sunday morning target dodgers - the penultimate sheet edition

so far, i've shown 1,060 cards from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary giveaway set.  that means that there are only two more sheets of 15 cards to show.  here's the next to last sheet:

ed goodson

when i started following the dodgers in 1977, i recognized that ed goodson had the unenviable job of being a backup first baseman on the team for which steve garvey played.  goodson played in the field in only 17 games for the dodgers in '77 (13 at first, including one complete game in which garvey only appeared as a pinch hitter, and 4 at third).  however goodson did play several games at third base for the blue in 1976 after being acquired along with dusty baker from the braves.  still, he was used primarily as a pinch-hitter in his two seasons with the club, hitting .273 in 62 plate appearances in that role in '76, but just .182 in 45 pinch-hitting plate appearances in '77.

dixie howell

not to be confused with another dixie howell who played at the same time, the dodgers' howell was originally signed by the team in 1938.  he didn't reach the big leagues until 1947, however, following a trade with the pirates.  he eventually returned to brooklyn in a 1952 trade, and played for the dodgers in 1953, 1955, and 1956.  howell did not appear in the world series in any of those seasons, and he hit just .250 in 24 regular season games for the dodgers.

lyn lary

as lary's 12-year big league career was coming to a close, he played for three teams during the 1939 season. he began the year with the indians and finished it with the cardinals, but in between, he played in 29 games for the dodgers.  he hit .161 with a double, triple, and a single rbi for the man who holds the yankee season record for rbi (107) by a shortstop.

al lopez

hall of fame catcher al lopez caught more games than anyone else up until bob boone broke his record in the late 1980's.  of his 1.918 games caught, close to 750 came with the robins/dodgers from 1928 through 1935.  he played in a total of 762 games for the franchise over that timeframe, but spent a few complete games in the infield and had some other appearances as a pinch-hitter.  he hit .279 for brooklyn overall, and hit the last 'bounce' home run in major league history in 1930 while with the robins.

lee magee

magee's given last name was hoernschemeyer, which is longer than hollandsworth and would have been the longest surname in franchise history.  however, he opted for magee.  playing for brooklyn towards the end of his career, magee began the 1919 season with the robins, and hit .238 in 45 games. he was traded to the cubs in june after the robins' organization heard rumblings of his association with gamblers and rumors of magee betting against his team while he was with the reds in 1918. following the 1919 season, magee did admit that he had bet on a game (he claimed he bet on the reds while other evidence showed he had bet against them and did indeed try to throw the game) and he was banned.  a few months later, the black sox scandal was brought to light.

mike a. marshall

marshall, or general soreness, never faced the other mike marshall, although their careers did overlap in 1981.  this mike marshall was one of the dodger prospects that i, along with legion other dodger fans, were anxiously awaiting in 1981.  he had hit .373 in triple-a albuquerque with 34 homers and 137 rbi that year (good enough to win the pcl triple crown), and received a september call-up.  yes, even though he was a first baseman and i was a huge fan of steve garvey, i wanted to see marshall in the majors.  i figured the dodgers would move him to the outfield anyway, which they eventually did.  however, they also let garvey go after the 1982 season.  whatever, marshall stayed with the dodgers through the 1989 season, after which he was traded to the mets.  he had struggled with injuries throughout his career (even reportedly sitting out a game due to general soreness), but did lead the 1988 dodgers with 82 rbi.  my lasting mike marshall memory comes from 1988.  i was at the dodger/met game on august 24 that year.  orel hershiser was 17-7 going into the game, and the mets were the best team in the national league. me and some friends were able to wrangle tickets a few rows up from the dodger dugout from another friend's dad (a longtime season ticket holder) and headed to the game.  marshall hit an rbi double off of future dodger bob ojeda in the fourth to score the first run of the game.  hershiser was dealing zeroes through seven, and it was feeling very much like a playoff game.  leading off the top of the 8th, mookie wilson hit a fly ball to right that i believe marshall misplayed.  wilson wound up on third with a triple, and the mets scored two runs that inning and beat orel and the dodgers 2-1.  it turned out to be the second of hershiser's eight straight complete games as well as his last loss of the regular season, and it was during his next start (in the 5th inning, to be exact) that the bulldog began his record breaking scoreless streak.

russ meyer

meyer pitched for the dodgers from 1953-1955, and he appeared in both the '53 and '55 world series.  in the latter, meyer threw 5.2 innings of scoreless relief in game 6.  he was 32-13 for the dodgers during the regular season over those three years, despite an era of 4.47.

dee moore

moore's big league career began in 1936 with the reds. he pinch-hit in a couple of games, but in his first appearance as a defensive player in a major league game, moore was not catching, but pitching.  he threw five innings in relief (allowing an unearned run) and later was the starting pitcher in the reds' final game of the season, pitching two scoreless innings.  moore didn't pitch in the majors again after that, and after being out of the big leagues for a few years, he found himself with the dodgers for the start of the 1943 season.  he hit .253 in 37 games for brooklyn as a catcher and third baseman before the phillies selected him on waivers.

walt moryn

the pride of saint paul, minnesota, moryn was signed by the dodgers in 1948 and eventually got to play in his home town when the dodgers moved their triple-a affiliate from montreal to the saintly city.  he was called up to the show by the dodgers in 1954 and again in 1955, although he didn't see playing time in the world series in '55.  following the 1955 season, moryn was traded to the cubs where he was an all-star in 1958.

