u/Ambitious_Shallot_16

In 2021, B.J. Novak revealed that a photo of him had mistakenly been placed on a public domain image site years earlier, leading companies around the world to use his face on products without his involvement or permission.

His image reportedly appeared on hair clippers and electric razors, rain ponchos, face paint and even cologne sold internationally.

Novak posted about it on his account saying “Years ago, someone mistakenly put an image of me on a public domain site, and now apparently I am on products all around the world, but I am too amused to do anything about it.”

Listen to how crazy the level of detail was in the Dodgers' planning to make this happen. They were already laying the groundwork years in advance. People get mad about what the Dodgers “get”, but just like the Mookie Betts, and Turner/Scherzer trades, the part that is more impressive is what it takes to pull the trigger on these trades (and ultimately not regret it).

On January 11, 2024, the Dodgers traded Michael Busch and Yency Almonte to the Cubs for Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope. A move that looked like a simple prospect trade at the time may have been another example of the Dodgers playing the long game.

On March 28, 2022, the Dodgers traded Matt Beaty to the Padres for River Ryan. At the time, it looked like a simple depth move. Fast forward years later, and River Ryan became a key piece involved in the Dodgers' trade for Tarik Skubal.

The Dodgers drafted Brady Smith in the 3rd round of the 2023 MLB Draft and developed him into their No. 17 prospect. The Dodgers somehow turned their scouting and player development into acquiring Tarik Skubal while only giving up these pieces.

And they did all this without giving up any of their “Top 3” OUTFIELDER prospects.

On this day in 1996, Tommy retired from managing the Dodgers. Cheers Tommy!

Here’s my Bob Welch appreciation post. 40 years ago today, Welch achieved baseball immortality (thru Devine intervention and sorcery) by striking out Tony Gwynn three times in a single game.

Tony Gwynn faced Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz a total of 323 times during his career. He struck out just THREE of those 323 times.

Welch was a two-time MLB All-Star, and he won the American League Cy Young Award in 1990. He was a three-time World Series champion – twice as a player and once as a coach.

He is the most recent major league pitcher to win at least 25 games in a single season, 27 in 1990, the most wins in a season since Steve Carlton also won 27 games in 1972.

Welch gained national fame with the Dodgers during their 1978 season, when as a 21-year-old rookie, he struck out Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees with two men on base and two out in the top of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series.

On May 29, 1980, Welch pitched a 3–0 one-hitter against the Atlanta Braves, facing the minimum 27 batters. The only Atlanta base runner was Larvell Blanks, who singled in the fourth inning and was retired on a double play.

Welch won the 1981 World Series, his first, as the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in six games.

In 1983, Welch became the sixth pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout and hit a solo home run for his team's only run. This was next accomplished by Noah Syndergaard in 2019.

He wrapped up his major league career with 211 wins, 3.47 ERA, and 1969 strikeouts.

Happy anniversary Bob! Rest in peace.

Not directly a Dodgers story, but a fun family affair story from Dino Ebel and his sons. Story from a combination of MLB and Yahoo stories:

The Brewers selected Corona (Calif.) High School shortstop Trey Ebel with the No. 25 pick in the first round of the MLB Draft on Saturday. If that name sounds a little familiar, it’s because Milwaukee also called that surname last year.

Ebel, 17, is the son of Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel and the younger brother of Brady Ebel, who was drafted by the Brewers No. 32 overall last year, signed for $2.75 million and has played at the Class A level in 2025 and all of 2026 thus far.

Brady was on the field with the Wilson Warbirds on Saturday afternoon, watching a live feed of the Draft on the scoreboard of the Class A affiliate’s brand new stadium, when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the Brewers’ pick. A moment later, the brothers connected via FaceTime to share an unforgettable moment.

“We’re going to play together, man!” Brady said. “Oh my God. Look at you, man. Wow. We did it, bro!”
Suddenly, he was overcome with emotion.
“I’m excited, man,” Brady said.
The entire family felt that way.
“My mom came up to me and said, ‘Watch this video,’” Trey said. “It broke me down, seeing him cry. All the years of us competing against each other and trying to make each other better. Then it happened, and to see his reaction, it was beautiful.”

Trey Ebel ranked 107th on MLB Pipeline’s pre-Draft rankings, but the Brewers have long valued him much higher among this year’s class of eligible players. Both Ebel brothers played for years on the Brewers’ development teams in California and Florida, and both have played at American Family Field a handful of times. Trey played there during last year’s pre-Draft workout when the Brewers were considering drafting Brady.

“Trey owned it, and he did it when he was 16,” said Brewers special assistant Corey Rodriguez, who helps run the team’s Area Code teams and Fall teams, which have been stocked with young Draft hopefuls over the years from Christian Yelich to Brice Turang. “He’s a winning player. He’s different from Brady in terms of how he gets to it, but he gets there. He’s always been a hit collector.”

Brady is regarded as the more fluid and rhythmic player on the field of the two brothers. Trey is more quick-twitch. But he’s grown over the past year or so in height and also in strength while working with the same trainer who has helped Turang transform into an offensive threat.

“They have different personalities, the brothers. But they root for each other,” Rodriguez said. “They’re great like that. There’s a great competitiveness that they have, but I don’t think it’s a rivalry. There’s a desire to get to the best versions of themselves.”
That much is obvious as Trey discussed the relationship.

