andy messersmith was a dodger double dipper

i mentioned earlier today that andy messersmith would get a dodger double dipper post of his very own.  i wasn't joking.

[this is the eighty-ninth 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, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, marv rackley, bobo newsom, maury wills, dazzy vance, ray hayworth, zack taylor, john cronin, art herring, brian falkenborg, bill reidy, john anderson, vito tamulis, wally hood, jim bruske, bill dahlen, patsy donovan, jamey wright, and watty clark.]

messersmith first joined the dodgers in 1973 after he was traded by the angels in the frank robinson deal.  i am sure the dodgers coveted his 2.78 era over the five seasons he pitched for the angels, and they weren't disappointed, as he had a 2.67 era in his first four years with the club, which included his fantastic 1974 season in which he went 20-6 and had an era of 2.59.  messersmith started the nl all-star game in 1974, as well as game 2 of the nlcs against the pirates which he won.  he also started games 1 and 4 of the world series, but took the loss in each.  

after a season like that, messersmith was looking for a raise, but when he tried to negotiate a contract for the 1975 season, things didn't go well.  here's his hostess card from 1975, by the way,

complete with the rare sighting of batting gloves on a pitcher's throwing hand.  he decided to pitch without a contract while his grievance against the reserve clause was being resolved.  he wound up winning 19 games in 1975 while posting an era of 2.29 and earning his second straight gold glove.  the baseball arbitrator ruled in his favor (the owners fired the arbitrator the following day), and messersmith signed a free agent deal with the braves.

he moved on to the yankees after the 1977 season, as his 1978 o-pee-chee card attests

but was re-signed by the dodgers when he hit the market again after the 1978 season.  it even says so on his 1979 o-pee-chee card

i really wish there had been a traded set in the late 1970's and 1980 so that there could have been more cards of players like messersmith.  here's a 1979 topps card that should have been that i made

to help ease my pain.

the second time around was not as successful for messersmith as he was 2-4 in 11 starts with a 4.91 era when the dodgers released him in early june.  he retired soon after, with a 2.86 career era which puts him between jim palmer and tom seaver, but well within the top 10 for starting pitchers after 1920.

here's another card i made for messersmith - it's his 1980 topps card that should have been

which serves as a final tribute with his entire career stats on the back.

i don't have any other double dippers lined up, so this may be the end of the line for these posts, at least until the dodgers reacquire matt kemp a few years from now for a torii hunter-esque swan song.  still, don't be surprised if i uncover some other heretofore unknown to me franchise double dipper in the 1990 target dodgers set...

sunday morning target dodgers - a sheet chock full of fantastic folks like dusty, forster, and the toy cannon

this is a heckuva sheet that i'm posting today - bookended by two guys traded for each other.  it comes from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary set, and features 15 players from the franchise's history as a national league team.  let's take a look.

dusty baker

johnnie b was the left fielder for the team of my youth.  he played for the dodgers from 1976 through 1983, helping them win four division titles, three pennants, and a world series championship.  he was the 1977 nlcs mvp and also one of four dodgers to hit 30 or more home runs in that same season.  so what if he eventually played for (and managed) the giants? dusty is one of my favorite dodgers.

mike davis

davis was part of the dodgers near-complete revamping of their outfield for the 1988 season.  he joined kirk gibson as a free agent signing, but hurt his ankle during spring training and slumped at the start of the season.  tommy lasorda never seemed to regain any confidence in davis, and he was relegated largely to a pinch-hitting/late inning replacement role.  i recall when the dodgers opened the second half of the season with a series in chicago, davis was seen holding a sign saying 'mike davis is alive and well in los angeles'.  anyway, davis got some redemption in the 1988 world series.  he drew the two-out walk off of dennis eckersley to make the impossible possible, and then homered in the decisive game 5.  he returned to the dodgers in 1989, his last year in the big leagues.

chick fewster

fewster had spent 9 seasons in the american league before he joined the robins prior to the 1926 season.  he was their primary second baseman that year, playing in a career high 105 games and hitting .243.  he played in only four games for the robins in 1927, however, and thus ended his major league career.  according to baseball reference, fewster was the first player to have an official at bat in yankee stadium.

terry forster

forster joined the dodgers prior to the 1978 season, taking over the closer duties from charlie hough.  like hough had in 1977, forster led the team with 22 saves in '78.  forster also posted an era of 1.93 and went 4 for 8 at the plate (he retired with a career batting average of .397, don't you know).  he battled injuries, but stuck with the dodgers through 1982, pitching in both the 1978 and 1981 postseasons.  his career postseason era is 0.00 in 8 appearances, although he did allow a couple of inherited runners to score during the 1978 world series, including the tying run in game 4.

