sunday morning target dodgers

time for another sheet of cards from the set that keeps on giving - the 1990 target dodger stadium giveaway set.  as always, thanks to baseball reference for providing some information about some of these heretofore unknown to me players.

don demeter

demeter's first major league hit came in his second big league at bat, and it was a home run off of don liddle of the cardinals in september of 1956.  demeter only appeared in three games that season for the dodgers, but he returned to the majors in 1958 and stayed with the dodgers until he was traded to the phillies early in the 1961 season.  in 1959, he hit three home runs in a game agains the giants - one was an inside the park job, and the third one was a walk-off.

jack dunn

dunn was a pitcher who also played in the field from time to time.  he entered the big leagues with the brooklyn bridegrooms in 1897 and remained with the franchise until he went to the phillies during the 1900 season.  he hit .238 in his 3-plus seasons for brooklyn, but also won 56 games, including 23 in 1899.  dunn later replaced hughie jennings as the manager of the baltimore orioles in the eastern league, and actually became the team's owner a couple of years later.  they moved to the international league, and dunn led them to seven straight titles.

lee grissom

grissom pitched six seasons for the reds, culminating in a world series appearance against the yankees in 1939.  the reds lost, but grissom must have made an impression on new york as he was traded to the yankees in january of 1940.  he appeared in five games for the defending world champions, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings, before he was claimed on waivers by the dodgers.  with brooklyn the rest of the way, grissom went 2-5 despite a 2.81 era, and he threw a 2-hit shutout against the phillies on the final day of the season.  in 1941, he pitched in four games for the dodgers and had an era of 2.38, but was traded to the phillies.

danny heep

heep was the guy the mets received when they traded mike scott to the astros, straight up, in 1982.  a lopsided trade in hindsight, but heep did help the mets win the world series in 1986, so it wasn't all bad.  following his triumph in 1986, heep signed with the dodgers and played for them in 1987 and 1988.  he was used mostly as a pinch hitter but also made starts at first base and in the outfield.  he even got to pitch in a game during the 1988 season - he threw two innings against the astros in july, giving up a 2-run homer to ken caminiti in the process.  he had some pinch hit appearances in the 1988 postseason for the eventual world champion dodgers, and served as the dh in game 4 of the world series.

burt hooton

happy hooton was the mvp of the 1981 nlcs as he won both of his starts against the expos without allowing an earned run.  he joined the dodgers in 1975 and remained a fixture in the rotation through the 1983 season.  in 1984, he spent most of his time pitching out of the bullpen and left the dodgers for the rangers prior to the 1985 campaign.  as a dodger, however, hooton won 112 games with a 3.14 era, and he nearly wrecked this fan's shoulder thanks to my trying to throw a knuckle-curve like hooton.

johnny hopp

target gave hopp an extra 'n' in his name there.  hopp was involved in the 1949 trade with the pirates that sent marv rackley to pittsburgh, but was voided a few days later.  as a result, rackley became a double dipper, and hopp only appeared in 8 games for the dodgers.  in those games, he was held hitless in 14 at bats.  maybe burt shotton had the trade voided due to hopps' performance.

ken landreaux

landreaux is best remembered by me and many other dodger fans for catching the final out of the 1981 world series.  he was also the main guy that the twins received from the angels in the rod carew trade prior to the 1979 season.  two years later, the dodgers acquired landreaux for mickey hatcher and a couple of minor leaguers.  landreaux spent seven seasons with the dodgers, most of which were spent as the team's regular center fielder.

ken mcmullen

i've told mcmullen's story before so i won't rehash it here.  suffice it to say that the pride of oxnard has had a big impact on dodger team collectors, thanks to his rookie card companion.

judge mccreedie

mccreedie (baseball reference spells his name 'mccredie') was an outfielder for the 1903 brooklyn superbas.  he hit .324 in 56 games for brooklyn before he was traded to baltimore in july.  somewhat curiously, he never made it back to the major leagues.  in 1904, he found himself in portland playing in their pacific coast league team that wound eventually be known as the beavers.  in 1905, judge took the reins and became their player/manager, a role he held through the 1913 season after which he gave up playing and was just their manager (save for a couple of appearances in 1916 and 1917).  in all, he spent 20 years managing in the pacific coast league, most of which was spent in portland.  he is a member of the pcl hall of fame.

