i have many leather bound books and this card that looks of rich mahogany

actually, this 2005 bowman heritage brad penny mahogany parallel

does not really look like rich mahagony, but this post needed a catchy title.  after all, it's just a random cards from the scanned folder post.

here's a 2002 upper deck adrian beltre card

it features a pretty standard photo angle at dodger stadium - a nice photo of a right-handed batter taken from the first base dugout photographer's well.  we've seen it before, many times, like on bill madlock's 1986 woolworth's card

and raul mondesi's 2000 topps opening day card

other stadiums have the same vantage point, including the nameless stadium that provided the backdrop for this 1994 upper deck sp holo fx mondesi card

and, not all batters from that vantage point are right-handed, either.  case in point, this 2003 upper deck odalis perez card

complete with visible undie lines.

here's a better card of perez from 2005 upper deck

the home whites look really sharp on that card.

back to 2003, fred mcgriff's upper deck card from that year

makes good use of the horizontal design, thanks to the stratified seats at vero beach.

this 2003 upper deck 40 man card of beltre is almost a tatooine card

spoiled only by that little bit of grass by his left foot.

here's a 2010 topps 206 james loney card

it is a bronze parallel, i believe.  i was a fan of the 206 set when topps first released it in 2002 (loney had a card in that set, too).  not so much in 2010.  i have a partially completed 2002 set, in fact.  i will have to get my want list posted and take a run at finishing it.

finally, here is a 2008 etopps manny ramirez card

i picked this up cheap online sometime last year.  i am guessing that a lot of people had topps ship their cards after it was announced that etopps was ending.  i had bought a few cards from etopps in the early 2000's, but always had them shipped.  i didn't understand the idea of not having the physical card.

until the next time i am hurting for a post, stay classy scanned folder.

sunday morning target dodgers

the undisputed star of this week's sheet (although not the only hall of famer) is sandy koufax.

over the last 6 seasons of koufax's career, his record was 129-47 with a 2.16 era.  he struck out 1713 batters, threw 1632.2 innings, hurled 115 complete games, and weaved 4 no-hitters.  he also won an mvp award, three cy youngs, and two world championships.  has there ever been a better or more impressive run for a pitcher?

jim barbieri

barbieri spent half of one season in the big leagues.  he was called up in july of 1966, and stayed with the dodgers for the remainder of the season, including the world series.  he hit .280 during the regular season, but was 0 for 1 in the fall classic.  still, he became the first player to have appeared in the little league world series and the major league world series, and he also got a card in the 1967 topps set.

ed brandt

brandt pitched for the braves from 1928 through 1935 (he was a teammate of babe ruth's that last year) before joining the dodgers for a single season in 1936.  as a dodger, he was 11-13 in 38 appearances, and was traded to the pirates after the season ended.  a few years after his retirement, brandt died at the age of 39 after being hit by a car while crossing the street.

tommy corcoran

corcoran played shortstop for the bridegrooms during the 1890's - from 1892 through 1896 to be exact. his best season out of the 18 he played came for brooklyn in 1894 when he hit .300 and scored 123 runs.

henry cruz

cruz obviously played for the white sox, but before that, he was a dodger.  in fact, he played more games as a dodger from 1975 through 1976 than he did as a member of the white sox from 1977 to 1978.  in 102 games with the blue, cruz hit 4 homers with 19 rbi and a .225 average, while in 69 games with chicago, he hit 4 homers with 15 rbi and a .235 average.  there are a couple of cards of cruz in a dodger uniform - he's got an sspc card from 1975 (or 1976 depending on how you catalog it), and he shows up on a 4-player rookie card in 1976 topps as well.  oddly enough, cruz is one of two players from the virgin islands to show up on this sheet.

jay johnstone

johnstone was a dodger double dipper, but i have already told that tale.  instead of rehashing that, i will note that all three of his home runs in 1981 came as a pinch hitter, which is not really a surprise.  the first two came in consecutive at bats, however, which is interesting but not as impressive as del unser and lee lacy hitting home runs in three consecutive pinch hitting appearances.

john kennedy

kennedy was acquired by the dodgers as part of the big trade with the senators following the 1964 season.  good timing on his part, as he played for the national league champions in both 1965 and 1966, winning a world series ring in '65.  kennedy saw action in both postseasons with the dodgers, and was traded to the yankees following the 1966 series.  interestingly enough, this john kennedy was born on may 29, 1941 - 24 years to the day after president john f. kennedy was born.

