a smattering of dodger cards

it is time again for a post of random dodger cards from my collection, and more importantly, from my scanned file.  we'll start with darryl strawberry on a 1974 topps design from 1992 sports collector's digest

prior to archives or heritage, this was the only way we saw the stars (or disappointments) of today on the designs of yesterday.

1993 topps stadium club dodgers pedro martinez

and mike sharperson

with the dodgers playing the rangers, and delino deshields jr being on the rangers, vin scully told a story about the pedro martinez/delino deshields trade last night during the telecast.  he noted that when traveling secretary billy delury (who passed away earlier this year) called deshields to tell him he was now a dodger, his congratulatory remarks were met with a baby crying in the background and deshields saying "even the baby thinks it was a bad trade".  vin finished the story by noting that the crying baby was delino deshields jr, and so i miss regularly hearing vin call games even more.

1999 upper deck chan ho park

1999 was an off year for park - his era was well over 5 - but he still managed 13 wins.  he was only 25, and i thought he would eventually be the team's ace.  i was wrong.

2000 pacific invincible eric gagne

my favorite pacific release ever.  crazy cards and inserts.

2001 topps tom goodwin

from his second stint with the dodgers

2002 upper deck ultimate collection gary sheffield

just when you get comfortable with sheff on your favorite team thanks to his .998 ops over four years, he demands a trade.

2003 bowman chrome eric riggs

not to be confused with late 90's prospect adam riggs.  this riggs didn't make it to the majors, unfortunately.

2003 upper deck honor roll kazuhisa ishii

ishii had an era under 4 in 2003 despite a whip over 1.50 and a walks allowed total of 101 in 147 innings.  he had similar whip and walk totals the previous year, when his era was 4.27.  those kinds of numbers usually don't earn you a spot on the honor roll.

2003 topps retired signature tom lasorda

manager cards with inset photos are tough, because there just isn't much variation in managerial photographs.  here, topps opted for similar poses, but the inset picture comes from an earlier point in tommy's time as the club's manager. on a side note, anytime topps wants to bring this set back, i'm in, although i don't think they can issue a set featuring solely non-active players anymore.  too bad for us.

sunday morning target dodgers - double dutch and an oyster. or, more guys i know nothing about.

i actually enjoy it when a sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger set features 15 players (in this case 14 because wally hood was a double dipper who gets a separate post) i know very little (or in this case nothing) about.  off to baseball-reference!

morrie aderholt

aderholt played for the dodgers in 1944 and 1945 after some success with their farm team in montreal.  he had played in the infield for the washington senators in a few games in each season from 1939 through 1941, but the dodgers used him exclusively in the outfield.  he left brooklyn during the 1945 season after being claimed on waivers by the braves, and finished his playing career by hitting .333 in boston over the remainder of that campaign.  aderholt returned to the senators' organization as a minor league manager and then scout until he died of a heart attack at the age of 39 in 1955.

ray berres

berres began his major league career by playing in 39 games for the dodgers in 1934.  he returned to the big leagues in 1936 as the dodgers' primary catcher, playing in 105 games and hitting .240.  berres went on to become a successful pitching coach for the chicago white sox, serving in that capacity from 1949-1966, and again from 1968-1969.  he passed away in 2007 at the age of 99.

oyster burns

this card reminds me of those upper deck 'draw your own card' inserts from the mid-1990's.  burns was an original brooklyn bridegroom, playing for the 1890 team in its first season as a national league franchise.  he led the league with 13 home runs and 128 rbi that season as the bridegrooms won the pennant.  burns' brooklyn career actually began in 1888, and it lasted into the 1895 season.  in all, he hit  and even .300 as a member of the brooklyn franchise.

mal eason

eason's card feels like a lesson in pointillism.  eason completed 38 of his 53 starts for the superbas over his two seasons with the franchise (1905 and 1906), but compiled a record of just 15 wins and 38 losses.  eason also pitched for the chicago orphans (later known as the cubs), the boston beaneaters (later the doves, rustlers, and then the braves), and the detroit tigers.

dutch jordan

jordan was with the superbas in 1903 and 1904, his only two seasons in the major leagues.  his career average was .208, with an ops of just .518.  immediately following his playing days, jordan became a minor league manager.

