postcards from paradise

a funny thing happened on the way to this post.  i misplaced all of my dodger postcards.  i had scanned them, some of which are shown below, but i had planned to further investigate and try to determine the exact years that they were issued using the information on their backs and some of the very scattered data available on the interwebs.  oh well, i'll have to tackle that task another time.  in the meantime, it's summer, and i assume some traveling folks are still sending postcards to the poor saps that are stuck back at home working.  in that vein, here are some dodger postcards that i will classify as 1962 (circa) to 1971 (circa) dodger team issue postcards.

big d!

i chose 1962 because that is the season that dodger stadium opened, and beautiful chavez ravine is the backdrop for many of these.  some, including the don drysdale postcard above, the ron perranoski postcard below,

this larry sherry postcard

and this maury wills postcard

all feature the three sisters palm trees closed up as they were first installed.

these next two are certainly from 1967, as that was the only season that ron hunt

and gene michael suited up for the dodgers.

plus, the palm trees have opened up!

i figure that these wes parker

and jeff torborg postcards

are from 1966, but that's only based on the relative youthfulness of torborg and this website.

sadly, the postcards moved out of dodger stadium later in the decade to what i assume to be vero beach.  these al ferrara

and bill singer postcards

are assumed to be from 1968 based on the fact that the singer photo is essentially the same as this mudcat grant photo

and this zoilo versalles postcard (i think) has the same info on the back

i wish i could find these things to confirm.  anyway, grant and versalles were only dodgers in 1968, so it's pretty easy to figure those, just like the hunt and michael.  same goes for these next couple - maybe - as long as the dodgers didn't wait to use these photos several years after they were taken.

billy grabarkewitz

and bill sudakis

are both wearing the mlb 100th anniversary patch from 1969, so i figure these to be 1970 postcards, although they could also be 1969 items if the dodgers were really on the ball and published these right after the photos were taken during spring training.

i'm not quite as sure of this tom haller postcard

since he was a dodger from 1968 through 1971, but this dick/richie allen postcard is certainly from 1971 (his lone year with the team)

and it's back in paradise - dodger stadium.

i may get back there yet this season, and if i do, maybe i'll drop a postcard in the mail...

sunday morning target dodgers - featuring not the spanish armada, but rather mexico's almada

it's sunday. that means more cards from a sheet from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  15 cards to be exact.  no, actually 14 because one of these guys gets a double dipper post later today.

mel almada

almada, an outfielder from sonora, mexico (although he went to high school in la), joined the dodgers during the 1939 season and played in 39 games for them during that campaign.  one of those games was the 23-inning tie between the dodgers and the braves, in which almada was 0 for 9 while playing the entire game in centerfield.

stan andrews

andrews was a catcher for the braves who also appeared in the 1939 23-inning contest (he struck out as a pinch-hitter in the 7th inning).  he later joined the dodgers for four games in the 1944 season and returned for 21 more in 1945 before heading to the phillies to finish out that season and his career.

marv breeding

speaking of finishing careers, breeding's came to a close after he joined the dodgers during their 1963 championship season.  he was acquired from the senators in july of '63 for ed roebuck and hit .167 in 20 games as a dodger over the remainder of the season.  although he continued to play in the minors through 1968, breeding never made it back to the majors.

tom brennan

brennan was taken by the indians with the 4th overall pick in the first round of the 1974 draft. he debuted for the tribe in 1981 and pitched for them until joining the white sox in 1984.  for the 1985 season, he joined the dodgers and was 1-3 in 12 games.  he did get his only big league hit while wearing dodger blue that year, although he did not pitch in the postseason.

chuck dressen

dressen managed the reds for a few seasons in the 1930's and then didn't get another chance at managing until he took over the dodgers in 1951.  he led the team to the playoff with the giants, but finished second in the national league thanks to the shot heard 'round the world.  in 1952 and 1953, dressen led the team to the pennant, although the dodgers were not able to beat the yankees in the world series either year.  after that, dressen wanted a long-term contract, while walter o'malley only believed in one-year deals.  so, walter alston took over and dressen moved on.  he did serve as a coach on alston's squad later in the decade, but more importantly, managed the senators, braves, and tigers before passing away during the 1966 season.