bill madlock

madlock was a 4-time national league batting champ who joined the dodgers for the pennant run in 1985.  he helped the team reach the nlcs that year, hitting .360 after joining the club, and then hit .333 with 3 homers and 7 rbi in the championship series against the cardinals. unfortunately, madlock wasn't able to direct tommy lasorda to not pitch to jack clark with first base open, and the dodgers lost the series.  madlock returned to the team for the entire 1986 season, but was released by the team following a slow start in 1987.

al mcbean

mcbean is the second player on this sheet to hail from the virgin islands.  he is from st. thomas, while cruz is from st. croix.  anyway, mcbean was a dodger for parts of two seasons - 1969 and 1970.  he joined the dodgers following a one game stint as an original padre in 1969 and went 2-6 in 31 games for the blue.  in 1970, he appeared in just one game for the dodgers before being released which was strange because he threw a scoreless inning in that game.  he signed with the pirates following his release, and returned to pittsburgh where he had pitched for the first 8 seasons of his career.

joe orengo

orengo came to the dodgers in a midseason swap with the new york giants back in 1943.  the dodgers gave up dolph camilli in the deal, and later in the season they wound up sending orengo to the saint paul saints, who would become the dodgers' aa affiliate the following year.  in between, he appeared in 7 games as a dodger,  hitting .200 in 19 plate appearances.

doug rau

dougie was a pitcher on the team of my youth, and i saw him pitch in person quite a few times.  he won at least 13 games every season from 1974 through 1978, and helped the dodgers to the postseason in three of those campaigns.  unfortunately, an arm injury effectively ended his career in 1979, although he did return to the majors for a short stint with the angels in 1981.  he's probably best known for trying to convince tommy lasorda to let him stay in the game during an argument (warning - tommy and rau and even davey lopes all have potty mouths) on the mound in the 1977 world series.

mike vail

like cruz earlier, vail is obviously not shown wearing a dodger uniform.  i suppose this can be forgiven, as vail appeared in only 16 games for the dodgers after he was acquired during to the 1984 season.  he was just 1 for 16 in those games, but at least his lone hit was a walk-off single against the cardinals on july 6.

gus weyhing

weyhing joined the brooklyn superbas during the 1900 season and was 3-4 in 8 games pitched.  until former dodger mike morgan came along, weyhing held the distinction of having pitched for the most number of teams (11).  which reminds me, i need to get to my travels of mike morgan post someday.

hoyt wilhelm

so we start and end the post with hall of famers.  wilhelm ended his hall of fame career with the dodgers in 1972.  he managed 1 save in his final season, which was ended when the dodgers released him - just a few days shy of his 50th birthday.

you may have noticed that there were only 14 cards featured in this post - that's because, once again, one of the players featured was a double dipper.  he'll get a separate post later on.

first, there was a turn of two

i recently completed a trade with brad's blog that i initiated after seeing not a piece of dodger trade bait, but rather a 2012 topps chrome sepia parallel of jason kipnis turning two

i didn't have a dp sepia parallel in the dp collection (it's numbered to 75) and i don't think i had previously traded with brad.    those are two good reasons to trade right there.  and, after looking around, i saw that he had a few nice dodger items on his trade bait page.  before we get to those cards, here are a few other dodgers that brad added to the pot.

1999 topps mark grudzielanek mvp promotion

i had never seen or heard of these cards prior to opening the package.  they were randomly inserted into series 1 and 2 packs - 100 of each card.  if the card you pulled matched the player determined by topps to be the 'mvp of the week', you could redeem the card for a complete set of mvp of the week cards.  sounds like upper deck predictor or crash the game stuff to me.  to find out who the mvp's were for any given week, you had to check topps' website. since this was 1999, topps also gave you the option to call a toll-free number.  i am guessing that grudz was not named a mvp of the week by topps.

here's the back of a 1996 fleer ultra todd worrell card

because the front only had one photo of worrell, and who doesn't think that three images are better than one?

well, then, how about 5 and a half photos of kevin brown on this 2000 upper deck ionix card?

granted, 4 and a half of those are the same.

on to the trade bait.  first, here's a 2004 donruss world series orel hershiser jersey card

something i have noticed over the years is that bulldog autos and (most of the time) relics have held their relative value.  i haven't come across any in the bargain 'hit' bins to be sure.

