sunday morning target dodgers - featuring the 'other' sandy

it's sunday again.  here are another 15 players from a sheet of cards featured in the 1990 target 100th anniversary dodger giveaway set.

sandy amoros

amoros is known throughout dodgerdom as a hero of the 1955 world series.  in game 7, he was inserted   into the lineup in the 6th inning after don zimmer had been lifted for pinch-hitter george shuba. jim gilliam shifted from left field to second base, and amoros entered the game in left.  with the dodgers ahead 2-0, billy martin walked and gil mcdougald singled to start the yankees' half of the inning. the next batter, yogi berra, hit a ball down the line that amoros was able to catch by stretching his arm out after running from left-center. he then threw the ball to pee wee reese who relayed it to gil hodges to force mcdougald for a double play.  it is largely believed that the fact that amoros wore his glove on his right hand made the catch possible.  amoros stayed with the dodgers through their move to los angeles until he was dealt to the tigers during the 1960 season. he later returned to his native cuba, but fell on hard times after refusing fidel castro's request to manage a cuban team.

jack fimple

fimple was a backup to steve yeager and mike scioscia in 1983, 1984, and 1986. he played a bit down the stretch in '83, and actually started a couple of games in the 1983 nlcs against the phillies.  i still believe that he hit a home run that year with a broken finger on his hand. i don't think i would have remembered that if it had not happened, but who knows.

mudcat grant

jim 'mudcat' grant pitched (and hit a home run) against the dodgers in the 1965 world series as a member of the minnesota twins, and he must have made an impression because they traded for him just a couple of years later.  with the dodgers for the 1968 season, grant posted an era of 2.08 in 37 games (4 starts). unfortunately for the dodgers, grant was lost to the expos in the expansion draft that followed that season.

kent greenfield

greenfield pitched in six games for the 1929 brooklyn robins - the last six appearances of his 9-year career. he had begun the season in boston with the braves, but joined the robins on waivers near the end of june.  in his six games for brooklyn, greenfield posted an era of 8.31, allowing 8 runs in 8.2 innings of work.

chris gwynn

gwynn was a dodger double dipper. he was also the younger brother of tony gwynn, and after his second tour of duty with the dodgers ended in 1995, gwynn signed with his brother's team for the 1996 season.  his last appearance as a major league player came in game 3 of the 1996 nlds, wherein gwynn singled as a pinch-hitter and was driven home by his big brother.

phil haugstad

haugstad made his big league debut in september of 1947. he pitched in 6 games for the dodgers, and went 1-0 with a 2.84 era. he made one appearance in 1948, and then didn't return to the majors until 1951 when he went 0-1 in 21 appearances for the dodgers. haugstad finished his career with the reds in 1952.

fred heimach

heimach had pitched in the majors for nine seasons when he joined the robins in 1930. he had been a member of the 1928 world champion yankees (he's wearing the pinstripes in the photo used on his card), although he did not appear in the world series.  heimach wound up pitching for brooklyn for four seasons, winning 9 games in both 1931 and 1932, but failing to post a victory in 1930 or 1933.

charlie kress

kress was traded to the dodgers by the tigers in june of 1954. he played in 13 games for brooklyn, going 1 for 12 with 2 rbi at the plate. you can see that he also played for the reds, and he was at one time a member of the white sox, as well.

mike j. mccormick

there was a mike mccormick that played for the dodgers, but it's not this guy.  baseball reference lists this mccormick as being actually named 'mccormack', which is probably correct. anyway, this player spent just one year in the majors - 1904 - and he spent it as a member of the brooklyn superbas. as the team's primary third baseman that year, mccormick/mccormack hit just .184 in 105 games.  he was only 5'-3", which would make him shorter than freddie patek, who is always my bellweather for vertically challenged ballplayers.

otto miller

miller spent his entire 13-year big league career with the superbas/robins/dodgers, beginning in 1910.  miller caught for both the 1916 and 1920 pennant winning teams, although he hit poorly in each of the world series.  he played in 927 games for the club, and later became a coach following his playing days.

buster mills

mills debuted as a cardinal in 1934, but spent most of the 1935 season in the minors.  the dodgers purchased his contract from saint louis, and he spent most of the last month of the '35 season with brooklyn.  he hit .214 in 17 games as a dodger, but went on to hit .295 in 1937 (he spent 1936 back in the cardinals' organization) as a regular in the red sox outfield.

bobby morgan

morgan played for the dodgers in 1950, 1952, and 1953.  in each of those seasons, he hit exactly 7 home runs.  he appeared in both the 1952 and 1953 world series, but was held hitless in his 2 at bats. after the 1953 season, morgan was traded to the phillies.

jim peterson

peterson pitched for the a's in 1931 and 1933, and then made the majors with the dodgers in 1937.  he pitched in only 3 games for brooklyn, however, and allowed 5 runs in 5.2 innings of work.

bart shirley

shirley was a double dipper, sandwiching stints with the dodgers around a run with the mets in 1968.  he also graces the 1966 topps grant jackson rookie card that always seems to run a pretty penny.  i like this card of shirley because he's standing in a young dodger stadium with some nicely pulled stirrups.

danny walton

it's interesting that walton is listed as an outfielder on his card.  sure, that's where he spent most of his time during his 9 years in the big leagues, but he also played some third base, first base, and even catcher.  for the dodgers, however, walton was only used as a pinch-hitter.  during the 1976 season, walton got 17 plate appearances for the dodgers (he was announced but not used as a pinch-hitter in an 18th game).  overall, he was 2 for 15 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

we'll have to wait and see what random selection of players show up on next week's sheet...