joe ferguson

one of my favorite double dippers, ferguson broke in with the dodgers in 1970, and played catcher and outfield for them until he was traded to the cardinals for reggie smith during the 1976 season.  ferguson returned to the dodgers in 1978 when rafael landestoy was dealt to the astros.  perhaps ferguson's greatest play was when he, as a right fielder, cut in front of jimmy wynn in game 1 of the 1974 world series to catch reggie jackson's fly ball and then nailed sal bando at the plate to prevent the a's from taking a two-run lead.  of course, ferguson also struck out to end that game.

weldon henley

henley had been with the philadelphia a's for three seasons before the superbas took him in the 1906 rule v draft.  in 1907, henley appeared in 7 games for brooklyn, all as a starter, and went 1-5 with a 3.05 era and 5 complete games.

duster mails

mails pitched for the robins in 1915 and 1916, and went 0-1 each season.  he did not appear in the 1916 world series for the robins, but did pitch against them in the 1920 fall classic as a member of the indians.

al maul

maul pitched for the 1899 superbas as part of a 15-year major league career.  the 1895 era champion was 2-0 for brooklyn in just 4 games pitched.

bob mcgraw

mcgraw pitched for the robins in the 1925, 1926, and 1927 seasons, although he only pitched in one game for brooklyn in 1927 before being traded to the cardinals.  he was 9-16 in 34 games for the robins during his time in brooklyn.

gene michael

michael was one of the players (bob bailey being the other) that the dodgers received from the pirates in exchange for maury wills following the 1966 season.  he played for the dodgers for just one season, however, before his contract was purchased by the yankees.  in that season, michael hit just .202 in 98 games at shortstop.  michael spent 7 seasons with the yankees and one with the tigers before retiring as a player, and later became a manager and general manager for the yankees.

german rivera

interesting that rivera is listed as an infielder on his card when he played nothing but third base for the dodgers in 1983 and 1984, his two seasons with the club.  in that time, rivera hit .266 in 107 games.  he was dealt to the astros for enos cabell in 1985.

myron white

i told myron white's dodger story before, since he was a member of the 1978 club who had a 7 game big league career.  there's not much more to say than that.

dick williams

williams, the hall of fame manager, played for the dodgers from 1951 to 1956, except for their championship season of 1955 which he spent in the minors.  he was selected off of waivers during the 1956 season by the orioles and went on to play for the indians, red sox, and a's, along with some return trips to baltimore before retiring as a player and moving on to managing.  as a manager, williams won four pennants and two world series.

the evolution of the shortstop - from reese to russell

only three positions left to address in these evolutionary posts - first, second, and short.  let's check the 6 in dodger history.

for me, dodger shortstops begin with…

pee wee reese (1941-42, 1946-56).  aside from the time he spent serving our country in world war ii, pee wee was a mainstay at short for the dodgers.  here's his 1954 bowman card

pee wee came over from the red sox organization in 1939, but only appeared in the majors as a dodger. during his time as the team's primary shortstop, he appeared in over 2000 games, scored over 1200 runs, had over 2000 hits, and reached base another 1100 or so times by walks.  he helped lead the team to 7 world series (all against the yankees), and hit .272 in 44 postseason games, the most by any dodger.  pee wee went with the team to los angeles, but shifted to third base in 1957, opening up the shortstop position for

charlie neal (1957)

i know that's neal's 1955 bowman card, but i hadn't shown it yet on the blog.  neal played shortstop in 100 games during the dodgers' final season in brooklyn.  he hit .270 with 12 homers, but was moved to second base when the team went west.  that means that neal replaced two dodger legends in the field in two consecutive years.  it also meant that the team had a new primary shortstop in los angeles...

don zimmer (1958-59)

yes, i know that's don zimmer's 1955 topps rookie card that i am using to mark the los angeles dodgers' first primary shortstop.  actually, pee wee reese was the first dodger to play shortstop in la, but zimmer replaced him in the team's second game and wound up playing in 114 games at the position in 1958.  the following year, zimmer appeared in 88 games (70 starts) at short so he gets the positional nod here over the other dodger to start 70 games at the position in '59, maury wills.

