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.

the topps dodger autograph project - the eary 1970's

now we are getting into the part of my topps dodger autograph project where i was around to see the cards released and the players on them play.  not that i saw them all, but you get the idea.  actually, i very vividly remember seeing jim campanis (the 1968 entry in this project) play, but that was in an old-timer's game at dodger stadium circa 1980 or so.

anyway, bring on the 1970's!

al mcbean, 1970 topps

mcbean signed that card for me back in 2009.  it's a shame i haven't shown it until now, as he has a very cool looking signature.  mcbean is one of only 11 people born in the virgin islands to have made it to the big leagues.  interestingly enough, three of those players (mcbean, henry cruz, and jose morales) have played for the dodgers.  mcbean arrived in los angeles via a 1969 trade with the padres.  he was 2-6 with 4 saves for the dodgers in 1969, and then pitched a single scoreless inning for them in 1970 before being released.  he finished his major league career later that season with a stint as a pirate.  other dodgers who have signed their 1970 topps cards for me include joe moeller, manny mota, bill buckner (with fee), bob stinson (with fee), billy grabarkewitz, bill singer (with fee), ted sizemore, jeff torborg, andy kosco, bill russell, len gabrielson, and bill sudakis (with fee).  i also have cards that were signed by jim brewer and wes parker from the set, but i purchased both of those from my local card shop back in the late 1970's.

sandy vance, 1971 topps

like mcbean, i've held off on showing this card for too long.  i've actually had two successes with vance (both 1971 topps cards, one of which i included in my trade with reader cory for the autographs he picked up for me at spring training and padres' games a couple of years ago).  vance was one of the players the dodgers selected in their historic 1968 drafts.  he was the team's second round pick in the june draft, after they took steve garvey in the first round.  while he quickly made it to the majors, vance appeared in only 30 games over the 1970 and 1971 seasons.  in his major league debut, vance got the start opposite future hall of famer tom seaver.  he didn't pitch too poorly (3 runs in 6 innings) but seaver held the dodgers to just one run and so vance took the loss.  his next time out, vance beat the expos 2-1 by pitching a complete game 4-hitter.  he made his final big league appearance in june of 1971 against the cubs.  other 1971 topps cards i have received signed through the mail include joe moeller, manny mota, claude osteen, bill russell, jeff torborg, billy grabarkewitz, von joshua, jerry stephenson, bill strahler, bobby valentine, and maury wills (with fee).

manny mota, 1972 topps

this is one of many, many manny mota cards that i have received from him through the mail.  he is the first member of the 1978 topps dodgers to be featured as part of this project, and his presence on those teams, as well as his connection to the dodgers since 1969, is a big reason why i have bothered him for his autograph so many times.  you can see some, but not all, of my ttm successes with manny mota in these here links.  other dodgers who have signed their 1972 topps cards for me through the mail include joe ferguson, claude osteen, bill buckner (with fee), wille davis (with fee), al downing, duke sims (with fee), mike strahler, bobby valentine, and maury wills (with fee).  i also have a ron cey rookie card signed by the penguin that i picked up from kit young cards long before i ever thought about ttm.

wes parker, 1973 topps

yes, that 1973 topps card you see above this text is signed by parker.  he is notorious for signing ttm free of charge but with a very light stroke of a ballpoint pen.  as long as you know this going in, it's all good.  i, for one, am just really happy that parker takes the time to sign at all.  i first saw him on a brady bunch rerun, and my mom pointed him out to me as the former dodger first baseman.  i have a couple other cards signed by the golden gloved first baseman, including that 1970 topps card i mentioned above, but his 1973 card is my favorite.  other dodgers to sign and return a copy of their 1973 topps cards to me include steve garvey, davey lopes (with fee), ken mcmullen, bill russell, red adams, willie davis (with fee), al downing, doug rau, and pete richert.

claude osteen, 1974 topps

osteen has signed a few cards for me through the mail, but i think this 1974 card of his might be my favorite.  other 1974 topps cards that former dodgers have signed for me through the mail include al downing, steve garvey, manny mota, ken mcmullen, joe ferguson, and pete richert.

i don't plan to include all of the topps traded and update sets as part of this project; they're kind of a bonus.  but, if i have them, i'll show them.  here's the first topps traded set, with the toy cannon representing.

jim wynn, 1974 topps traded

i've shown this card before, and i am still very happy to have it in my collection.  wynn is the only dodger in the traded set that signs through the mail without an exorbitant fee (dr. mike marshall).  the other dodger in the set, tommie agee, passed away in 2001.

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen

1965 topps - dick tracewski

1966 topps - john kennedy

1967 topps - phil regan

1968 topps - jim campanis

1969 topps - jeff torborg

1970 topps - al mcbean

1971 topps - sandy vance

1972 topps - manny mota

1973 topps - wes parker

1974 topps - claude osteen

1974 topps traded - jim wynn

something something something gray borders, something something something complete

39 years after it first hit the streets, the 1970 topps complete set is now mine. i started putting the set together about 10 years ago or so. it's kind of a boring set, but it's my birth year so what are you going to do.

here are some of the last few cards i needed. enjoy.

al mcbean. i had one of these in my topps dodger collection, but not for the set. did you know that al's nickname was 'gay blade'? me neither. i thought zorro had that covered.here's a card that i have had for a long time, but i had to post it - it's gil hodges.

those are perhaps the palest eyes i have ever seen.

back to the cards that completed the set - norm cash. steve garvey used a norm cash model bat. meanwhile, i think norm's fly might be open.

woodie fryman.

another high number, of course. did you know woody was a tobacco farmer?
i wonder if he brought his own to the ballpark.

the late bob allison.

this one was/is hard to come by in this neck of the woods. allison is still a pretty popular former twin who was with the franchise for his entire career. he seems to have made a big impression on his former teammates as well as the fans, as jim kaat requests that ttm autograph seekers make a donation to the bob allison ataxia research center.

here's the last card i needed. american league rookie stars #702.

some no-names, but a yankee and a twin made this a tough find. i picked it up on ebay for 49 cents plus s&h. i love it when sellers don't title things correctly. i found it by searching for 'zepp topps'. there was no mention of the year or the high number status in the listing.

so, there you have it - this set is done, although there are about a dozen or so cards that i should probably upgrade. a collector's work is never done.