diamond dodgers

here's the second suit from the 2005 baseball hero deck set i picked up recently.  the diamonds represent (primarily) the early los angeles dodger teams that reached the world series four times in their first nine years on the west coast. there are, however, a couple of obvious exceptions. have a look

a battery of sandy koufax and john roseboro, plus an infield of wes parker, jim gilliam (in a brooklyn dodger cap), bill buckner (?), and maury wills.  the outfield of tommy and willie davis, along with ron fairly won a championships in 1963 and 1965, although not in that complete configuration. fairly was the dodgers' first baseman in 1963, and he moved to the outfield in '65 which was the year that tommy davis was injured early on and didn't make it back until the following season.  the bullpen consists of ron perranoski, johnny podres, and don drysdale, with 1960 rookie of the year frank howard on the bench.

so, the big mystery here is bill buckner's inclusion.  it's great to see him in the set, but putting him with this group (and at the third base slot) is a bit puzzling.  however, the dodgers didn't really have a consistent third baseman in this era other than jim gilliam who was already featured at his other primary position. maybe jim lefebvre would have been an option.

next up, the 1970's!

sunday morning target dodgers - talkin' baseball...bunny, ducky, and the duke

woo hoo.  we're gonna learn about some new players today!  here's another installment of 15 cards from the 1990 target dodgers set that was given away in installments at dodger stadium that year.  each sheet features 15 players or managers that wore the uniform (or sat in the dugout in burt shotton's case) during the franchise's first 100 years in the national league.  we've got some hall of famers and some interesting names to get to today...

jesse barnes

nicknamed "nubby", barnes led the national league in wins in 1919 with 25 while pitching for the new york giants, although he also led the senior circuit in losses in both 1917 and 1924 when he was a member of the boston braves (he double dipped).  barnes was a member of the giants' world series championship teams in 1921 and 1922 as they defeated babe ruth's yankees both times.  he finished his career with two forgettable seasons in brooklyn - in 1926, barnes was 10-11 with a 5.24 era, and in 1927 he went 2-10 with a 5.72 era.

jim bucher

bucher made his big league debut in 1934 as an infielder with the dodgers.  he stayed with brooklyn through the 1937 season but was then traded to the cardinals in the deal that netted the dodgers leo durocher.  during his stay in brooklyn, bucher hit .269 and appeared in 405 games.

cannonball crane

crane (give name "ed") began his career in 1884 as an outfielder.  he converted to pitcher when it became apparent  that he wasn't a good hitter.  according to baseball reference, he was a hard thrower whose fastball was nicknamed "cannonball", and while he threw hard, he also lacked control.  in fact, his career k/w ratio is less than 1, and he led the league in wild pitches twice.  his brooklyn career consisted of two games (the last two of his career) in 1893 for the grooms.  he started both games and took the loss in each (although one was a complete game), allowing 15 earned runs in 10 innings of work and issuing 9 walks.  he also hit a batter and uncorked a wild pitch.

rick dempsey

dempsey joined the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 1988 season.  a few days after he was acquired, the dodgers released mike scioscia's backup from the previous season (alex trevino), and the job was given to dempsey.  dempsey appeared in 77 games and hit .251 during the regular season in that role, but also made some big starts, especially in the postseason.  tommy lasorda gave dempsey the start at catcher in the pivotal game 5 of the nlcs against the mets' sid fernandez, and dempsey opened the scoring with a 2-run double in the 4th inning as the dodgers went on to win the game 7-4.  dempsey, who was the 1983 world series mvp for the orioles, also got to start game 5 of the fall classic and had a rbi double in that game, too.  he also got to run out and hug orel hershiser after the last out was recorded and the dodgers had claimed the title.  dempsey remained with the dodgers through the 1990 season, and later managed in their minor league system for a few years.

bunny fabrique

fabrique played for the robins in 1916 and 1917. he appeared in just 2 games for the club in 1916, but saw action in 25 contests the following year.  being a shortstop, it is likely that his 18 errors in those 25 games greatly contributed to the early demise of his big league career.  by they way, he's wearing the checked brooklyn unis i mentioned the other day.  i do hope the dodgers do a throwback or two in 2016 to these things.

john gochnaur

gochnaur played in 3 games for the 1901 brooklyn superbas, although he looks to be wearing a different team's uniform in his photo.  it's probably from a minor league stop as the only other majore league team he played for (cleveland) had distinguishing lettering on their dark, collared jerseys that would have been visible in this photo.  in those 3 games in which he played for brooklyn, gochnaur was 4 for 11 with a walk and 2 rbi.