simmy murch

murch played in 6 games for the 1908 brooklyn superbas following a couple of seasons with the cardinals.  he hit .182 with a double while playing first base in his stint with brooklyn, his last in the major leagues.

boots poffenberger

poffenberger obviously played for the tigers - he did so in 1937 and 1938 - but the dodgers claimed him on waivers at the start of the 1939 season.  for brooklyn, boots (real name cletus) pitched in three games, including one as a starter.  he had no record and an era of 5.40 in those appearances.  and yes, this boots was made for walking - he walked two of the four batters he faced in his dodger debut.

craig shipley

shipley became the second australian (and first in over 100 years) to debut in the major leagues when he appeared in a game for the 1986 dodgers.  he hit .111 in 12 games for the blue, and returned in 1987 to hit .257 in 26 contests.  the dodgers traded him to the mets, and he later found success playing for the padres and working in the front office for the red sox.

dwain sloat

aka lefty sloat.  he pitched in four games for the 1948 dodgers, including one as the starter.  he was 0-1 with an era over 6.  he was claimed by the cubs in the rule v draft prior to the 1949 season and did not return to brooklyn.

alex trevino

in a rare trade with the giants, the dodgers acquired trevino in exchange for candy maldonado prior to the 1986 season.  trevino spent the '86 and '87 seasons with the dodgers, playing catcher behind mike scioscia.  he received some significant playing time for a backup, appearing in 161 games over his two seasons with the club.

dazzy vance

hall of famer dazzy vance had two stints with the brooklyn franchise, so you know what that means…

…a double dipper post coming up later!

who knows...

…whether or not this is real.

it sits in my 1960's binder next to a couple similar 1963 topps rookie cards and plays the part of a ken mcmullen rookie quite well.  after i bought it, i compared it to my other 63's and it didn't seem any different in cardstock or weight or coloring.  it also lacks the tell-tale signs of known fakes, but i really don't know for sure.

it's a shame that a card that should be a highlight of my collection sits under such a cloud of suspicion.

standing on guard for thee

so, in addition to those 1973 o-pee-chee cards that i showed off earlier today, i also picked up some canadian cards from 1975.  the lot included the entire infield - garvey

cey

russell

and lopes

plus some other dodgers like bill buckner

ken mcmullen

and doug rau

rau is posing in front of the holman stadium bleachers that most recently showed up on 2007 topps dodger cards and 2009 topps heritage cards.

like his 1973 issue, 1975 was pretty much the same as its topps counterpart.  more so, in fact.

here, bill hands suffers some serious airbrushing on his 1975 o-pee-chee card just as he had back in 1973

and carmen fanzone still has his number inscribed within the cubs' logo on his helmet

unlike 1973, there is no french on the front of subset cards, like this nolan ryan card

but there is french on the back

pretty sneaky putting a trivia question on the back of lou brock's card for which the answer is lou brock.   and why specify the nl mark?  brock's 118 steals were the major league record at the time.

anyway, i am happy to have these o-pee-chee cards in the collection, even though i will probably only keep the dodgers.  i just can't see see myself being able to complete any o-pee-chee sets prior to 1977.

the evolution of the dodger third baseman - part one of way too many

it's been a while since i've run down the lineage of a dodger position.  it's time to get to the infield, although i should probably update one or two of the previous posts.  i'll do that eventually, but for now, let's look at the hot corner.  this one will take a few posts to get through, as third base has not been a model of consistency for the dodgers except from 1973 through 1982.

as usual, i am starting with the late 40's/early 50's since that's when baseball cards became more prevalent.