2011 topps chrome ivan dejesus jr auto

i appreciate the fact that he embellishes his autograph, not with his uniform number, but with 'pr' for puerto rico, his birthplace.  i wonder if anyone ever told dejesus jr that history repeats.  his dad signed his first professional contract with the dodgers and was later traded away as part of a deal for mike garman and rick monday.  not quite 40 years later, dejesus jr is drafted by the dodgers and later traded away in a deal for josh beckett, carl crawford, adrian gonzalez, and nick punto.  hopefully history repeats again, and dejesus jr is able to land somewhere (he's currently a free agent) and have a productive career like his old man.

the last bit of cardboard to showcase is this 2007 upper deck legendary cuts bill madlock relic

we don't see too many dodger cards of the mad dog, so it was nice of upper deck to make a couple back in 2007.

thanks for the trade, brad! let me know when you get the dodger trade bait replenished!

the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part three

the hot corner merry go round following the trade of ron cey really gets going now...

here's the story using baseball cards.

german rivera (1984 - second half)

rivera started 71 games for the dodgers at third base in 1984, and appeared there in another 19 contests. this was after pedro guerrero, who had started 72 games at third, was moved back to the outfield in what i believe was an attempt to kick start his offense.  it seemed to work, as petey hit 10 homers and raised his average from .277 to .303 after moving back to the grass.  as for rivera, he hit only 2 homers with 17 rbi, and was returned to the minors for the 1985 season before being traded to houston for enos cabell.  it's worth (to me) noting that rivera is in the ted lilly/scott proctor/shane victorino group of almost dodger double dippers.  he was signed by the dodgers, went to another organization, and later returned.  if only he had played for the dodgers before being drafted by oakland in the rule v draft...

other folks to try their hand at third in 1984 included bob bailor, rafael landestoy, candy maldonado, and this next guy - dave anderson.

dave anderson (1985)

39 starts, 36 complete games, 51 total appearances at third.  that's what anderson logged in 1985.  bob bailor had 18, 12, and 45 respectively.  enos cabell? 29, 15, 32.  bill madlock, a midseason acquisition had 32, 14, 32.  bill russell made 5 appearances at third, steve sax spent three innings there in a game, and even len matuszek manned the hot corner for the grand total of one inning in 1985 for the dodgers.  the person who logged the most starts and innings at third for the dodgers in 1985 was actually pedro guerrero, who had 44 starts, 42 complete games, and 44 total appearances.  i'll leave anderson there by virtue of his total number of games played at third, but know that 1985 was an unholy mess for the dodgers at third base.

bill madlock (1986)

yes, i know that's a card from 1987.  oh well.  madlock started and appeared in 101 games at third base for the dodgers in 1986.  he hit .280 with 10 homers and 60 rbi, but he was 35 and we knew it wouldn't last.  he was released by the dodgers in may of 1987 and finished his career that year with the detroit tigers.

mickey hatcher (1987)

hatcher had been released by the twins prior to the start of the 1987 season, and signed with the dodgers a week or so into the season.  he played third for the dodgers in 49 games in '87, 42 of which he started.  this made him a true dodger double dipper, by the way.  in addition to madlock and hatcher, the dodgers also had anderson (11 starts), sax, phil garner (29 starts), craig shipley, alex trevino (!), mike sharperson, brad wellman, tracy woodson (33 starts), and jeff hamilton (23 starts) spend time at third in 1987.

jeff hamilton (1988-1989)

even though that's a 1988 donruss card i used for hamilton, i like it.  the dodger stadium left field pavilion and diamondvision in the background, along with the 'mac' patch on his shoulder for coach don mcmahon means that it fits into a few different collections of mine.

as for hamilton the third baseman, he started 80 games there in 1988 and was the dodgers' third baseman in the world series that year.  he followed that championship season with a whopping 140 starts at third for the dodgers in 1989.  he also had the rare honor that year of suffering a loss as a pitcher.  hamilton took the loss in a 22-inning affair against the astros - a game that also featured fernando valenzuela at first base and eddie murray at third.

hamilton began the 1990 season as the dodgers' third baseman, but his bid to end the revolving door ended when he tore his rotator cuff just a few days into the season.