gerald hannahs

gerry hannahs was a member of the team of my youth, but just barely as he made one appearance for the club in 1978 following his acquisition by al campanis in the deal that sent mike garman to the expos.  he pitched two innings against the padres in that lone outing, allowing a couple of runs but also striking out 5 padre batters, including dave winfield.  the gerry hannahs appearance that i remember very clearly, however, came in 1979 when he came in to pitch against the big red machine.  hannahs had earned a september callup, and made his first appearance of the season on september 7 in a game against the reds.  called on to preserve a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 9th, hannahs struck out joe morgan, dave concepcion, and george foster to end the game and earn the save.  i remember listening to the game in our living room on my dad's trusty transistor radio, and hearing hannahs being interviewed following the game by jerry doggett.  good times.  hannahs only pitched in 3 more games for the dodgers that season, which turned out to be his last in the majors.

frank howard

hondo was the 1960 national league rookie of the year, and he turned out to be one of the better roys in terms of his overall career production.  howard lasted with the dodgers through the 1964 season (he won a ring with the 1963 squad, even homering in the world series against the yankees) after which he was traded to the senators in the claude osteen deal.  with washington, howard twice led the league in home runs and he earned his nickname as the "capitol punisher".  howard retired following the 1973 season with 382 career home runs, and only 63 men who have played the game have hit more in their career.  and, i believe that was a top 20 all-time total at the time howard retired.

leron lee

lee played for the dodgers in 1975 and 1976, mostly as a pinch-hitter and sometimes outfielder.  following his release from the team after the 1976 season, lee left for japan and wound up finding great success there as he hit a total of 283 home runs in 11 seasons.

tony malinosky

malinosky was with the dodgers in the big leagues for about 2 and a half months during the 1937 season.  in that time, he appeared in 25 games and hit .228.

joe medwick

ducky medwick had two stints with the dodgers, and helped them win the pennant in 1941 - their first since 1920.  he was better known as a member of the gashouse gang in saint louis, where he won a world series in 1934 and the triple crown in 1937.

rich rodas

rodas pitched for the dodgers during the 1983 and 1984 seasons.  in his big league debut, he struck out the first batter he faced (terry kennedy) and later retired tony gwynn on a groundout.  rodas relieved starter burt hooton in that game, and on june 19, 1984, hooton relieved rodas (who had taken over for carlos diaz who relieved starter fernando valenzuela) in what turned out to be rodas' last big league appearance.

duke snider

the duke.  snider played for the dodgers from 1947 (he debuted two days after jackie robinson) through 1962, and holds many franchise records, such as offensive war (career), home runs (career), rbi (career), and strikeouts (career), although matt kemp with pass him in 2015 in that last category unless he is traded away.  snider was elected to the hall of fame in 1980 and his number 4 has been retired by the team ever since.

don sutton

back-to-back hall of famers!  sutton was the ace of the staff as far as i was concerned during my first few years of dodger fandom.  he wound up leaving the team before they won it all in 1981, but returned for their 1988 championship season.  unfortunately for him, the dodgers released him in august of 1988 so he did not get a chance to finally win a world series.  like snider, sutton holds a lot of franchise records, such as wins, strikeouts, starts, shutouts, games pitched, and games started.

rene valdes

valdes' only major league experience came with the dodgers in 1957 and consisted of 5 games.  he debuted against the pirates in april of '57 and retired roberto clemente twice in his 3.2 innings of hitless and scoreless relief.  valdes had taken over for don newcombe in that game, and was himself relieved by sandy koufax.  overall, valdes was 1-1 with a 5.24 era as a major league pitcher.

dime box dodgers

here are some more cards that nick from dime boxes sent to me recently.  you didn't think he sent just double play cards, did you?

i will admit, i coveted the don mattingly and darryl strawberry cards from 1984 donruss more than i wanted sid fernandez's card 30 years ago

even though sid's was the only one of the three to have the coveted rated rookie banner.  it also features a dodger stadium as the background.  1984 was, of course, the first year that donruss added the rated rookie moniker to the front of the card.  in 1983, at least, it was noted on the back of the cards.  a waste of ink, that was.