billy cox (1948-1953)

look at that 1952 bowman awesomeness!  billy cox arrived in brooklyn after the 1947 season (along with preacher roe and gene mauch) by way of a trade with the pirates.  he helped the dodgers win three pennants (1949, 1952, and 1953) and was best known for his fielding abilities although he hit .291 in 1953 and .302 over his three world series appearances.  cox was prominently featured in roger kahn's book 'the boys of summer' but was unfortunately not a member of the 1955 brooklyn dodger championship team.  that's because he was traded (again along with roe) after the 1954 season to the baltimore orioles.  he spent just part of the 1955 season there before being traded to cleveland, but he chose to retire rather than report to the indians.

in his tenure as the dodgers' third baseman, cox appeared in 742 games and hit .259 with 46 homers and 245 rbi, and he saved who knows how many with his glove.

don hoak (1954)

yes i realize that i'm showing hoak's 1953 topps card rather than his more appropriate 1954 issue.  it's because i find it odd that hoak had a card in the 53 set since he didn't debut in the majors until the following year.  anyway, hoak and cox split time fairly evenly at third base in 1954 with hoak getting slightly more playing time and thus the entry here.  as a rookie, he hit .245 with 7 homers and 26 rbi.  one would have thought, perhaps, that with cox being traded after the season hoak would be given the third base job.  not so.

jackie robinson (1955)

good lord.  i'm burying my 1955 topps jackie robinson card three deep in a dodgers-centric post that hardly anybody but me cares about?  what's wrong with me?  nice card, anyway.

yes, jackie robinson slid over to the hot corner in 1955, starting there in 82 of his 105 games played for walt alston.  he had the worst offensive season of his career that year, hitting just .256 with only 16 extra base hits and 36 rbi.  still, the dodgers won the pennant and jackie started the first six games of the series.  after hitting .182 in those games, alston gave the game 7 start to hoak, who had the privilege of being on the field when johnny podres shut the yankees out for brooklyn's lone world series title.

in 1956, robinson made 71 starts at third during his final season, but was not the team's primary third baseman.

randy jackson (1956)

randy 'hansome ransom' jackson started just three games more than robinson in 1956, but that's enough to make the evolutionary list.  he had been acquired from the cubs prior to the season in a deal that sent don hoak (among others) to chicago.

jackson had been an all-star in his last two seasons with the cubs and was coming off a 21-homer campaign.  he played in a total of 101 games for the dodgers in 1956, and hit .274 with 8 homers and 53 rbi.  one of those home runs came as the middle part of a back-to-back-to-back sequence that started with a duke snider home run and culminated with gil hodges' walk-off blast against the phillies on june 29 - the only time three consecutive home runs have ended a game.  jackson helped the dodgers return to the world series in 1956, but he was hitless in his three fall classic at bats.

jackson returned in 1957 and started the season as the dodgers' third baseman.  however, a serious knee injury suffered near the end of april caused him to miss half the season, and precipitated a move to third by a dodger legend.

pee wee reese (1957)

good golly.  a '55 jackie and a 1957 topps pee wee reese in the same post? never mind the tape stains, this is a sweet piece of cardboard.

with jackson injured, pee wee took over at third and wound up playing 75 of his 103 games there that year.  at 38 years old, he hit .224 with a single home run and 33 runs scored.  he made the move to los angeles with the team, but was just a part-time player in 1958.

dick gray (1958)

dick gray made his major league debut on april 15, 1958 and was 2 for 4 with a single in his first big league at bat.  the next day, he hit the first los angeles dodger home run, and a couple days after that, he hit the first dodger home run in los angeles.  not a bad way to start.  gray wound up hitting .249 with 9 home runs on the season in just 58 games.  randy jackson and pee wee reese shared time with him at third, with jim gilliam, don zimmer, earl robinson, and even gil hodges helping out, but gray's 53 starts at the hot corner were more than anyone else, so he gets the spot in our countdown.

gray began the 1959 season on the bench, but got a few starts at third before he was traded to the cardinals in mid june.