pepe frias

frias, like many shortstops, hailed from san pedro de macoris in the dominican republic.  he joined the dodgers via trade with the rangers towards the end of the 1980 season (the dodgers sent denny lewallyn to texas), and he returned to the club for the 1981 season as well.  he even got a 1981 fleer card out of the deal.  even so, frias was released by the dodgers at the end of august, so he missed out on their championship postseason run.

jim j hughes

hughes was the first of two (so far) jim hughes to play for the dodgers.  the other came along in the 1950's, 50 years after this jim hughes pitched for the superbas.  one of the players that ned hanlon brought with him from baltimore, hughes won 28 games for brooklyn in 1899, his first year with the club, and that was good enough to lead the national league.  he didn't appear in the majors in 1900 (he went home to sacramento), but returned in '01 and '02, and won 17 and 15 games respectively.  with a 60-28 record and a 2.93 era in his three seasons with brooklyn, hughes decided to retire from the major leagues and return to the west coast where he played minor league ball for a few more seasons.

ira hutchinson

hutchinson was acquired by the dodgers from the boston bees following the 1938 season, and he pitched in 41 games for them in 1939.  he was 5-2 with an era over 4, and was returned to the minors for the 1940 season, during which he was claimed by the cardinals who promoted him to the major league club.

ernie krueger

krueger was a catcher for the robins from 1917 through 1921.  obviously, the photo of him used for his card (if in fact it is krueger - how would i know?) came well after his playing days were through.  krueger hit .267 in 258 games for the robins over the course of his 5 years in brooklyn, and was 1 for 6 in the 1920 world series against the indians.

andy messersmith

messersmith was the ace of the 1974 pennant winning staff (sorry, don sutton).  he led the league with 20 wins (tied with phil niekro and one more than sutton), but finished second in the cy young voting to teammate and reliever mike marshall.  messersmith started the all-star game in '74 and was on the squad again in 1975, won the gold glove both of those seasons, and then challenged the reserve clause and became a free agent.  he signed with the braves, but eventually returned to the dodgers for another stint, but i'll get into that in messersmith's very own dodger double dipper post.

ed reulbach

reulbach was a member of the 1907 and 1908 world champion chicago cubs, but was traded to brooklyn during the 1913 season.  he pitched well for the superbas, posting an era of 2.05 in 110 innings, although his record was just 7-6.  reulbach was still with the club, now called the robins as wilbert robinson took the managerial reins, in 1914, and was 11-18 with a 2.64 era for uncle robbie.  he jumped to the federal league in 1915, but returned to the majors in 1916 with the braves. that's the 1914 robins uniform he is sporting, by the way.  reulbach retired with a 2.28 era, which puts him just behind babe ruth at 18th all-time.

preacher roe

roe was part of return the dodgers received from the pirates in one of the trades following jackie robinson's 1947 rookie season that attempted to purge the roster of players opposed to jackie's presence on the team.  pitching for the dodgers from 1948 through 1954, roe won 93 games against just 37 losses (including an incredible 22-3 record in 1951).  he pitched well in the world series, too, recording a shut out of the yankees in a start in 1949, and beating them again with a complete game in 1952.  he took a loss in another complete game start against new york in 1953, and didn't get a chance to exact revenge against the bronx bombers in 1955 as he was dealt to the orioles before the season began.

dick schofield

man, i can't even get a dick schofield card showing him in a dodger uniform in this dodger-centric set!  he's certainly not wearing a dodger uniform on his only other dodger card (1967 topps).  he is most likely wearing one on his 1968 topps card, but he's designated as a cardinal on that one.  he's shown as a cardinal here, and he spent just the latter part of 1966 and all of 1967 with the dodgers before rejoining st. louis, the team for which he played from 1953-1958.  as a dodger, schofield hit .225 in 104 games as the team struggled to replace maury wills.  schofield was the first of his line to play for the dodgers, but his son (dick schofield) and grandson (jayson werth) have both done so since.