maury wills (1960-66)

how awesome is that 1962 bell brand maury wills card, by the way?  wills actually took over at short in june of 1959 and helped the dodgers get to the world series (and win) for the first time since 1955.  he manned the position for 7 and a half seasons before he was dealt away to the pirates.  during those years, wills earned an mvp award and led the league in steals six straight years.  he also set a record that will never be broken (unless the owners get really greedy and expand the season) by playing in 165 regular season games in 1962.  with wills traded to the pirates after the 1966 season, the door was opened for one of the players obtained in return to be the dodgers' shortstop

gene michael (1967)

although he only appeared in 83 games (66 starts) as the dodgers' shortstop in 1967, michael gets the nod over nate oliver, dick schofield, bob bailey, and tommy dean as the most used shortstop on the dodger roster in 1967.  he hit just .246 with 7 rbi, and his contract was purchased by the yankees after the season ended.  michael went on to be their primary shortstop for several years, while the dodgers went out and picked up someone else to fill the void.

zoilo versalles (1968)

i guess versalles had impressed the dodgers in the 1965 world series, as they traded bob miller, ron perranoski, and john roseboro to the twins to get him and mudcat grant.  unfortunately, versalles hit only .196 as the dodgers' everyday shortstop in 1968, and was taken by the san diego padres in the expansion draft after the season.  time for the dodgers to right the wrong that they had done a couple years earlier

maury wills (1969-1971)

yes, maurice morning wills returned to the fold by way of trade during the 1969 season.  an honorable mention goes out to ted sizemore, who started the season as the dodgers' shortstop, but moved to second base when wills was acquired, and wound up winning the nl rookie of the year.  wills was able to secure his spot as the team's primary shortstop in '69 by appearing in 104 games at the position, about 60 more than sizemore.  wills held on to the spot through the 1971 season in which he finished 6th in the league mvp voting.  while he was still with the dodgers in 1972, he was no longer the everyday shortstop, giving way to a converted outfielder...

bill russell (1972-1983)

ropes brought stability back to the shortstop position, holding on to the spot for 12 seasons.  he was named to three all-star teams during that run, and helped the dodgers win 4 pennants and 1 world series.  he was the shortstop of the team of my youth.  but, all good things must come to an end, and russell was eventually replaced as the everyday shortstop in 1984.  i'll get to that next time.

when tom hutton signs, people listen

i posted a while back about this card - a 1967 topps dodgers rookie stars -

that gene michael was kind enough to sign and return.  i sent it back out, this time to tom hutton, and he quickly signed and returned it as well.

hutton also signed his 1976 topps

and 1978 topps cards for me

which is awesome in and of itself.  i love love love getting some 1978 topps signed.

hutton debuted in the majors for the dodgers in 1966.  he went 0 for 2 in 3 games for the nl champs.  his first two games were games in which koufax was pitching, and his third was in a drysdale shutout.  he replaced willie crawford in the 9th inning of his major league debut, and got his first at-bat a few days later when he replaced wes parker in the 7th inning.  he grounded out against the phillies' john morris, but at least he moved the runner over.

hutton didn't appear in the big leagues again until 1969 when he was called up for a two-week stint to replace the injured parker at first.  hutton got his first big league hit (a single) in his first game back against hank aguirre of the cubs.  when parker returned, hutton was sent down and never appeared as a dodger again.

in october of 1971, the dodgers traded hutton to the phillies for larry hisle and hutton quickly became the phils' regular first baseman.  he had hits in his first 3 at-bats for the phillies, including a game winning, walk off single.  after 6 seasons in philadelphia, including two trips to the postseason, hutton was purchased by the blue jays in december of 1977.  i have always wondered why he didn't get a card in the 1978 o-pee-chee set - there was plenty of time after the transaction occurred to include him and get the team and text variation set, especially since he was going to one of the two canadian teams.  speaking of which, hutton played for both teams - toronto and montreal - in 1978.

back to that 1967 card.  it bothers me that topps didn't take the time to airbrush a dodger hat on gene michael.  i found a team issued postcard and replaced the photo to create the 1967 topps dodgers rookie stars card that should have been

much better.

thanks tommy!

gene michael through the mail success!

11 days is all it took for former dodgers shortstop to sign and return his 1967 topps rookie cardand his 1987 topps managers card.michael was acquired by the dodgers from the pirates in the maury wills trade. he played one year for la (1967) in which he batted .202 with no home runs as part of a platoon with dick schofield. his contract was purchased by the yankees after the 1967 season, and he took over as their regular shortstop shortly thereafter. he would go on to manage the yankees in 1981 and 1982 and the cubs in 1986 and 1987.

thanks gene!