here's a 1995 upper deck star rookie subset card of another dodger prospect from mexico, antonio osuna

and yet another mexican dodger prospect from 1996 pacific, karim garcia

sadly, there were no fernando valenzuela or dennis reyes cards in the package.

there were some cards of retired dodger stars, including this other pacific card from their 1988 legends set of frank howard

and a 1990 swell baseball greats of don newcombe

nick is good at finding cards from the 1992 conlon tsn set, and he sent me a johnny cooney (a dodger double dipper)

and a burleigh grimes

from the set.  my favorite grimes card of the package, however, was this 2001 upper deck legends of new york card

which comes with the fuzzy 'b'.  grimes was a hall of fame pitcher for the brooklyn robins and later a manager of the brooklyn dodgers, including the 1937 squad which was the year that conlon took those photos seen on the cooney and grimes cards.  so, upper deck should have listed grimes as a robin on their card since he is identified as a pitcher, not a manager.  still, i'll take all the grimes cards i can get.

thanks nick!  i've got some cards heading your way soon.

why not hondo?

sometimes i look through my scanned folder for fodder for a quick post.  this morning is one of those times.  there are cards in there that i have passed over countless times, not sure exactly how to squeeze a time constrained post out of them.  well, today i passed over frank howard no longer.  because frank howard deserves a post.

just like he deserved to be in the 2001 fleer focus 'roy collection' relic insert set.  and he was!

the 1960 nl rookie of the year took home the hardware over, among others, fourth place finisher ron santo.  howard was the fourth dodger to win the award.

here's a 1962 topps howard

it's tinted, as you can see when you look at this next copy of his 1962 topps card

that one is signed by the capital punisher himself, thanks to a hall of fame sports signing.  i also sent in a copy of howard's 1965 topps to that signing a couple of years ago.

i am so glad that howard got a dodger card in the 1965 set when the other players in the big trade were shown as senators.

speaking of 1965 topps, i think i might seek out some 2014 topps heritage today so i don't have to scramble for a post in a few days...

what if they held the biggest card show of the year and i didn't show up?

this weekend is the biggest card show of the year in the twin cities (outside of twinsfest).  it attracts vendors from all over the region and beyond (plus mr. mint at least once).  it's the show where one dealer had boxes of 1975 topps minis and there were vintage bargain bins all over the place.

i had planned to go tonight and pick up a 1956 topps duke snider card to complete my '56 dodgers team set.  that's because earlier in the week i picked up this beauty of a card:

a 1956 topps roy campanella card.  it is a really nice looking card - one i have wanted for a long time.

as far as the show goes, i don't think i will be able to swing it.  the past two years i have gone on friday night when it opens, and i know i can't be there tonight.  tomorrow, the likes of frank robinson, pete rose, cal ripken jr, johnny bench, and eddie murray are signing autographs, but i won't be able to be there then, either.  on sunday, there is a slim chance that i could get there shortly before the thing closes at 4, so i guess i will go with the same refrain that dodger fans used back during the early part of campy's career - wait 'til next year.

so instead of that duke snider card, i'll show some other vintage cards.  these are some of the cards that i've picked up over the last couple of years but haven't figured out how to fit into a post.  problem solved.

1960 topps bob aspromonte

this was one of the last few 1960 cards i needed.  it's numbered in the 500's (547) and usually goes for a few bucks.  i put it off for as long as i could.  i think i used some 'ebay bucks' to finally acquire it.

1961 topps frank howard 

that's the card of the reigning nl rookie of the year who was also a member of topps' all-rookie team, but hondo got jobbed out of his rookie cup (which was actually a trophy back in 1961).  teammate tommy davis has the trophy on his card, but for some reason, topps left it off of howard's.  i believe that he is the only member of the all-rookie team to not get the trophy on his card.

1962 topps duke snider

here's the silver fox on his final topps card as a dodger.  luckily for me, his 1963 topps card (which is a high number) lists him as a member of the mets so i don't 'have' to bother.  this is a nice card for duke to go out on - a pensive look from within the walls of the coliseum.

1963 topps johnny podres

i should be on the lookout for an upgrade here.  podres' card is one of the few (moose skowron's is another that comes to mind) dodger card from 1963 to have the blue bottom.  i like it better than the more prevalent green or red.

1965 topps john roseboro

roseboro's card has that weird blue border up top.  i've never seen one that was orange all the way around.  by the way, i am very excited for next year's heritage release.  very excited.