jim korwan

baseball-reference notes that korwan's nickname was 'long jim', but they don't say why.  his tenure with the brooklyn franchise consisted of a single game for the 1894 grooms.  he pitched 5 innings in relief on  april 24, 1894, giving up 14 runs (8 earned) for an era of 14.40.  he trimmed his career era in half (to 6.92) three years later by pitching for the cubs in a handful of games in 1897 to the tune of a 5.82 era.  two years later, korwan died from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

lew riggs

riggs was an all-star third baseman for the reds in 1936 and won a ring with them in 1940.  the following year, he was in brooklyn playing third for the dodgers.  he hit .305 that season, helping brooklyn win the pennant although they lost the world series to the yankees.  riggs suited up for the dodgers again in 1942, and then went off to war.  he returned to the club for a single game in 1946 to wrap up his playing career.

sergio robles

that photo of robles is as grainy as the bigfoot photo, but there is evidence that robles existed and even played for the dodgers.  he came close to being a double dipper, as he was originally drafted by the dodgers but was traded to the orioles in the frank robinson deal before he could reach the big leagues.  after cups of coffee with the o's in 1971 and 1972, robles eventually found his way back to los angeles in 1976. he appeared in five september games as a late inning replacement behind the plate, going 0 for 3 at the dish.  his last two games featured him catching dodger closer charlie hough, and to his credit, robles allowed only two passed balls while trying to tame the knuckleball.

andy rush

rush was a member of the 1925 brooklyn robins, pitching in four games and earning a record of 0-1 with a 9.31 era.  that was the sum total of his major league experience.

george shoch

shoch had a fantastic mustache, and he played for the grooms/bridegrooms from 1893 through 1897.  those were the final five seasons of his 11-year career, and he hit .281 in 381 games for brooklyn during that span.

gene snyder

snyder was traded by the phillies to the dodgers after the 1958 season as part of the package in exchange for sparky anderson.  his only big league experience came the following season as he pitched in 11 games for the world champion dodgers.  snyder earned his only big league win in his major league debut (a relief appearance against the cardinals), and then suffered his only big league loss in his very next outing (a relief appearance against the reds).

dutch stryker

stryker, the second 'dutch' on this sheet, pitched in two games for the 1926 brooklyn robins.  he posted a 27.00 era as a robin which was somewhat tempered by the fact that he earned no decisions in either game.  his only other big league experience came in 1924 as a member of the boston braves.  i believe stryker is shown here in a boston uniform as that's the only way i know of that the black armband makes sense.  i'll address that in a separate memorials post somewhere down the line.

eddie wilson

wilson was a mid-season call-up for the dodgers in 1936 who hit .347 in 52 games over the latter part of the season.  he started the 1937 season with the dodgers, but was sent down a couple of weeks into the season after a slow start.  he returned to the majors later in the season, but did not duplicate his previous success, and finished his big league career with hitless pinch-hit performance on the final day of the 1937 season.

hank winston

winston pitched in one game for the 1933 philadelphia a's and then waited until 1936 to get another taste of the big leagues.   he made it into 14 games for the dodgers in '36, going 1-3 with a 6.12 era.  unfortunately for winston, that was all she wrote as far as a big league playing career was concerned.

double play deja vu

i was looking through my 2003 binder recently when i noticed that topps took the photo that was on eric riggs' 2003 traded

and chrome traded

cards, and slapped in on his 2003 topps total card, too.

it's a nice double play turn, and the design of total gives us the most complete look at it, but it looks like topps felt a little guilty about recycling the photo, as they 'painted' a stripe on the outfield wall to try to make it look a little bit different.

now, in 2014, topps gave us this chase utley double play turn in their opening day release (series 2 version coming soon)

and then shrunk it down on a 2014 gypsy queen mini variation

they didn't modify the modell's ad on the wall, though.

here's a rod carew card from 2008 topps triple threads

that uses the same photo from a topps archives fan favorites release

so what? topps using the same photos over and over is not news.  i'm just trying to show some double play cards here.

here are a couple of cards featuring kaz matsui that use different photos, thank goodness.  this is his 2008 upper deck first edition card

and this is a 2010 bowman card

here's hanley ramirez on his 2011 topps marquee card

and i'll bring this post to a close with a pair of cards from 1996 upper deck collector's choice - royce clayton

and arquimedez pozo

believe it or not, i still have about 50 or so double play cards in the collection that i haven't shown here yet.  i'll keep trying to get there...

