sunday morning target dodgers - the rifleman, a unibrow, and 12 others

only 14 cards from the 1990 target dodgers set today, because this particular sheet featured another dodger double dipper who gets his own post later on.

bobby bragan

bragan began his career as a shortstop with the phillies in 1940, but began catching as well, and after he was traded to the dodgers just prior to the 1943 season, catcher was his primary position.  he returned to shortstop for a bit in 1944, and then missed the 1945 and '46 seasons due to military service during world war ii.  when bragan returned to the dodgers in 1947, he signed the petition protesting the addition of jackie robinson to the major league roster, and even asked branch rickey for a trade.  bragan wasn't traded, and he soon changed his mind about being jackie's teammate.  in 1948, after appearing in just 9 games for the dodgers, bragan was offered a job managing in the organization's minor league system at fort worth.  bragan accepted, knowing that his roster spot had essentially been taken by roy campanella.  after several seasons in fort worth (where he made maury wills into a switch-hitter), bragan eventually managed in the major leagues for the pirates, indians, and braves.  he returned to fort worth, and became the oldest manager in professional baseball history when he managed a game for the independent cats at the age of 87 in 2005.

buster burrell

another catcher, burrell spent three seasons (1895-97) with the grooms/bridegrooms, although he never appeared in more than 62 games in a single season.  his best year was 1896 when he played in 62 games and hit .301.  burrell looks pretty intense, but he lived to be 95 before passing away in 1962.  so, in his lifetime, the entire history of professional baseball up until sandy koufax's 7th start of the 1962 season occurred.  crazy.

guy cantrell

cantrell's nickname was 'gunner', and as a pitcher for the brooklyn robins in 1925 and 1927, he was 1-0 with a 2.93 era over 20 appearances.  cantrell was acquired by the philadelphia a's during the 1927 season, and finished his major league career with the tigers in 1930.  now we go from one 'gunner' to another…

chuck connors

connors was a brooklyn native who signed with the local club as a teenager in 1940.  he soon after went to college at seton hall and was picked up by the yankees.  in 1946, he wrote to branch rickey asking the dodgers to re-acquire him, and they did so after the yankees waived him.  connors wound up playing in the minor leagues, but also spent some time on the roster of the boston celtics from 1946-48.  he finally made his baseball big league debut in may of 1949 as a pinch-hitter.  with one out in the bottom of the 9th in a game against the phillies, connors pinch-hit for carl furillo.  gil hodges was on first base, so connors represented the tying run, as the dodgers were down 4-2.  unfortunately, connors grounded into a game ending double play, 1-6-3.  that turned out to be his only appearance as a dodger, but he was traded to the cubs and played in 66 games for the southsiders in 1951.  after that, connors played in the pcl for the los angeles angels, and was discovered by hollywood.  he eventually decided to pursue acting as a career, and landed the title role in the abc program 'the rifleman'.

jumbo elliot

elliot first pitched for the robins in 1925 after throwing just one inning for the browns in 1923.  after taking the loss in 2 of the 3 games in which he pitched in '25, elliot spent 1926 in the minors, but was back in the majors to stay in 1927.  he pitched both as a starter and a reliever for the robins through the 1930 season, which happened to be the only time in his career up until that point that he earned a winning record.  with a 26-36 record overall, the robins traded elliot to the phillies, with whom he promptly led the league with 19 wins in 1931.

dick farrell

farrell was better known as 'turk' during his playing days.  he spent the last few months of the 1961 season with the dodgers, but didn't ever get a complete card as a dodger from topps, so it is quite disappointing that this card fails to feature him in the correct uniform as well.  as a dodger, farrell was 6-6 with 10 saves in 50 appearances.  he was selected by the colt .45's in the expansion draft, and lost 20 games for them in 1962.

balvino galvez

galvez was once traded for billy beane, straight up.  i wonder if the a's general manager makes that deal today.  all of galvez's major league experience came as a dodger in 1986.  he pitched in 10 games and had a record of 0-1.  the first batter galvez faced as a big leaguer was none other than ron cey.  the penguin stroked a two-run, game-tying single off of galvez, and tommy lasorda removed the rookie pitcher from the game.  galvez was traded by the dodgers to the tigers during the 1987 season, and they sent him to the twins the following year for beane.

