are you hough (huff?) enough?

it's no secret that i am a big fan of the dodgers' teams of the late 1970's.  even so, i am bored by charlie hough's cards from that time frame.  still, i asked him to sign a few for me.  he obliged.  here's his 1976 topps card:

not too different from his 1978 topps card

or his 1979 card

which just happens to use a photo from 1976.  thanks sleeve patch.

thankfully, his 1980 topps card gives us a different angle on the knuckleballer.  1980 was the year that the dodgers allowed the rangers to purchase hough's contract and away he went.

he had better luck with his cards in texas.  take his 1984 fleer card, for example

and his 1987 topps card

around this time, the dodgers picked up a hough of a different sort.  a huff, to be exact.  mike huff.  huff played in only 12 games with the dodgers, all in 1989.  he had 5 hits in 30 at bats, including his first major league home run.  he also had a bevy of cards made.  here's his 1990 score card

his 1990 topps debut '89 card

and his 1991 fleer card.

the fleer card is especially interesting to me since he did not appear in the majors in 1990.  after the 1990 season, he was claimed by the indians in the rule v draft.  fleer was either behind or too far ahead with their set in 1991.  blinded by the yellow, i imagine.
meanwhile, hough was on his way to florida to become the first starter ever for the marlins.  here are a couple of teal cards he signed for me - a 1993 pinnacle card

david neid is on the other side.  who? exactly.  hough also signed his 1993 upper deck card

that's a lot of teal

and his 1993 topps card

and........we've come full circle back to boring.

thanks hough and huff!

garey ingram through the mail success!

back in 1994, i was rooting hard for garey ingram, a dodger second base prospect.  not because he was a minor league second baseman who might have replaced jody reed in the lineup after reed spurned the dodgers - in fact, ingram's arrival on the scene during the '94 season was too late to prevent the pedro for delino deal, and i am on record as having been a supporter of deshields.  no, i was rooting for ingram because of what had happened to jose offerman.

ingram, by the way, was kind enough to sign and return my 1995 score card last year.

ingram was called up in may of 1994, and debuted as a defensive replacement, taking over for deshields at second in the 9th inning of the dodgers' victory over the padres on may 15.  he got his first big league at bat on may 19 as a pinch hitter for orel hershiser, and he promptly jacked one out at coors field off of former dodger mike munoz,

becoming only the second los angeles dodger to ever hit a home run in his first big league at bat. 

about four years earlier, offerman had done the same thing, and many believe that it caused him to try to hit more home runs rather than play off of his speed and hit more grounders. 

whatever the reason, offerman (a highly touted prospect) 

didn't crack the mendoza line until 1992, his third year with the dodgers, and didn't really blossom until he went to the american league and was moved out of the shortstop position.

ingram stole a fair amount of bases in the minors, but i don't know that speed was his strongest asset, so maybe he was supposed to hit long balls.  he wound up batting .282 with 3 home runs and an ops of .751 during his month long stint as the dodgers' regular second baseman in 1994, but was sent down once deshields was ready to return to the lineup.  he got two more call ups 1995, but hit just .200 with no extra base hits while appearing mostly as a pinch runner and hitter. 

after a full season in the minors, ingram returned to the big leagues for the last time in 1997.  by then, deshields was gone, but the dodgers were playing wilton guerrero at second.  ingram was instead used as a left fielder, appearing in 12 games.  in his first game back, he was 3 for 4 with a walk and an rbi and i was hoping he would somehow stick with the club.  unfortunately, that was the only game he started, and he had only five more at bats afterwards.  still, he finished the season hitting .444 and hit over .300 in the minors the following year.  all that earned him was a ticket to the red sox organization, and after a couple years there plus some time in an independent league and mexico, ingram returned to the dodgers' aaa team for a final hurrah in 2002.

here's to you garey ingram!  thanks for signing my card and for not going offerman on us.

son of fletch - as far as you know.

i don't know if darrin fletcher's father's name was irwin m. fletcher, but i do know that i was happy to receive my cards back in the mail, signed by the former dodger backstop.  he signed his 1990 topps debut 89 card

and his strangely glorious 1990 score card

hold on a sec while i do the pick and roll

much better.  fletcher left los angeles in a trade with the phillies after having played in just a handful of games as a dodger.  he went on to play for the expos and blue jays in a fairly productive career.

still, all i can think of when i see his cards are gummy, fat sam, marvin and velma up in provo, gail stanwyck, and the underhills.  the underhills?  they are left senor.  yes, but they'll be back - he just went out for his urinalysis.

thanks fletch!

cards from on card autos

chris at on card autos sent me some dodgers recently in exchange for some cubbies. he has already posted some of the stuff i sent, and i am just now getting to the bounty i received. such is my lot in life. anyway, here are some of the goodies.

2007 fleer ultra jeff kentfull extenson works best as a horizontal card.

2006 topps update & highlights elmer dessens

proof that a fifth starter is hard to find.

2004 fleer ultra brad penny

a really nice dodger stadium card. ultra had quite a few cards featuring chavez ravine. maybe that's why i liked ultra so much.

1990 topps debut '89 darrin fletcher

it must have been tough to be a catcher in the dodger organization. that had been one of the most stable positions they had, except from 1997 through 2001 or so. too bad fletch (6'-5" with the afro) came up when scioscia was still doing ok.

1992 score roger mcdowell

nice to see a card of roger where he is doing normal baseball stuff

2005 donruss shawn green

i feel as though i have been remiss in posting shawn green cards. i have a ton - he was my favorite non-dodger and then my favorite dodger. i also like that this card shows him out of position according to the position assigned to him on the card. listed as a firstbaseman, he is pictured in the outfield. usually it's catchers that you see out of position - they're shown playing first base (i am thinking of a gary carter card) but listed as a catcher. i'll have to look for more of those.

thanks chris!