jim gilliam (1959-1960)

the aforementioned gilliam brought some semblance of stability to the third base position for the dodgers as he took over in 1959.  sure, he still played second base and the outfield, but between 1959 and 1960, gilliam made a total of 246 starts at third base - more than any dodger in a two-year span since before even billy cox.  in 1959, gilliam led the league in walks and was named an all-star for the second time in his career.  he hit .282 and helped the dodgers win their first championship in los angeles.  in 1960, his average dipped to .248 although he matched his base on balls total from the previous season, and scored 96 runs.  in 1961, gilliam spent more time at second base, as the dodgers acquired a third baseman from the cardinals.  sort of.

daryl spencer (1961)

daryl spencer was acquired by the dodgers early in the 1961 season, and wound up starting 55 games for them at third base that year, despite having played nothing but shortstop for the cardinals prior to the trade.  he hit .243 with 8 home runs and 27 rbi for the dodgers, and then returned in 1962 to hit .136 with a pair of homers and 12 rbi in 77 games (57 of which included time spent at third base).  spencer's reduced playing time in 1962 meant that a familiar face was once again the primary dodger third baseman.

jim gilliam (1962)

believe it or not, walt alston trotted out jim gilliam as the dodgers' starting third baseman 60 times in 1962 - more than spencer, andy carey, lee walls, or even tommy davis.  that means that gilliam was the team's primary third baseman and second baseman that season!  in addition to those starts, gilliam found himself manning the hot corner 30 times as a result of in-game moves after starting elsewhere on the diamond.  overall, gilliam hit .270 in 1962, with an obp of .370 and 83 runs scored.

in 1963, gilliam made only 27 starts (and 55 total appearances) at third, because the dodgers had a rookie from oxnard ready to take over.

ken mcmullen (1963)

that's mcmullen's 1964 topps card.  i wasn't going to bury his 1963 rookie card way down here in this post.

as with most years, the dodgers employed a number of third basemen in 1963.  mcmullen got the most starts (66) out of his 71 appearances, so he gets to represent the year that the dodgers swept the yankees in the world series.  unfortunately, mcmullen did not appear in the postseason after hitting .236 with 5 home runs and 28 rbi during the regular season.  mcmullen only appeared in 24 games during the 1964 season, after which he was dealt to the senators in the claude osteen trade.

jim gilliam (1964-1965)

look who's back!  gilliam was once again getting the majority of the starts at third base in 1964 and 1965.  gilliam had a down year in 1964, hitting only .228 in 116 games (86 of which were spent at third with 62 starts there), but bounced back in 1965 to bat .280 with an obp of .384 in 111 contests (80, 77).

come back next time to see who took over for gilliam in 1966, and whether the dodgers could keep someone there for more than one season at a time.

team collector dilemma - 1986 topps pete rose retrospective

we dodger collectors know that pete rose puts quite a speed bump in our quest for the complete 1963 topps team set (a team set that i have now completed, by the way).  that's because rose's rookie card also features dodger rookie ken mcmullen.

the first time i saw a rose/mcmullen rookie card (i suppose i should acknowledge the other two guys - pedro gonzalez of the yankees and al weis of the white sox) was in the early 1980's.  my dad actually had a copy for a while, but wound up trading it for some other dodger vintage stuff.

anyway, after rose surpassed ty cobb's career hit total in 1985, topps dedicated the first few cards of the 1986 set to him, just as they had done in 1974 with hank aaron as he prepared to break babe ruth's home run record.  right there on card number 2 was the mcmullen rookie card.

i suppose topps didn't want to make a special 1963 card for rose since they used the same photo for his 1964 card.  actually, they kept it pure and i appreciate that even though 26 years later i am still wishing they had put someone other than ken mcmullen on the original card.

seriously, though.  i have never considered this card to be a part of the 1986 topps dodger team set.  and i don't think i should start thinking that way now, should i?

the dodgers' mcmullen

[this is the forty-first installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, and matt luke.]

there were probably some folks back in 1965 that lamented the likelihood that his was the last card that would feature ken mcmullen as a dodger.  mcmullen's 1964 topps card

was the first card on which he was flying solo, and although frank howard's 1965 topps card showed him still with the dodgers, mcmullen's had him listed as a washington senator.  mcmullen was included, along with phil ortega and pete richert (and later, dick nen) in the deal that sent hondo to washington in exchange for claude osteen and john kennedy in december of 1964.