phil garner

garner doesn't look quite right without his bristle brush mustache, does he?  he joined the dodgers during the 1987 season following a trade with houston and wound up playing in 70 games for the club. he hit just .190 with two home runs (the last two of his career), and finished his major league career with 15 games for the giants in 1988.

jeff hamilton

hamilton was a backup third baseman who won the job during the 1988 season when pedro guerrero was moved to first base.  he wound up manning the hot corner for the dodgers during the world series, too, catching the final out of their pivotal game 4 win.  that was the game that, thanks in part to hamilton's presence in the lineup, caused bob costas to comment that the dodgers were fielding the weakest hitting lineup in world series history.  hamilton was the dodgers' primary third baseman in 1989, but was injured for most of 1990 and '91.  he attempted to convert to a pitcher, but was unsuccessful, meaning his only pitching appearance as a major leaguer remained his 1.2 innings of work in a 22-inning game against the astros in 1990 in which he struck out billy hatcher and ken caminiti, but was nonetheless saddled with the loss.

dale mitchell

mitchell's career started with a bang in cleveland - over his first 8 seasons with the indians, mitchell had 1201 hits, 60 triples (he led the league with 23 in 1949), and a .315 batting average.  beginning in 1954, however, he was relegated to part-time duty, and the indians eventually sold his contract to the dodgers during the 1956 season.  with brooklyn, mitchell hit .292 in 19 games down the stretch as the dodgers repeated as national league champions.  in the world series, mitchell was hitless four pinch-hit appearances against the yankees, the third of which resulted in the final out of don larsen's game 5 perfecto.

wally moon

all hail the unibrow!  moon was the 1954 national league rookie of the year for the cardinals, who traded him to the dodgers after the 1958 season for gino cimoli.  moon immediately made an impact for the dodgers in 1959, hitting .302 while leading the league in triples and launching his 'moon shot' home runs at the la coliseum as the dodgers won the pennant and the world series.  moon hit .299 in 1960, and then .328 in 1961 (his .434 obp led the league that year), but his performance tapered off after that.  his final appearance as a dodger came in the 1965 world series, where he was hitless in two pinch-hitting appearances.

bill posedel

posedel didn't reach the majors until the age of 31 when he debuted for the dodgers during the 1938 season.  he made 17 starts, finishing 6 of them (one was a shutout), and also relieved in 16 games.  he finished with a record of 8-9 and was traded to the braves during the offseason.  he was sometimes known as barnacle bill due to his two stints in the navy - one prior to the start of his big league career, and one during his career to serve in world war ii.

howie reed

the dodgers acquired reed from the kansas city a's in 1961, buy he didn't make it to the club's big league roster until 1964.  he was 3-3 as a starter with a no-decision, and 0-1 with a save as a reliever in 19 other appearances that year.  in 1965, reed pitched in 38 games (5 as a starter) and had an overall record of 7-5 plus a save.  he appeared in two games during the 1965 world series, but had just one appearance for the dodgers in the 1966 season before he was traded to the angels.

rj reynolds

robert james reynolds received a september call-up from the dodgers in 1983, but was with the team for most of 1984 and 1985 up until the time he was traded to the pirates for bill madlock.  he played for the pirates through the 1990 season, and then went to japan where he found some success.  as a dodger, reynolds is best remembered for his walk-off squeeze bunt on september 11, 1983 that beat the braves and put the dodgers 3 games up on atlanta in the nl west. that was a big two-game swing in the standings, and the dodgers held on to win the west.

waiting for a decision on 2014 topps heritage

blissfully unaware of the delays topps has announced for 2014 heritage, i swung through the card aisle on a recent trip to target.  no heritage, obviously, and so i was left to wonder whether i would have bought any had it been there.  up until a few weeks ago i was all in for 2014 heritage.  i am a fan of the 1965 topps design, and i hadn't tried to complete a heritage set since 2001, the first year.  that was somewhat of a disaster as the box i had pre-ordered (before the prices went crazy) never showed up and i was left to fend for myself with all the other people who went bananas over the 1952 topps design and short prints galore.

standing in the card aisle, i got to thinking.  i still haven't finished that 2001 set, in fact, i don't even have a want list posted.  it is such a low priority.  and, i am still trying to finish the 2003 upper deck vintage set (i do have a want list for that one) which shamelessly ripped off the 1965 topps design.  pretty much all i have left are short prints - ichiro, mike piazza, and the like plus most of the 3d cards.