what can nick do for you?

obviously, the title up there is a play on the slogan for ups - what can brown do for you.  nick, in this case, is everyone's favorite dime box digger, and proprietor of the blog that got my vote for blog of the year last year.  and what he can do for you is send you some great cards that you didn't even know that you needed.  including some cards of, you guessed it, kevin brown.  so my play on words doesn't really work, but it's late at night and i need to get this trade post cranked out and scheduled.

this here is a 1999 fleer mystique card

that nick found for me in what i assume to be a dime box.  or maybe it's a flea market find.  or a yard sale pickup.  who knows.  this next one looks like he had to go into the matrix to set it free. it's a 2000 topps own the game insert of kevin brown

this same insert appeared in topps chrome and topps limited releases that year.  yes, topps gave us a crossover parallel insert set.  very strange.  the precursor to upper deck's starquest and that yankee history megaset from a few years back.

nick also found a couple of upper deck cards of gary sheffield that used the same photo.  compare this 2000 upper deck ovation superstar theater insert

with this 2000 upper deck ultimate victory card

kind of the 'topps stars' effect, if you know what i mean.

nick located some cards of a great dodger from yesteryear who doesn't get a lot of play from the card companies - tommy davis.  this is a 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts card

and this one is a 2013 panini golden age card

these go well with the golden age auto i received from too many verlanders recently.

another dodger from the early los angeles days that we don't see too often is john roseboro.  nick found a 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts card of him, too.

the dodgers had a nice group of players in that set, with the likes of bill russell, dusty baker, tommy lasaorda, reggie smith, and steve garvey joining the usual reese-campy-robinson-drysdale types.

here's a very shiny 2004 bowman's best chin-lung hu card that i had not seen before opening the envelope from nick

at first i thought is was a chin-feng chen card because it seemed more like a late 1990's bowman's best  card.  of course, chen was still with the dodgers in 2004, while hu was just in his first year of a ball.

up next is a 2003 upper deck play ball dolph camilli reprint

this is a reprint of the 1941 play ball issue, and i believe the photo is the same one used for camilli's 1961 fleer card.  it is interesting to me that the world's fair patch was 'removed' in both the original and this reprint play ball release.  of course, it may not be the same photo, and this could just be camilli's signature pose.  kind of like how don sutton 'suttons'.

last, but not least, nick found me a card from the 1977-80 tcma the war years set.  it's the first one of these in my collection, too.  this is lewis riggs

riggs was a third baseman who joined the dodgers in 1941 after a few successful seasons in cincinnati (he was part of their 1940 world championship club), and he helped the dodgers reach the fall classic that year.  in 1942, riggs joined the armed forces and served for three years during world war ii.  he returned to the dodgers in 1946, appearing in just one game before the team released him.   i knew none of this before i saw this card and looked riggs up.

so, that's what nick can do for you - find a bunch of cool cards that inspire you to learn about history.  i can't wait for my next lesson.  thanks for the cards nick!

hairston styles

hey! happy new year, everybody!  i want to kick 2013 off right, so i'll show a nice looking dodger card - it features jerry hairston jr. on a 2012 topps update card

a dodger stadium play at the plate.  hairston played some middle infield for the dodgers last year, and turned about 20 double plays.  as much as i like the photo on the above card, a dp turn would have been nice.  hairston still has one more year on his contract with the dodgers so there's hope i suppose.  you can probably guess that i still haven't finished posting all of my double play cards, some of which feature none other than jerry hairston jr.  like his 2003 topps card

and his 2004 topps card

and his 2006 upper deck card

and then there is the double play-errific miguel tejada on this 2005 upper deck espn web gems insert

back to the 2003 topps set, we have pokey reese with an appearance by todd walker

and then we have todd walker returning the dp favor, this time to the giants

i am ok with that.

in the 2003 topps traded set, we got a card of dodger prospect eric riggs turning two

while wearing maury wills' number.  riggs never did make it to the big leagues, although he put together a couple of decent looking seasons at aaa las vegas.

finally, here's a 2009 topps chrome orlando hudson card, featuring a lurking juan castro

this is a refractor parallel, and i like how the empty seats add some nice color to the card.  it looks like a diamondback player is getting forced at second, in case you are curious.

stay tuned for even more double play cards.  there are more than i first thought.