at that point in time, mcmullen had 109 games of major league experience under his belt, with a .232 average, 6 home runs, and 30 rbi.  he debuted in 1962 and played in a handful of games, although the only defensive position he played that year was left field.  mcmullen played in 79 games during the 1963 season, most of which came as the dodgers' third baseman.  unfortunately, he did not appear in the world series that year due to a late season injury.

after a disappointing 1964 season in which mcmullen was down at spokane for an extended period of time, he was dealt to the senators.  there, he was their everyday third baseman and he responded by hitting 86 home runs over the next 5 seasons.  he never won a gold glove, but he did lead the league, or finish near the top of the leader board, in many defensive categories during his time in the nation's capitol.  just a few games into the 1970 season, however, mcmullen was traded to the angels.

his 1971 topps card features one of those fantastic in-game photos that the set is known for, and it's one of my favorite cards in the set.

we get to see the original yankee stadium set up, with the flag pole and the monuments in the field of play!  that's crazy stuff.

with the angels, mcmullen was once again the everyday third baseman.  he played in a career high 160 games in 1971, and hit a career high 21 home runs that year.  his home run total dropped to just 9 in 1972, but he hit .269 which was just a few points off his career best average.

now we get to the double dipping part.  when the dodgers traded frank robinson, bill singer, and bobby valentine (and others) to the angels prior to the 1973 season, they received andy messersmith and mcmullen in return.  mcmullen began the year as the dodger third baseman, and was hitting .389 through the team's first five games.  that's when he became wally pipp to ron cey's lou gehrig.  out with muscle spasms, mcmullen sat on april 11 while cey got the start.  mcmullen didn't get another start at third base until late june, and he was used primarily as a pinch hitter off the bench the rest of the season.  here's mcmullen's 1975 topps card to document his return to los angeles.

mcmullen spent three seasons with the dodgers the second time around - 1973 through 1975.  he was able to make his only career postseason appearance in 1974 during the nlcs against the pirates.  unfortunately, he struck out in his only at bat.  earlier that year, mcmullen lost his wife to cancer, and the dodgers wore black armbands for a few games in her honor.  in fact, on the night that hank aaron broke babe ruth's career home run record, al downing and the rest of the team were wearing the armbands on their left sleeves.  you can't really see it on this card, but there are a number of photos from the game that show the armband, like this one.

after the 1975 season, mcmullen was on the move again.  he returned to the american league, where he played in 98 games for the oakland a's.  then, during spring training 1977, mcmullen's contract was purchased by the milwaukee brewers.  it was with the brew crew that mcmullen closed out his big league career, hitting 5 home runs over the course of 63 appearances.  in his final big league at bat, mcmullen came off the brewers' bench to hit a two-run pinch hit home run against the mariners.  not a bad way to go out.

while mcmullen did get a card in the 1977 topps set, he was not included in the 1978 set, even though he played in more games in 1977 than he had in any of his three 'double dipper' seasons in los angeles.  that's just wrong, so i went ahead and threw a card that should have been together for him.

if i ever get around to doing the back, it will be a true final tribute.

these days, mcmullen maintains his ties with the dodgers, often making appearances on their behalf.  he is also a good ttm signer, as i will show you.  here's a copy of his 1973 topps card that he signed through the mail.

the 'shot from below' rather than a bad airbrush job. mcmullen came out ahead in this set.  bill singer, not so much.

mcmullen also signed a copy of his 1974 topps card, marking his triumphant return to the blue with a real photo

kudos to topps for not just going back to a photo from the early 1960's instead.  here's my ratty old version of his 1975 topps card that he also signed for me

and his 1976 card, the last to feature him as a dodger.

i also sent a printed copy of the 1978 card that should have been, and he signed that, too.

he also wrote me a short note and signed it as well.  super double dipper through the mail success awesomeness.