1966 topps willie davis

the 3-dog here is a high number (535), so it took me a while to track down at a price i was willing to pay.  the corners are a bit soft, but it fits in my collection nicely.  now if only i could find a photo of davis in an angels' uniform, i could get to making that final tribute card that he never got.

1970 topps maury wills

this card, of course, is wills' first official topps card as a dodger (he's on one of the 1959 world series recap cards in the 1960 set).  which reminds me - a while ago i posted all of the topps cards that should have been of the 1962 league mvp and asked if there were any similar cards folks wanted to see.  three people responded so i'll probably take a stab at making each of the cards that they requested.  they are:

a 1951 or 1952 card of artie wilson (padrographs)
a 1983 card of harold reynolds (mariner1)
a 1979 card of jim bouton (dayf)

but, since a 1968 topps deckle edge wills was at stake, i need to designate a winner.  random.org tells me that the card goes to...

...dayf.

i'll get something thrown together sometime soon.

someday my prince will come

back in the day, topps, with their 726 card set, made cards for middle relievers and third string catchers.  the dodger team set from 1978 features three catchers (steve yeager, jerry grote, and johnny oates) and several relievers (terry forster, charlie hough, elias sosa, lance rautzhan, and mike garman).  then, sometime in the 1990's, there was no love for the non-starters, and in many cases, non-stars. 

topps and fleer and donruss and upper deck and everyone else figured i would much rather have multiple mike piazza cards than get a single card of a guy like tom prince.  thankfully, we have 1998 pacific online.

in 1997, prince played in 47 games while piazza starred for the dodgers in what was an mvp-worthy season.  in his 5 seasons as a dodger, that was the greatest number of games in which prince had played, and this pacific card may be the only one produced by any of the card companies.  he played in 3 games at atlanta in '97, but i am too lazy to look them up to see which game may have conjured up the photo used on his card.

i decided to send a copy of this card off to prince c/o the pirates, for whom he works these days as the manager of their gulf coast team.  more about that later.  here are some other gems from the dodger set.
darren hall

hall pitched in 63 games for the dodgers in 1997.  his 2.30 era was second only to antonio osuna's 2.19 that year on the dodger staff.  still, no darren hall cards other than this one.
did you know thomas howard played for the dodgers in 1998? or ever?

i don't blame you if you didn't.  thomas joined the team as a free agent prior to the season but was released at the end of june after hitting a forgettable .184 in 47 games.  thank you pacific for recognizing his service as a dodger, as bad as it was.
scott radinsky

that is a nice looking card, except for the web addresses and all the frivolous pacific glitz.  it's a nice photo i guess is what i am saying.  radinsky did get a 1999 fleer card, but he was on his way to the cardinals on that one.  i also sent a card to radinsky c/o the indians, but haven't heard back.

so, back to prince.  i sent the card to him in september of 2010 after seeing some successes on sports card forum.  almost 13 months later, he returned the card, signed nicely.

awesome.  thanks, pacific, for the backup catcher love.  i miss the old topps.  and topps total.

the evolution of the right fielder

so far, i have covered the evolution of the dodgers through their managers, catchers, closers, center fielders, and left fielders.  i have even gone through the chain of out of place guys.  here's the first installment of the last of the outfield positions - right field.

carl furillo (1949-1958)

don't you just love 1952 bowman?  i do.  i have about a half dozen dodger cards from that set and they are awesome.  furillo was pretty good himself in right field for the dodgers during their final decade in brooklyn. he was nicknamed 'the reading rifle' in deference to his throwing arm, and he led the league in outfield assists twice - first in 1950 with 18 and then in 1951 with 24.  he also led the league in batting with a .344 average in 1953.  furillo, or the idea of a player like furillo, is one of the reasons i liked the dodgers so much growing up.  he was a guy who played one position for one team, and played it well, for nearly a decade.  unfortunately, even the dodgers ran their team like a business and dumped furillo fairly unceremoniously when injuries limited his effectiveness.

duke snider (1959)

the silver fox slid over to right from center for the 1959 season. actually, the dodgers went with a right field committee of snider, furillo, ron fairly and others, but the duke got the bulk of the playing time.  it was his last big season, too.  he hit 23 home runs, drove in 88 and had an average of .308 in 126 games.  in the postseason, as the dodgers won their second world championship, he hit his final world series home run, giving him 11 for his career which at the time was second only to babe ruth (mickey mantle also had 11 heading into the 1960's).

