2nd grade, lived in enemy territority ever since), and it's unique experience.

The book should definitely discuss the unruly crowds of Candlestick (lustily booing Lasorda on his walk from the outfield to the visitor's dugout).

The AT&T park crowd was well behaved from 2000-2006: the team was successful, Bonds was rolling, the beautiful new ballpark was still a novelty.

Enter losing seasons and bad decisions. The ballpark is a given. The high-tech, big-money crowd is leaving. The nasty, frustrated 80's-style Giants fans are coming back. It's something every Dodger fan should experience.

He was taken to the hospital with part of the javelin still stuck in him. Much of it was sawn off at the field.

It was the photographer's fault for standing in the wrong place. He walked into the javelin landing area.

Now, the Stick was a different story. (I realize we can't recommend it to anyone, unless they're going to wear a Dodger hat to a 49ers game). The bleachers, in particular, were like "Lord of the Flies." I swear they had pig heads on stakes out there. It was ugly, cold, nasty, and unsafe without fail. Now that's an experience I'd recommend.

Maybe it's just me, but I think the Babe Herman triple into a double play ought to be included. So should the defeat of the Giants in 1934, knocking them out of the pennant. That was the year (http://preview.tinyurl.com/4d4d7v) Giants manager Bill Terry had said "Is Brooklyn still in the league?" during the winter meetings.

'Course, by rights one should also include Durocher's gesture and comment about Mel Ott and his Giants: "Nice guys finish last," although there's some question about the actual wording of that famous quotation.

Many people were upset that Bonds did not play on that day, biggest cheer that I recall was for Arnold Palmer who waved to the crowd.