i like the way you think, travis barbary (or, who's your hero?)

for the 1999 season, the dodgers created 'heroes' patches to be worn on the uniforms, celebrating the roster of generally awesome players that had suited up for the blue in their roughly (at that time) 110 year existence.  there were some 'heroes' for whom patches were not made (fernando, anyone?) and there are one or two others that i see as questionable (tommy davis over willie davis?) but i admit i wasn't around during their heydays. 

according to the la times, 'the dodgers asked each player and coach to name the former dodger who inspired them most. the choice each person made was displayed on a patch he wore on his uniform'. of course, there were a limited number of players to choose from (i believe there were 23 'heroes'), and 18 different dodgers from the past were chosen by the current players and staff.  the ones not worn included walter alston, carl erskine, johnny podres, and two others (maybe carl furillo and jim gilliam? - i don't remember bill buhler and rick monday - thanks jerry reuss!).  in addition, sandy koufax had the dodgers pull his patch from circulation, as he wasn't a fan of the fox regime and their use of his likeness.  i remember seeing complete sets of the patches for sale through the dodgers' website (without the koufax), but it was a pretty hefty sum since the set was provided in a big display box.  i did buy a couple of individual patches, though.

anyway, here's the list:

roy campanella - worn by todd hundley

and angel pena

pena's 1999 keebler dodgers card gives the best look at the campanella patch.  in fact, that set is easily the best for a lot of the patches.  it figures that two of the catchers chose campy, while the other backstop chose mike scioscia as their hero, as we'll see later.

ron cey -  worn by adrian beltre

the penguin!  here's a better look at the patch.

i am not too sure that beltre, born in the dominican republic in 1979, followed cey much.  still, we are keeping with the positional loyalty, i suppose.

tommy davis - worn by robinson checo of whom i do not have a card showing the patch.

don drysdale - worn by jeff shaw,

darren dreifort (nice to see little d honoring big d), ismael valdes, eric gagne (i'm 99% certain), and doug bochtler

here's a better look at the patch

i really don't get why kevin brown didn't pick drysdale.  maybe i am mistaking his surliness for drysdale's intensity.

steve garvey - worn by travis barbary (i would love to find a card or image of travis barbary wearing this patch), and by gcrl.

i have it sewn on my garvey jersey, which i will most likely break out this summer at target field when the boys in blue come for a visit.  tickets are secured for all three games.  i can't wait.

kirk gibson - worn by todd hollandsworth, rick dempsey (a former teammate of gibby was a dodger coach in 1999), onan masaoka.  i don't have any cards of these three guys that feature the gibson patch, but i do own the gibby patch.  it looks like this

one big season a hero does make.

gil hodges--eric karros

here's some more positional loyalty, and although i was dissapointed that fabio didn't choose garvey, his choice of hodges makes sense.  karros' dad was a big dodger and hodges fan, so by honoring hodges, karros is also honoring his father.  i can't argue with that, especially since garvey himself probably would have chosen hodges.

sandy koufax - worn by kevin brown,

and chan ho park

contraband!  those patches would fetch a pretty good sum.

tommy lasorda - worn by glenn hoffman, and pedro borbon jr.  i don't have a card or image of the lasorda patch.

manny mota - worn by raul mondesi,

jose vizcaino, carlos perez, and antonio osuna.  mota was the only guy in uniform that could have worn a patch of himself.  he chose not too.  i'm not so sure other players would have been as humble.

don newcombe - worn  by coach john shelby.  sadly, i do not have an image of this patch.

pee wee reese - worn by mark grudzielanek

come on, you know that's reese.  here's a full view of the patch

all of the dodgers wound up wearing a black 'pee wee' patch later in the season to mark the passing of the great shortstop. 

jackie robinson - worn by eric young, davey johnson, gary sheffield, devon white,

and alan mills

here's what the patch looks like in all of its glory

dodger heroes don't get any better than that, folks.

bill russell - worn by tripp cromer

yay for tripp!  one of the few to give us a full view of the patch.  still, here's a better image

let us remember that this dodger hero was fired by the same regime that sought to honor him.  he wasn't the only discarded manager to be featured, either.

mike scioscia - worn by paul loduca and dave hansen.  hansen was a teammate of scioscia's back in the early '90's.  i don't have an image of the scioscia patch.

duke snider - worn by hitting coach rick down.  i don't have an pic of snider's patch.  the dodgers will be wearing a patch this season to commemorate the duke's death which is appropriate.  i was a little surprised that they didn't do it for willie davis last year, but there was no doubt they would honor the duke.

don sutton - worn by pitching coach charlie hough, coach jim tracy, double dipper mike maddux, and jamie arnold

you get a sense of the awesomeness of dodger pitching over the years when sutton gets not a whole lot of respect from the staff.  hough, of course, was a teammate, and jim tracy played in the same era although he never faced sutton.

maury wills - worn by manny mota and jacob brumfield.  i don't have a picture of the wills patch.

there were a few other players who wore dodger blue in 1999, such as craig counsell, but the only card of his as a dodger doesn't show who's on his sleeve.  for the record, the unknowns are counsell, trenidad hubbard (i have heard from someone who said hubbard wore the jackie patch), alex cora, chance sanford, rick wilkins, juan castro, brent cookson, mike judd, jeff williams, dave mlicki, jeff kubenka, matt herges, and mel rojas.  if anyone has any 2000 cards or other info on these patches and players, i would love to hear from you.

here's to you, dodger heroes (you too, davey lopes)!