karl spooner

the debut of karl spooner is the stuff of legend.  he made two starts in 1954 and pitched two shutouts.  in his major league debut, he failed to retire either of the first two giants he faced, but went on to strike out 15 of them (a record for a debut matched only by jr richard), including six consecutively at one point, while beating the dodgers' rivals 3-0 on a 3-hitter.  four days later, in the final game of the season, spooner threw a 4-hitter against the pirates, this time striking out 12.  expectations had to be high heading into the 1955 season, and despite injuring his arm during spring training, spooner responded by throwing one more shutout late in the season against pittsburgh, although overall he was just 8-6 with a 3.65 era.  he did get to pitch in the world series, however, shutting down the yankees in relief over 3 scoreless innings during game 2, but taking the loss in a game 6 start in which he recorded just one out and gave up all five yankee runs.  that appearance turned out to be the last of his big league career.

don thompson

thompson was an outfielder for the dodgers in the early 1950's.  he began his career with the braves in 1949, but was dealt to brooklyn that same year.  often used as a pinch-runner or hitter, he appeared in a total of 210 games as a dodger in 1951 and 1953-54, hitting .220 with a homer and 19 rbi.  he had been a pitcher in the minors, but was converted to a fielder because of his bat.  thompson recorded an outfield assist in game 4 of the 1953 world series, throwing billy martin out at home to end the game.

jimmy wynn

had i been more aware of the dodgers in 1974 (i was 3), jimmy wynn might well have become my favorite player.  he joined the club in a trade with the astros for claude osteen, and went on to hit 32 home runs and drive in a career high 108 rbi while helping the dodgers win the pennant.  he also started the all-star game for the national league in center field, and did so again in 1975.  that year, he hit just 18 homers with 58 rbi, but actually improved his on base percentage despite a 30-point drop in his batting average.  as fate would have it, wynn was traded to the braves for dusty baker after the 1975 season, and steve garvey caught my attention in 1977.

all i see are all-stars

with the all-star game tonight, it seems appropriate to show this 1992 trak auto sheet of stamps that honors every dodger all-star from 1962 through 1992

as you can see, it was available for purchase at trak auto stores, either on its own or with a case of valvoline motor oil.

the full sheet of stamps is in one of my steve garvey binders, because i can't find this particular stamp all by its lonesome

1977 was a big year for dodger all-stars, but not as big as 1962, 1975, or 1978 when the dodgers had seven players on the national league squad, or even a few years when they sent 6 players.  garvey represented the dodgers in eight straight all-star games, and was the mvp of the 1974 and 1978 contests.  here is a better look at the stamps for the stretch of games in which garvey, as a dodger, was the starter for the national league at first base.

you may have noticed that the only dodger to get his mug shown twice on the whole sheet is tommy lasorda.

as a member of the padres, garvey returned to the all-star game in 1984 and 1985 as the first base starter for the national league, making his final all-star appearance in the '85 midsummer classic, which was the last time the all-star game was held in minneapolis.  here's a 1986 donruss all-stars pop up card which commemorates his appearance in that game, complete with underside of the metrodome's roof in view

garvey, at age 37, was a participant in the home run derby prior to that all-star game - the first home run derby prior to the all-star game - and hit 2 out.  dave parker won the derby with 6.  it wasn't the same back then.

anyway, happy all-star game day!

rounding up dodgers

even when i was deep into my steve garvey supercollector phase, i was somewhat ambivalent about the 'disc' cards that were issued in the late 1970's.  i think i purchased one example for the garvey collection, but didn't bother to get them all.  they all look pretty much the same, and some (like the fbi disc) can be pretty hard to find, right mrmopar?

anyway, i recently saw an auction for a 1976 isaly's disc team set, and figured i would bite at the opening bid for no other reason than it would mean another andy messersmith as a dodger card for the collection.  well, i won.  here are the four discs that make up the team set.

ron cey

the aforementioned steve garvey

the aforementioned andy messersmith, sans hat

and don sutton

i guess that's all i have to say about that.

a couple more 1979 topps cards that should have been - the jim gilliam tribute

before i move on to the 1980 installment of the 1978 topps dodgers, i have one more card that should have been in 1979.  i know it is unrealistic of me to have thought that the card would have been something that topps might have done, especially since they didn't have a card for lyman bostock in the set, and they hadn't featured a coach on a card since 1974.  still, it would have been nice to recognize jim gilliam, the dodgers' first base coach who passed away just before the 1978 world series.

here's the back - it's card number 731, because the three postseason cards would have been 727-729, and the bostock would have been 730.

i took the photo from the dodgers' 1976 photo album.  if you're wondering, that's ellie rodriguez lurking behind gilliam.  the dodgers wore a patch on their sleeves during the world series to honor gilliam, and i tried to recreate that patch to add something to the card.