“In my mind, I want to catch up to him and be better than him,” Trey said. “That’s just the brotherly love I have for him. He knows I’m coming for him.”
Dino Ebel holds his two sons, Trey (left) and Brady.
Turang is also from Corona, though he went to Santiago High School. He worked out with Trey five days a week last winter, and the two were exchanging texts Saturday between games of the Brewers’ doubleheader in Pittsburgh.

“Just learning from a guy like that, who is turning himself into a superstar,” Trey said. “He would take me out to lunch, and we talked nothing but baseball for 3-4 hours. He would come to our practices at Corona and hit with me. We would talk until it got dark.”

Trey batted .417/.496/.796 with 10 doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 47 RBIs in 31 games as a senior at Corona High School in 2026. He has a scholarship offer to Texas A&M, but made clear he intends to sign, saying, “I’m fully a Brewer.”

Once that’s official, the Ebels will bid to become the first siblings to play together in the Majors with the Brewers, who had one duo come close. Infielder Steve Kiefer played parts of three seasons with Milwaukee from 1986-88 and was in the midst of his best season in ‘87 when the Brewers drafted his brother Mark, a right-handed pitcher. By the time Mark made it to the Majors in 1993 for the first of four big league seasons with the Brewers, his brother had retired.

They are just one example of brothers who played in the system at the same time – Ryan and Steve Braun and Jonathan and David Lucroy are among the notables. But none ever made it together in the big leagues with the Brewers. The Milwaukee Braves had two sets of siblings at the same time: Hank and Tommie Aaron and Frank and Joe Torre.
“Growing up, the younger brother always got compared to Brady,” Trey said. “Now, being on the same team with him, I know it’s going to come again. But I control what I can control. I’m my own guy. …
“I don’t feel like I need to compete with him. If anyone wants to compare him to me, that doesn’t really matter. I’m focused on myself. I’m ready to go.”

It’s amazing to see what Shohei is doing before our very eyes. Much is talked about in single moments with him, but him eclipsing this milestone is really putting the bulk of accomplishments into perspective. Here are some fun facts provided by Sarah Langs on this incredible achievement:

1. Ohtani got here in a hurry. He reached 300 home runs in his 1,101st career game with at least one plate appearance. That’s the fifth-fewest games in MLB history with at least one plate appearance to reach 300 home runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The only players with fewer such games to reach the mark are Aaron Judge (953), Ralph Kiner (1,086), Ryan Howard (1,091) and Juan Gonzalez (1,093). The four players ahead of Ohtani combined for a grand total of zero pitching appearances in their careers. Ohtani has made 114, including 95 games where he both pitched and batted at least once.

2. Speaking of his pitching, Ohtani already had the most career home runs of anyone in MLB history to strike out at least 510 batters, but now he has a round number with 300 homers. Let’s look at this another way. There are now 170 players with at least 300 career home runs. Eight of them have struck out at least one batter, led by Ohtani’s 765 strikeouts as a pitcher. The others? Babe Ruth, with 501 strikeouts (714 homers), Jimmie Foxx with 11 (534), Dave Kingman with four (442), Rocky Colavito with two (374), Ted Williams with one (521), Gary Gaetti with one (360) and Anthony Rizzo with one (303).

3. Of Ohtani’s 300 home runs, 19 have come in games he pitched in. That includes his two leadoff homers as a pitcher in the regular season — on May 20 and 27 this year. Along with his 2025 NLCS Game 4 leadoff homer, those are the only ones as a pitcher in MLB history.

4. No. 300 wasn’t in a game he pitched, but it was a leadoff home run. Ohtani is the second player in MLB history with a leadoff home run for his 300th career home run, joining Steve Finley on June 14, 2006. It was Ohtani’s 25th leadoff home run since joining the Dodgers. That’s already the third-most leadoff home runs in Dodgers history, behind Mookie Betts (32) and Davey Lopes (28).

5. Ohtani isn’t the only Dodgers player to hit his 300th career home run this season. Betts did so on June 24. The 2026 Dodgers are the 14th team to have multiple players hit their 300th career home runs in the same season, per Elias. It’s the second time it’s happened in Dodgers history, along with J.D. Martinez and Freddie Freeman in 2023. The only other franchise on the list twice is the Cubs, in 2010 (Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano) and 1971 (Billy Williams, Ron Santo).

6. He doesn’t just hit home runs, Ohtani crushes them. Tuesday’s had an exit velocity of 112.2 mph. Ohtani’s 300th home run was his 77th of at least 112 mph. That’s the second-most in MLB since the start of 2018, when Ohtani debuted, behind only Judge (81).

7. At the end of the day, 300 is just a stepping stone toward the next Ohtani feat. If you want a number to track, consider this: The home run was Ohtani’s 129th with the Dodgers. Only seven players have had more home runs in their first three seasons with a team: Mark McGwire (STL: 159), Alex Rodriguez (TEX: 156), Ruth (NYY: 148), Khris Davis (OAK: 133), Roger Maris (NYY: 133), Kyle Schwarber (PHI: 131) and Cecil Fielder (DET: 130). And there’s plenty of season left.

Well, at least it’s acknowledged. I know yesterday was a struggle with everyone scrambling together the 250 badge. Anyone have luck with theirs? I finally got the badge on my profile, but no luck in submitting it.

Congratulations to Dave Roberts on win 1000 of his very highly successful career. Here who fell victim the most to Roberts’ career thus far.

On this date in 1990, Dave Stewart threw a no-hitter in Toronto. Later that same night, Fernando Valenzuela tossed his own no-no in Los Angeles 🔥

600! Onto the next one!