i did pick up a few short prints last year, like mark mcgwire

raul mondesi

alex ochoa

and jay payton

plus the richie sexson 3d card

i would be happy to have the complete set minus the 3d cards which seem to be pretty tough to find.

i also reminded myself that i had decided that the 1965 topps set would be the one set from that decade that i would actually try to complete.  i have my sampler set which would mean that i'm not starting from scratch.  and, to get the ball rolling, here's my 1965 topps want list, and here are some cards from my dodger team set that have been waiting patiently in my scanned folder.

willie crawford/john werhas

first card for willie, second for john

willie davis

and tommy davis

because two davises are better than one.

and finally, wally moon

because, you know, the unibrow.

so, what it all means is that the next time i'm in the card aisle, i may well pick up a pack or two of heritage, but i've got other set building priorities.  i think.

1955 type collection

i was lucky (yes, oh so lucky) enough to win the fifth anniversary giveaway contest at number 5 type collection.  if you read that blog, and you should, you know that matthew appreciates the fifth card from a set and vintage.  here's most of what my winnings included

1955 bowman gil hodges

hodges' face is framed by the creases nicely, and i am one card closer to finishing the 1955 bowman dodger team set

staying in 1955, here's a '55 topps bert hamric

wonderfully rounded corners and miscut top to bottom. i will leave it to more curious minds which player hamric is sharing space with.  whenever i see the green bottom on a '55, i think of ted williams, but he had appeared in more than 200 games.

a few interesting things to note here.  first, we have firearms on the back of the card.  second, we have a full name of 'odbert'.  you may have noticed the facsimile auto on the front also showing that bert was short for odbert.  hamric is, to date, the sole big leaguer to have been named odbert.

enough about the name - the text on the back brings us to the conclusion that hamric can hit.  if i had been a brooklyn youngster in 1955, i would have been excited to see this minor league success story with the big club.  well, hamric made it to brooklyn, but was given just one at bat - as a pinch hitter - and he struck out.  his only other appearance that year was as a pinch runner.  three years later, hamric resurfaced in baltimore where he struck out in 5 of his 7 at bats.  he did get a base hit, however, so all was not lost.  add in a pop out, and you have hamric's big league career - 8 at bats, each of which came as a pinch hitter.

oh, i couldn't resist.  it's joe coleman who is creeping on to hamric's card.

unibrow alert!  here's a 1961 post wally moon card

the card is shaped more like a backwards nebraska than a colorado, but i'm not complaining. it's got character!  and again, it's another card crossed off of the want list.

here's a 1977 tcma renata galasso burleigh grimes card

grimes played for the dodgers when they were known as the robins, but he did manage the dodgers for a couple of seasons in the 1930's.  his hall of fame plaque has a 'b' on the cap, but i don't know if the dodgers have any sort of acknowledgement of grimes at the stadium like they do for the other dodger hall of famers.  the most obvious recognition are the retired numbers, but grimes played for the franchise before numbers were worn.  i suppose they could do something like the giants have done for the likes of john mcgraw and just put the 'b' logo in a circle for him.  same goes for zach wheat and others, now that i think about it.  in a similar vein, number 2 is retired for tom lasorda, of course, but i suppose supporters of leo durocher could see that as his number as well.  kind of a yankees/bill dickey/yogi berra number 8 thing.

and, while we are on the topic of numbers, here is the back of a card numbered 4 in its set - a 1981 topps squirt steve garvey card

so close to being a part of the number 5 type collection!  instead, matthew is stuck with a reggie jackson card.  man - look at those stats from 1974 through 1980.  i really thought that we would see number 6 in the rafters at dodger stadium.

thanks for the cards matthew! and here's to many more years of number 5's!

some all-time double play heroes

all right! back to double plays.  i have quite a few cards showing the turn from the 1993 upper deck all-time heroes set, which mimicked the 1912 t202 hassan triple folder cards.  these are the cards that were released in association with the baseball assistance team to raise funds and/or awareness of the needs of former players and others associated with the game.

here we go, starting with alvin dark and a staged dp turn

i always think of dark as the manager of the padres since that's how he was portrayed in the 1978 topps set.  as a player, he bookended his career with stints as a brave - first in boston (where he was voted rookie of the year in 1946) and then in milwaukee (where he ended his career in 1960).  the middle panel features a photo of him during his milwaukee days.  as you can tell by the other photo, he also played for the phillies - also in 1960.  before that, he played for the new york baseball giants, the cardinals, and the cubs.