frank howard (1960-1964)

hondo had enjoyed a cup of coffee with the big club in both 1958 and 1959, but stuck around for good in 1960.  he took over in right field en route to being named the national league's rookie of the year with 23 homers, 77 rbi and a .268 batting average.  in 1961, playing time in right was split amongst howard, fairly, tommy davis, and a cast of others like gordie windhorn.  still, howard got the majority of the playing time, and he remained the primary right fielder for the dodgers until he was traded to the senators after the 1964 season.

ron fairly (1965-1968)

with howard gone and wes parker in the mix, fairly moved from first to right. in fairly's first year as the primary right fielder, the dodgers won their 4th world series title in 11 years, and fairly was a big part of it.  in the fall classic against the twins, fairly scored 7 times and hit .375 with 2 home runs and 6 rbi. he didn't fare quite as well in the 1966 world series, as he was stymied by the baltimore pitching staff just like the rest of the team.  when fairly was traded to the expos a couple of months into the 1969 season, the dodgers moved andy kosco over from left field to replace him.

andy kosco (1969-1970)

kosco hit 19 home runs in 1969 to lead the team.  however, he was batting .274 when he made the switch to right, and by the end of june, about 20 games later, he was hitting right around .250.  in 1970, he continued to struggle, hitting just .228 as the dodgers gave him just slightly more starts in right than either willie crawford or bill russell.  in february of 1971, the dodgers sent kosco to the brewers for al downing, and opened up right field for a kid named bill buckner.

bill buckner (1971)

buckner's eyebrows are fairly tame on his 1971 dell today's team stamp.  billy buck spent just over half of the season out in right for the dodgers, and he hit .277 in 108 total games played.  buckner hit his first career home run and later in the season hit his first career grand slam.  he continued to patrol the outfield in the following years, but gave up his majority stake in right when the dodgers acquired frank robinson in december of 1971.

frank robinson (1972)

there aren't too many cards of frank robinson in a dodger uniform from the period (actually, there is only his 1972 topps high number card) so i'm using a 1972 team issued postcard.  anyway, frobby spent one year in la and it was the worst season of his career to that point.  he played in a then-career low 103 games (starting 86 times in right) and hit only 6 doubles.  he did have 19 home runs, but his batting average was just .251 and he sported a career worst ops of .795, eclipsed only in his final year when he was a player-manager at the age of 40.  this was the guy who had finished third in the al mvp balloting in two of the previous three seasons, and finished 10th in the voting the other year.  it would have been understandable had robinson been in his last year, like the aging rickey henderson that spent his final playing days as a dodger, but after the dodgers traded him to the angels, robinson rebounded with a huge offensive year.  at least the dodgers got andy messersmith out of the deal.

willie crawford (1973-1975)

willie crawford took over in right having spent significant time there already in the previous seasons.  the hometown star hit .295 in each of his first two seasons as the team's primary right fielder.  in 1974, he helped the dodgers return to the postseason and the world series for the first time since 1966.  in the fall classic against the a's, crawford hit .333 with a home run, but the dodgers lost in 5 games.  after the 1975 season, the dodgers decided to give joe ferguson a shot as the full-time right fielder since they had given the catching job to steve yeager, and crawford was deemed expendable.  he was dealt to the cardinals for former dodger rookie of the year ted sizemore, straight up.

reggie smith (1976-1980)

part way through the 1976 season, the dodgers decided to trade joe ferguson to the cardinals for reggie smith. he hit .280 with 10 home runs after the trade, and really made an impact the next two years.  in 1977, reggie was one of the four dodgers to hit 30 home runs in a season, putting his 32 long balls up with steve garvey, ron cey, and dusty baker.  he also hit .307 and led the league with a .427 obp.  it's no coincidence that the dodgers went to the world series that year and in 1978 with smith again providing serious offensive pop.  he missed some significant time in 1979, but still spent more time in right than any of the von joshua-gary thomasson-pedro guerrero and others cavalcade of replacements.  he reclaimed his spot in the lineup for the 1980 season and was hitting .323 when his season was essentially ended by injury at the end of july.  it took a while for smith to get back, but he was able to be on the dodgers' postseason roster in 1981 and was rewarded with the only world series championship of his career.

smith's replacement in right was series co-mvp, pedro guerrero.  he'll lead off the evolution in part 2.