thanks ken!

the topps dodgers autograph project - the early los angeles years

in case you missed the first installment, i am taking the lost collector's yankee project and putting my dodger spin on it.  so now we are into the los angeles years.  all of these autographs were obtained through the mail, and were free of charge. 

joe pignatano, 1958 topps

i've posted this one before.  pignatano was a brooklyn native who played in a handful of games as a hometown boy done good before moving to the west coast with the team.  he stayed with the dodgers until his contract was purchased by the a's prior to the 1961 season.  other players who have signed their 1958 topps cards for me include don zimmer.  that's it.

fred kipp, 1959 topps

kipp also went west with the club, having made an appearance with the team in 1957.  1958 was his big year in the majors, as he went 6-6 in 40 appearances.  he pitched in 2 games in 1959, and then was traded to the yankees prior to the 1960 season.  i have a few other 1959 topps cards that were signed through the mail - carl erskine, dick gray, and bob lillis.

chuck essegian, 1960 topps

essegian joined the dodgers for the latter part of the 1959 season.  he came from saint louis in exchange for dick gray, the man who had hit the first home run in los angeles dodger history.  essegian hit some home runs, too, as it turned out.  in the 1959 world series against the white sox, he had not one, but two pinch hit home runs.  the first one came in game 2 of the series with the dodgers down a game and trailing by a run in the 7th inning.  essegian''s blast tied the game, and a couple of batters later, charlie neal put them ahead to stay with his second home run of the game.  some other former dodgers who have signed their 1960 cards for me through the mail include roger craig (with fee), don demeter, and bob lillis.

bob aspromonte, 1961 topps

i posted this one not too long ago - it's the most recent 1961 topps card i have had signed through the mail.  others in my collection include don demeter, don newcombe (with fee), and joe pignatano.

norm sherry, 1962 topps

sherry debuted in the big leagues with a bang.  on april 12, 1959, he was the dodgers' starting catcher against the cubs.  on the mound that day was sandy koufax, the pitcher whom sherry suggested should just relax and take something off of his fastball to be more effective.  while koufax only lasted three innings that day, sherry played the whole game.  he was hit by a pitch in his first big league at bat, and then hit a two-run single his next time up.  sherry didn't appear in another game until september, but he was back in la each season from 1960 through 1962.  he even occasionally caught his brother larry.  i chose to feature sherry's card simply because i had not yet posted it on the blog.  other 1962 topps cards that i have received signed through the mail include tommy davis (with fee), willie davis (with fee), frank howard (with fee), wally moon (with fee), ron perranoski, pete richert, and daryl spencer.

ed roebuck, 1963 topps

same goes here for roebuck.  i've had his 1963 card  sitting in my scanned folder for a while now, but have never gotten around to showing it off.  roebuck was a member of the world champion brooklyn dodgers in 1955 (his rookie season) and he threw a couple of scoreless innings in the fall classic that year.  he also pitched in the 1956 world series.  unfortunately, roebuck did not pitch in the majors in 1959 due to injury, and so he missed out on another opportunity to pitch in the world series.  roebuck had a big year in 1962, winning 10 games and saving another 9.  he was traded to the senators in july of 1963, however, and eventually finished his career in philadelphia three years later.  the other 1963 cards i have signed through the mail include joe moeller, wally moon (with fee), and don zimmer.

ken mcmullen, 1964 topps

this is another card that i was saving for a different post - most likely mcmullen's double dipper post - but it fits here as part of the topps dodgers autograph project.  mcmullen first appeared in the big leagues in 1962, and he played in a total of 109 games for the dodgers between then and 1964.  after the 1964 season, he was traded to the senators in the claude osteen/frank howard deal.  he had his best years in washington and then in california with the angels before returning to the dodgers in a reserve role.  mcmullen gets the nod to represent 1964 over the other signed ttm cards in my collection, including willie davis (with fee), pete richert, and dick tracewski.

here's a running list of the cards and players in my topps dodgers autograph project.  only a few that were not free, and a different player for each year.

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