this next one is not a double play card, but it features a well-known double play turner, johnny evers

here's the back, which goes into more detail about the merkle boner and evers' role in it.

i previously posted the card from this set that features the entire cub double play threesome, and i was hoping that evers' individual card might show him making the turn.  i was wrong.

this next card does feature a double play turning cub - it's glenn beckert

kessinger to beckert to banks/hickman just isn't the same as tinker to evers to chance.

ray boone is shown here with the same photo that upper deck used for the 1994 all-time heroes set

but bill mazeroski's card is all different.

primarily due to the fact that he hit a home run in the 1960 world series of some importance.  it's nice to see a guy known for his glove shown in a defensive play.

buddy biancalana was known for his name, but it's nice to see a guy like him in a set like this

the back addresses his popularity with a certain late night talk show host

who also had an interest in a 1978 topps dodger - terry forster.

of course, no all-time hero type set would be complete without a boatload of yankees.  at least a number of the yankees in the set are turning a double play.  like bucky freakin' dent

and frankie crosetti

and gil mcdougald

and even billy martin

martin is also shown in double play mode on his 1956 topps card

although it looks like the pivot has been successfully interrupted by the player sliding in.  i believe that the martin card was the last of the 56's that i needed to complete the double play turns from that set.  it's a good thing that mickey mantle's card didn't show him sliding into second trying to break up two.

here's another yankee middle infielder apparently unsuccessfully turning two, phil rizzuto and his 2000 upper deck yankees legends card

that's a lot of yankees.  i better balance things out with some dodgers.  and an oriole?

tommy davis gets some time as both a dodger and an oriole on his card from the 1993 all-time heroes set.

i should have used this card in my travels of tommy davis post.  check out the back

there is no uniform or team confusion on wally moon's card

i'm sure cardinal fans are disappointed.

finally, here are a couple of dodger leftys shown pitching in dodger stadium - johnny podres

who gets both la and brooklyn dodger photos, and tommy john

who is mercifully not shown as a yankee in either of his photos.

there are some nice dp turns in these cards.  i think i like the alvin dark one the best, even though it's staged.  there's something about his glove and the lumpy base and the close proximity of the second baseman.  plus, it's not a yankee.

i think i have just one more double play post before all of my dp cards are posted.  then i'll get to ranking them and i won't have to worry about double plays for a while.  at least until the 2013 cards are released.

the evolution of the left fielder, part 1

i'll start the left fielder evolution in the mid-50's with world series hero sandy amoros.  i'm starting there essentially because that's when baseballreference starts to differentiate the outfield positions on their team pages.  i'm lazy.

sandy amoros (1954-1956)

that 1955 topps card is sandy's rookie card, although he was a veteran of the negro leagues and debuted in the majors in 1954.  he's best remembered for his catch of a yogi berra fly ball that turned into a double play in game 7 of the 1955 world series, but amoros hit a home run in that series, and had an ops of 1.113.  unfortunately for amoros, he didn't do as well in the 1956 series, managing just one hit in 19 at bats.

gino cimoli (1957)

cimoli took over in left for the 1957 season, and made a splash.  by the way - i appreciate his 1958 card shown above because it looks like topps got rid of his bat for some reason.  cimoli established career highs in many categories during 1957, his first full season, and even made the all-star team.  he hit 10 homers, batted .293 and drove in 57 runs while playing 80 of his 142 games in left.  in the all-star game, cimoli appeared as a pinch hitter for pitcher larry jackson and struck out against billy pierce.  it was his only career all-star game appearance.

in 1958, cimoli shifted to center field and jim gilliam came from the infield to cover left.

jim gilliam (1958)

in total, gilliam only played 70 games in left field in 1958, but that was more games than anyone else.  the dodgers used a total of 13 different players out there in their first year in los angeles, including gil hodges, don zimmer and the previous year's left fielder, gino cimoli.  i am guessing noone was too comfortable playing in the short porch of the coliseum.

gilliam actually played all three outfield positions, as well as second and third, in 1958.  he made just one error in left, and had 5 assists from the position.  he also scored 81 runs and finished 19th in the league mvp voting.  in 1959, gilliam went back to being an infielder, so once again, a new face showed up in left field.