mike sharperson (1990)

sharperson took over for the injured hamilton, and made 75 starts at third over the course of the season, appearing there in a total of 106 games. sharpy was essentially part of a platoon with lenny harris, who started 74 games there that year, and took over the majority of the playing time in 1991.

lenny harris (1991)

harris claimed this spot in the evolutionary chain by starting 89 games at third in 1991.  he was just keeping the spot warm until the next guy came along.

dave hansen (1992)

yes, dave hansen (another double dipper) was the primary third baseman on the worst los angeles dodger team in history.  the team lost 99 games that year - the first time the franchise had lost 90 since 1944 - and finished 35 games behind the atlanta braves.  i'm not suggesting that it was hansen's fault.  he started 98 games at third that year, and hit .214, by the way.  there were plenty of underperformers on that team.  on a side note, i appreciate that, even early in his career, leaf was already recognizing hansen as a pinch hitter - something that he would excel at throughout his career.

tim wallach (1993-1995)

the dodgers acquired wallach from the expos in a trade prior to the 1993 season.  he started over 100 games at third for them in both 1993 and 1994, and then made 92 more starts there in 1995.  after a brief stint with the angels to start the 1996 season, he returned to the dodgers (yes, another double dipper), and reclaimed the position from the injured mike blowers.

i'll get into the blowers era next time.

mad dog 12 12

bill madlock was a four-time national league batting champion, and he toiled for the dodgers toward the end of his career.  the mad dog actually hit pretty well after being acquired late in the 1985 season - .360 - and helped the dodgers get to the nlcs.  he hit .333 with 3 home runs in the series against the cardinals, too.  he was with the dodgers in 1986 and part of 1987, as well, but is not usually remembered as a boy in blue.

brad's blog recently picked up some relics in one of thorzul's breaks, and we worked out a trade.  i received this card from 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts

and this jeff kent card from 2008 upper deck spectrum

both of these guys wore number 12, hence my attempt at a clever title for this post.  thanks for the trade,  brad!

in other news, today is the day i feature the fantastic bill madlock 1977 o-pee-chee variation over at oh my o-pee-chee.  go ahead, check it out!

2012: some trade oddities

there are two dodger short prints in the 2012 topps archives release.  one is a sandy koufax card and the other is brett butler.  i am still in need of the koufax, but tom from waiting 'til next year was kind enough to send me the butler

the rest of the package was made up mostly of oddball cards, which was great.  there were a lot of cards that i had not seen before, like this brett butler card from 1992 topps kids

it's pretty cool, actually.  the cartoon guys in the dugout remind me of the bazooka inserts from the mid-2000's. i wonder if the artist consciously drew a guy sleeping in the dugout because tommy lasorda was supposedly known to nod off now and then during a game.

there aren't a whole lot of bill madlock as a dodger cards aside from his regular issue donruss/fleer/topps cards from 1986 and 1987.  here's a 1987 sportflics card featuring the two-time national league batting champ

same goes for john tudor, who was with the dodger for a short time (only 15 appearances over 1988 and 1989).  here's his 1989 sportflics card

there are even fewer tudor as a dodger cards as he was not even featured in the flagship releases of donruss, fleer, or topps in 1990. both fleer and topps included him in their update/traded sets that year, but by that time, tudor was back with the cardinals.

how about a 1989 score young superstars tim belcher card?

and a 1990 topps toys 'r' us john wetteland card?

both of them supremely oddball.  and, both were cards missing from my collection.

here's a 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card of orel hershiser

the bulldog is just sitting on a milk crate in dodger stadium.  no big deal.  his pose belies the excitement that one might anticipate from a card touting 'exciting stars'.

and then there is this 1990 fleer baseball mvp card of hershiser

this was a set that didn't actually feature mvp's exclusively, although hershiser did win that award in the 1988 nlcs and world series.  still, one might have expected kirk gibson (the 1988 national league mvp) to make an appearance in the set.  he did not.

finally, there was this 1991 topps mike scioscia glossy all-star insert

i had no idea this card existed prior to seeing it in the package.  i am assuming it was a rack pack insert just like the glossy all-star cards had been dating back to 1985 (i believe).  always nice to have another scioscia card in the collection.

thanks tom for a really odd (in a good way) trade!