Lunch Time Link Dump

• Adding to his resume, Jimmy Rollins will be appearing as a cartoon character on the Cleveland show this fall. The list of Phillies players appearing on television is getting pretty lengthy. With the Philly Phanatic appearing on the Simpsons, Ryan Howard on Entourage, and Chase Utley & Howard on It's Always Sunny, I have to ask myself who could be next? Shane Victorino on Hawaii Five-0 perhaps... though I'm not sure that show even survived it's first season. Hunter Pence as crazed serial killer on Dexter? Chooch on a Telemundo soap opera?

• A bit of a sad story about former Cubs great and current Lehigh Valley Iron Pig manager Ryne Sandberg. Drafted by the Phillies and traded after just a few major league at bats as a throw in piece to get Ivan DeJesus, Sandberg has come full circle in his major league career as the manager of the Phils AAA affiliate. His being overlooked for the Cubs big league job last winter was a major mistake and the thought of many baseball people seems to be that it has soured him on the organization altogether. Charlie Manuel is signed on as the Phillies manager for two more years after this one. Sandberg has been doing a solid job with the Iron Pigs this year and is looking to lead the team on a playoff run. My thought is that the Phillies pursuit of him in the offseason could somehow be as the grooming as a replacement for Charlie Manuel after 2013. This would assume that Charlie hangs up the spikes after his contract is up (he'll be almost 70 afterall), and also assumes that Sandberg is willing to wait in the weeds for 2 more years with the Phillies. But it sure would be awesome to see Sandberg back in red pinstripes and it would make for a much more upbeat story.

• I think I've posted about LegendarySportsPrints.com before, but their website doesn't seem to offer the one that I want the most. So head on over to Phillies Nation and buy me one (or 4). Cmon, my birthday is coming up and I'm well worth the $25!

• In other collectible news, the US Post Office (surprisingly, they still exist) is going to have a series of forever stamps in 2012 with four "All Star Stamps." Joe Dimaggio will be one, but they haven't released the names of the others just yet. Then again, if his current streak continues, they may need to replace Dimaggio's with a Dan Uggla stamp!

• I'll always maintain that the greatest thing about baseball is its unpredictability. So be sure to check out You Can't Predict Baseball for daily roundups of baseball tidbits that will make you shake your head. For instance, "The Tigers lead the AL Central, with a -14 run differential. —– The Padres are in last place in the tragic NL West. They have a -4 run differential."

• I drove by the Kansas City Royals Stadium last week and was surprised to see that the All-Star game will be held there in 2012. It's a decent looking place that has apparently gone under a huge renovation so I'll probably stop by there on one of my next trips. The Royals are a pretty nice young team, though so anything that can drum up interest for them is probably good for baseball. Mix in a little fanfare with a roster that has Billy Butler, Jeff Francouer, Alex Gordon, Melky Cabrera, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Joakim Soria, Danny Duffy, and Aaron Crow all 27 years or younger and you mgiht just have a foundation for something big. They've retooled themselves with great drafts much in the way that the Rays did about 5 years ago. Speaking of All-Star games, keep an eye out for an upcoming post on All-Star game jerseys!