i had previously created another card that should have been that showed the patch, and then i received this card from captain canuck the other day - a 2007 upper deck sweet spot classics reggie smith card

the only other card i can think of where i have seen the patch is the 2002 upper deck sweet spot classic steve garvey card, so it's nice to see the patch on another real card, even if it wasn't issued in 1979.

while i was dabbling with the 1979 design, i figured i should make a card for andy messersmith, so i used a photo from the 1979 photo album (it might have been the yearbook - i scanned it a long time ago).  as much as i appreciate the 1979 andy messersmith o-pee-chee card, here is the 1979 topps messersmith card that should have been

the back was easy to do - i just changed the team name on the real topps back

i suppose derrel thomas and gary thomasson are jealous.

the evolution of the ace, part 2

here we are with the second installment of the non-scientific evolutionary chain of the dodgers' ace.  we left off part one with gomer, and we start part two with don sutton.

don sutton (1971-1973, 1976)

don sutton, much to my chagrin, is the only hall of famer to be part of the team of my youth.  from 1971-1973, sutton averaged 18 wins a year.  he won 19 in 1973, and finished in 5th place in the cy young award voting in both 1972 and 1973.  he finished in the top five in strikeouts each of the three years, and his 9 shutouts and sub-1.00 whip led the league in 1972.  in 1976, sutton reclaimed the ace spot from andy messersmith (see below), by winning 20 games (21, actually) for the only time in his career.  sutton also finished 3rd in the cy young voting, and 22nd in the league mvp vote that year.

sutton actually finished in the top 5 of the cy young voting in 1974 and 1975 as well, but both times he was behind (or tied with) teammate andy messersmith (1974-1975)

messersmith finished 2nd in the vote following the 1974 season (behind teammate mike marshall) and then tied with sutton at 5th in 1975.  his 1974 season included 20 wins and a 1.10 whip (both of which led the league) as well as 221 strikeouts (good for 2nd in the national league).  in 1975, messersmith earned 19 wins and posted a 2.29 era.  he also led the league in starts, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and hits/9 innings.  he also appeared twice in relief - earning a save in one of those appearances.

tommy john (1977)

tommy john was just two seasons removed from his eponymous surgery when he went 20-7 with a 2.78 era in 1977.  he also threw 11 complete games and 3 shutouts and finished 2nd in the cy young balloting.

burt hooton (1978-1979)

like john before him, hooton finished 2nd in the cy young voting after the 1978 season.  he had gone 19-10 with a 2.71 era in 32 starts, and also had 10 complete games with three of them being shutouts.  in 1979, the dodgers were not a first place team, but happy was still the ace - posting an era of 2.97 but being rewarded with a 11-10 record.  i gave the nod to hooton in 1979 over rookie of the year rick sutcliffe (17-10, 3.46) because hooton surpassed sutcliffe in pretty much every category other than wins.  i don't want to overvalue wins as a measurement of ace, even though my definition is obviously subjective. sorry sutt!  all of the other dodger starters (except for spot starter charlie hough) had losing records and substantially higher eras than hooton did in 1979, including the dodger ace of 1980.

jerry reuss (1980)

reuss joined the list of dodger pitchers to finish second in the cy young voting when he went 18-6 with 3 saves and a 2.51 era in 1980.  he also had 10 complete games, 6 of which were shutouts (the most in the league), and a no-hitter against the giants.  in candlestick, no less.

fernando valenzuela (1981-1982, 1986)

fernandomania touched down in 1981 as another lefty claimed the mantle of ace.  fernando made the opening day start only after it was determined that reuss could not, and went on to rattle off 5 straight complete games, 4 of which were shutouts, in his first 5 starts.  he went 9 innings in his next three starts, too, although it took 10 innings for the dodgers to win his 6th start, although he got the win as he did in all 7 of his other initial 8 starts.  after that, fernando was just 5-7 but finished the strike-shortened campaign at 13-7 with a 2.48 era, and was atop the league leader board in starts, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeouts.  he also took home some hardware as the league's rookie of the year and cy young award winner.  el toro was a 19 game winner in 1982, and then won 21 games for the blue in 1986 with a league leading 20 complete games and a personal best 242 strikeouts, good enough for second place in the cy young award voting. in between 1982 and 1986, however, fernando was outshone by a couple of other dodger starters.
 
bob welch (1983)

welch went 15-12 in 1983 (fernando was 15-10) and his 2.65 era was the best among dodger starters.  in addition, his 1.16 whip was just slightly higher than that of alejandro pena among the dodgers in the rotation.  maybe i am including welch here just so i can show his nice 1983 fleer card with dodger stadium and ron cey lurking in the background.

