10 years…

Josh Lindblom (2010)

March, 2010, Joe Torre led the Los Angeles Dodgers to visit Taiwan and the team was scheduled to play 3 games against team CPBL(Taiwan's professional baseball league). It was Dodgers’ second visit to Taiwan. Tommy Lasorda, Pedro Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Mike Piazza were all with the team in the 1993 Dodgers friendship series. Since then, I have been enamored with the Dodger baseball.

Can you guarantee?

“Can you guarantee me he’s going to be in the big leagues?” Oakland Athletics’ Owner Ken Hofmann asked Billy Beane.

It was Billy Beane’s first year as A’s general manager, he just used the first round pick to select left-handed pitcher Mark Mulder and then Beane found that the budget to sign Mulder was not enough. Ben had to go to meet the A’s owner Hofmann to solve this problem.

Meiji Jingu Stadium - Revisited

 Entrance 7, 2012

Earlier this year, I visited Meiji Jingu Stadium again. My first visit dated back in 2012. 8 years are not short, the home of Japanese professional baseball team Tokyo Yakult Swallows has been renovated several times.

Cole's core point

2019 was a breakout year for Gerrit Cole, a 20-win season with 326 strikeouts (most in the league), while ERA was only 2.50 that led in the American League. Finishing 2^nd in the Cy Young voting, Gerrit Cole agreed to a deal with the New York Yankees, the deal that made his contract the largest signed by a pitcher.

22 turned 32

Clayton Kershaw turned 32 years old on Thursday, 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he had won 1 MVP and 3 Cy Young awards, accumulated 169 wins and more than 2,400 strikeouts. You definitely can easily make a long list of Kershaw’s career achievements, but without World Series Championships. The Dodgers was 1 win shy of the world champion in 2017.

Didi’s time in pinstripes

Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter retired after 2014 season. Post-Jeter era, the Yankees needed a shortstop and acquired Didi from a three-team trade. During the 5-year in Bronx, Didi accumulated 97 Homeruns, 120 doubles and 360 RBIs. However, he was never selected to all-star games in his Yankee times. Now, he’s a member of the Phillies. Well, let the numbers tell and see Didi’s days with his former team.

A-side and B-side

Larry Walker joked that he is the B-side of the Hall of Fame class 2020. Funny, but let’s see what we have on the both sides of the HOF 2020.

THEN AND NOW

Doing some baseball related activities can somehow help me kill time when there is no live baseball. Opening some packs of baseball cards has been my hobby since I was a kid. It brings so much joy and excitement. Topps heritage is a very popular brand. I usually have some packs every year. However, if you like to get some hits (Autographs or Memorabilia), it’s better to consider others.

Cody Bellinger and the MVP xwOBA

Bellinger game-used memorabilia card, 2020 Topps series 1

Life without baseball is boring, extremely boring. Spring is supposed to be a good season to celebrate that baseball is back. However, the Coronavirus outbreak really makes things out of control. MLB made the right decision to cancel the remainder of spring training and postpone the opening day. So far, no baseball games, we don’t know when baseball will be back. We can only wait.

Kershaw is gonna be the Opening day starter, AGAIN

Photo taken in 2015

Again, Clayton Kershaw, 3-time Cy Young winner, will start Dodgers opening day, the 9^th time in 10 years. To start the first game in the new decade, Dave Roberts will have the best pitcher of the last decade on the mound.

Yu are the opening day starter? Yu are the Ace of the Cubs?

Luckily, I got a Yu Darvish autograph baseball card when I was traveling in Japan. Entering a card shop, there was an anniversary event and I saw lucky bags. I bought some and this card is totally beyond my expectation. The card truly looks beautiful and I really like it. With the joy of having this card, I’m wondering what Darvish’s performance in the coming season will be. So I looked at some numbers in 2019.