Above is a fantastic vintage 1956 photo taken by legendary Dodger photographer Barney Stein.  It provides a glimpse of the player pregame procession before one of the games of the Brooklyn Dodgers Goodwill Tour in Tokyo.  They are to play the Tokyo Giants.  It recently sold at RMY Auctions (link here).

Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History:  In 1976 Dodgers right-handed pitcher Andy Messersmith is granted free agency.  He is principally responsible for the end of the "reserve clause" and is credited for signing the very first contract of the free agency era about a month later.  He won an arbitrator case in favor of free agency in December 1975, and MLB naturally appealed.  They would lose their appeal on March 9th, 1976.  A few days later the league declined appealing to the Supreme Court; effectively granting Messersmith free agency.
• Happy Birthday, Patsy Donovan, Jake Flowers, Lloyd "Little Poison" Waner, Hee-Seop Choi, Brian Wilson & Brandon League!
  
• Video: Alanna Rizzo caught up with Trayce Thompson after hitting a home run in the Dodgers win on Wednesday. (Link Here)
• Video: Alanna Rizzo speaks with Justin Turner after hitting his first home run of the spring on Wednesday. (Link Here)
• Via a FiveThirtyEight Chat; "The NL West Is All About The Dodgers And Giants."  This is a chat between FiveThirtyEight and two different writers.
• Per Darylese at Canyon News; "LA Dodgers Star Justin Turner Purchases Studio City Home."
• The word for the day is cautious.  Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com; "Urias could be left out of Dodgers' rotation." 

"This next turn, we've got to get him to three innings and see where we're at," said manager Dave Roberts. "The guys are ramping up. I wouldn't say the book is closed yet on Julio breaking with us [in two weeks], but if we're going to do it, yeah, we have to ramp the innings up.

"We wanted to give him two innings, but we didn't want him to throw more than 30 pitches. He's a competitor, he wants to be out there. For us, we still have to look out for the best interests of him."

• FYI:  Yasiel Puig's Wild Horse Foundation is putting together a charity poker tournament at Dodger Stadium on Monday, May 22nd.  Go here for information.
• I hadn't noticed this before.  Per Bill Baer at NBC Sports; "Yasiel Puig changed his batting stance."

Puig stands straight up at the plate now whereas before he had a slight crouch. And as he’s preparing to swing, Puig’s leg kick is straight up and down as opposed to a toe tap.

• Zachary D. Rymer at the Bleacher Report analyzes Puig's swing even further, here.
• Via Josh Jackson at MiLB.com; "After long wait, Dodgers' Buehler raring to go: No. 5 prospect underwent Tommy John surgery following 2015 Draft."

"I've told people the mental side of having surgery like that is probably tougher on you than the physical stuff ... " the 22-year-old right-hander said. "It's one of those things a lot of people end up having to go through, and I'm kind of glad I got mine done early and in the past and now I'm ready to get going."

• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA; "Bobby Wilson has made an impact in Dodgers camp."  He has an outside shot at the backup catcher position.

“As a veteran guy who has accrued some service time, to fit what we're trying to do, he fits in nicely,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Bobby has already made an impact with our guys.”

• Gonzo ain't happy, and he has a legitimate beef.  Per an AP story at ESPN; "Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez criticizes WBC organizers over Mexico exit."

"They're trying to become the World Cup, but they're not even close to being the Little League World Series," he said Wednesday.