alejandro pena (1984)

pena was 12-6 with a league leading 2.48 era for the dodgers in 1984.  he made 28 starts and completed 8 of them, 4 by shutout.  oddly, it was the final season of pena's career in which he was used exclusively as a starter.

orel hershiser was the team's ace in 1985, but i'll cover him in the next post since he also held that title by my estimation later in the decade.

it's time for another round of 'why did i scan this card?'

i don't recall why i scanned it.  was there some 'knock-em dead' post idea that has since escaped the confines of my rapidly depleting memory?  i don't know.  and that's the problem.  so, why did i scan this 1975 topps '74 victory leaders card?

 

1. it's a mini - can't you tell?
2. it features 3 hall of famers.  and one dodger.  this was a source of frustration for me growing up.  there were no dodger sure fire hall of famers in the 70's, even though i thought garvey was a lock. 
3. it's the first league leader card to feature a dodger since 1972.  not that i noticed.  it did seem like forever though between 1977 and 1981.
4. the american league is evil, what with their mustaches and in-stadium photos.  the national league is full of good guys!
5. andy messersmith is disrespected, as only his first initial is given.
6. half of each league's victory leaders made it to the world series.
7. and in that world series, messersmith was 0-2 and catfish hunter was 1-0 with a save.
8. wins are overrated, but an easy way for topps to identify folks to put on a card.
9. andy messersmith was a double dipper, and i was going to use this card to illustrate his initial tour of duty in la.

it's probably that last one, but i would entertain any other thoughts you may have.

they're stamps, not cards. so why did i buy them?

over at oh my o-pee-chee today, i'm featuring hall of famer fergie jenkins who was just honored with the issuance of a postage stamp in his native canada.  i am not a philatelic, but i did pick up a dodgers team set of 1974 topps stamps a while back.  i guess the difference is that there is no postage value applied to these stamps.  just fantastic early 1970's photos of joe ferguson, andy messersmith, bill russell, willie crawford, bill buckner, claude osteen, willie davis (looking older than 33), dave lopes, ron cey, and don sutton.

sadly, no steve garvey.

i must admit that i do own an actual postage stamp as part of my collection (and it's not for mailing).  it's the 1982 20-cent jackie robinson stamp issued by the good ol' usps.

 at least the postal service also issued the image as a standard sized baseball card

so my non-philatelic self could justify the purchase way back when.  the last thing i needed then (and now) was another hobby.

the 1980 topps andy messersmith final tribute card that should have been!

after posting back-to-back andy messersmith o-pee-chee cards highlighting the vagrancy of his final seasons on my 'oh my o-pee-chee' blog, i figured i would give the free agent trailblazer a proper send off with the 1980 topps final tribute card that should have been:

a great photo from one of his few starts in 1979 at dodger stadium.  it came from the april 17th game, in which messersmith pitched 6 innings and left with a 6-4 lead.  jerry reuss relieved and blew the save with a couple of two-out walks followed by two run scoring singles.  the dodgers scored a few in the bottom of the 8th and reuss finished the game to earn his first win as a dodger.

back to messersmith, though.  he made his final career start on june 1, 1979 in saint louis.  he lasted just 1 inning, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, including a 2-run home run to keith hernandez.  the final batter he faced in his career was ken reitz who grounded into a force out.

messersmith had 3 great years for the dodgers in the mid-70's, and despite his final three seasons (all sub-par), he finished his career with a .568 winning percentage (130-99) and an era of 2.86.  pretty darn good.

here's to you andy messersmith, and your 1980 topps card that should have been!

the bill singer 1973 topps card that should have been!

when bill singer was traded from the dodgers to the angels in the andy messersmith deal, he deserved better than what he got from topps in terms of his 1973 card

terribly airbrushed with a yellow jersey?  blecch.  come on, topps.  singer was one of the dodgers better pitchers during the late 60's and into the 70's.  his 247 strikeouts in 1969 is the best by a los angeles dodger not named koufax or drysdale.  his k/9 ratio is 10th on the franchise all time list, and he threw more innings than anyone on that list except for koufax.

so, i took a shot.  here is the 1973 topps bill singer card that should have been

the photo (found at steve's baseball photography pages) fits with the rest of the 1973 set, i think.

so, here's to you bill singer! you've got the card that should have been (but we're not giving back the andy messersmith card)