wally moon (1959-1961)

moon (and his fantastic unibrow as displayed on this 1959 topps card) had been acquired during the offseason in a trade with the cardinals for the aforementioned cimoli.  he took over in left and stayed there for three seasons - good seasons, in fact.  in 1959, moon led the league in triples and made the all-star team as the starting left fielder (he went 0 for 2 with a walk in the game).  he also finished 4th in the league mvp voting and helped the dodgers win their first world series title in los angeles.  in 1960, moon won a gold glove for his play in left (he had 14 assists), and in 1961, he hit .328 (4th best in the league) and led the league with an obp of .434.

moon began the 1962 season as the dodgers' starting left fielder, but moved to first base in late april to make room for 23-year old tommy davis. 

tommy davis (1962-1964)

davis had placed 5th in the 1960 nl roy voting and had been playing all three outfield positions with a little third base thrown in the mix during his first two years in the league.  in late april of 1962, walter alston stuck him in left field and let him take root.  the result was two of the greatest seasons in dodger history.  davis won back-to-back batting titles, hitting .346 in 1962 and .326 in 1963.  his 230 hits and 153 rbi in 1962 are still a dodger single season record.  for his efforts, davis made the all-star team both years, and finished 3rd and 8th in the mvp voting, respectively.  in the 1962 all-star games, he was a combined 0 for 5 as the starting left fielder for the national league.  in 1963, he again made the start and was 1 for 3 with a walk and scored the winning run for the nl squad.  later that year, davis hit .400 in the 1963 world series, helping the dodgers sweep the yankees and win their second title in 5 seasons. 

davis had a down year in 1964, hitting just .275 but still drove in 86 runs.  an injury in the 1965 season opened the door for another left fielder to take over.
lou johnson (1965-1967)

lou johnson stepped in after tommy davis injured his ankle early in 1965, and helped the dodgers get to the world series.  sweet lou  was acquired by the dodgers in april of 1964, but didn't play for the big club until 1965.  as davis' replacement, johnson hit .259 with 12 home runs and played good defense, helping stabilize the outfield.  the dodgers made it back to the world series, where johnson hit 2 home runs, including the game 7 solo shot that gave koufax the only run he needed to beat the twins and give the dodgers another championship.  johnson had a better year in 1966, and again helped the dodgers get to the world series, although they were swept by the orioles that year.  in 1967, he hit .270 while playing just 81 games in left, and was dealt to the cubs after the season ended.

len gabrielson (1968)

the dodgers had acquired gabrielson from the angels during the 1967 season.  he played a scant 57 games in left field for the dodgers in 1968, but that was more than any of the 8 other players the dodgers put out there.  they used wes parker, jim lefebvre, jim fairey, ted savage, al ferrara, cleo james, willie crawford, and even had rocky colavito for a short time in left.  in another strange twist to the season, gabrielson wound up leading the team with 10 home runs that year.  year of the pitcher, indeed. 

after the season, buzzie bavasi went to the padres, and al campanis took over as general manager.  he made a deal to bring some stability back to the position, landing manny mota from the expos.

manny mota (1969-1970, 1972-1973)

mota wasn't acquired until june, but still played more games as the dodgers' left fielder in 1969 than anyone else.  he hit .323 as a dodger, and then followed that up with a .305 campaign in 1970.  in 1971, mota split time between left and right to make way for willie crawford, but wound up reclaiming the starting left fielder job towards the end of the season.  in 1972, he hit .323 and earned some mvp votes.  he hit .314 and made the all-star team in 1973.  it was the lone all-star appearance of his career, and he pinch hit (not for pedro borbon) for dave giusti and grounded out.  while mota still played more games in left than any other dodger in 1973, he was easing into a platoon/pinch-hitting role that season. 
willie crawford (1971)

local prep star willie crawford was technically the dodgers' primary left fielder in 1971, although he and mota both appeared in 63 games there (crawford made 55 starts to mota's 47).  he and mota were also pretty close in 1969 (56 games/45 starts for willie to 64/54 for mota).  in 1971, crawford was only 24 even though it must have seemed he had been around forever - he had debuted in 1964 as a 17-year old - and he hit .281 with 9 homers and 40 rbi.  he would be moved to right field on a more permanent basis, so we'll see more of him when i get to the evolution of the right fielder someday.

that's all for part 1; be on the lookout for some sweet bill buckner eyebrows in part 2, coming soon.