john purdin

purdin pitched for the dodgers in 1964 and 1965, and then again in 1968 and 1969 after being held in the minors in 1966 and 1967.  the second appearance of his career, his first career start, resulted in a two-hit shutout of the cubs on september 30, 1964, and he earned his second win a few days later on the last day of the season.  purdin won two games again in 1965, but his era jumped from 0.56 to 6.75, and his next two seasons were spent in the minors. purdin spent all of 1968 with the big club, winning (again) two games - this time with a more respectable 3.07 era.  1969 was his last season in the majors, and purdin was held decision-less for the first time, appearing in only nine games for the dodgers.  purdin wound up with the white sox (and was included in the 1971 topps set), but he never returned to the majors after the 1969 season.

vicente romo

there was no romo-mania in 1968 when romo made his big league debut with the dodgers, or in 1982 when he returned to the club to fulfill his double dipper destiny. i wrote about the adventures of romo here, if you are interested in learning more.

harry smythe

smythe began the 1934 season with the yankees, but was acquired by the dodgers in late may. with brooklyn, he pitched in 8 games, winning one and losing one.  smythe then returned to the international league where he continued his previous success, and ultimately was elected to the il hall of fame.

joe vosmik

after spending the entire 1930's playing in the american league, vosmik brought his .311 lifetime average to brooklyn where he promptly hit a respectable .282 in 116 games.  in 1941, however, vosmik was batting just .196 after appearing in 25 games and was released by the dodgers.

hank webb

acquired from the mets for rick auerbach, webb pitched in 5 games for the 1977 dodgers (which means i created a 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been for him). in 8 innings of relief work over the course of those 5 games, webb allowed only two runs but earned no decisions.  webb's son, ryan, was acquired by the dodgers in april, but was released soon thereafter and is now pitching for the indians.

whitey witt

witt was the third outfielder in the yankee outfield of the early 1920's, playing alongside babe ruth and bob meusel until earle combs came along in 1925.  he was released by the yanks on july 4, 1925, and was later signed by the brooklyn robins.  witt played in 63 games for brooklyn in 1926, hitting .259 with just 2 extra base hits.

i'll have the final sheet of the set next week. stay tuned...

sunday morning target dodgers - the longest name edition

here are more players from another sheet in the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set.

mike devereaux

devereaux was a 5th round pick of the dodgers in 1985, and he was in their outfield a couple of years later.  and then again a few years after that.  i've told his tale before, so i won't go into details again here.  devereaux is currently a coach in the rockies' system.

dick dietz

dodger fans know dietz from his days as a giant, particularly his failure to get out of the way of a don drysdale pitch during big d's scoreless innings streak.  dietz was deemed to have not tried to evade the pitch, and was not awarded first base. that was significant because the bases were loaded at the time.  drysdale got dietz out after the non-hbp, and went on to set the record for consecutive scoreless innings.  dietz joined the dodgers for the 1972 season, but injuries limited him to just 27 games.

snooks dowd

in 1919, dowd played in 13 games for the a's and one for the tigers.  seven years later, he appeared in two games for the brooklyn robins, going 0 for 8. not much to say about dowd, so instead i will note that mlb should bring back the sweaters.

jim golden

golden was acquired by the dodgers from the phillies in 1958 in the deal that sent sparky anderson to philadelphia.  he debuted with the dodgers a couple of years later, starting and beating the cubs in his big league debut and only appearance of the 1960 season. the following year, golden pitched in 28 games, winning 1 and losing 1, although he was used exclusively in relief.  after the season, golden was selected by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft, and he went on to pitch for them for a couple of years.  he was traded to the white sox for nellie fox following the 1963 season.

don lund

lund was a standout athlete at the university of michigan, and chose baseball over football by signing with the dodgers rather than the chicago bears. he appeared in four games for brooklyn in 1945, and then hit .300 in 11 games for them in 1947. the following year, lund was hitting just .188 when the browns selected him on waivers in late june. he eventually returned to michigan as a member of the tigers, and later coached baseball at his alma mater, leading them to the college world series in 1962.

cal mclish

that would be calvin coolidge julius caesar tuskahoma mclish.  just cal, for short.  mclish first appeared in the majors with the dodgers in 1944 as an 18-year old.  he was 3-10 in 23 games (13 starts) that year, with all three of his wins coming in complete game performances. after a year of military service, mclish appeared in just one game in 1946, and was included in the may 1947 trade with the pirates that netted the dodgers al gionfriddo.

clarence mitchell

mitchell pitched for the robins from 1918 through 1922, which means that he was a member of the 1920 national league champions.  he was 5-2 during the regular season that year, and pitched in just one of the world series games (game 5) without figuring in the decision.  mitchell also played the outfield and first base when he wasn't pitching, and had a batting average of .277 in well over 400 at bats during his time with the robins.

gene moore

moore had three different stints with the brooklyn dodger organization, but only appeared in the majors for them in one of them, so he did not achieve true double (or triple) dipper status.  he was first brought into the fold in september of 1935 after playing for the reds and cardinals, but he was traded to the boston bees prior to the start of the 1936 season.  following the 1938 campaign, the bees sent him back to the dodgers, and he played in 117 games for brooklyn over the 1939 and 1940 seasons until his contract was purchased by the bees in may of '40.  the bees eventually traded moore to the yankees, and the dodgers purchased his contract a couple of months later, in february of 1942.  moore spent most of 1942 with the dodgers' triple-a team in montreal, at least until the senators came calling at the end of august and brought him back to the majors.

mike morgan

morgan was well traveled in his major league career, pitching for the dodgers from 1989 through 1991. he was 33-36 as a dodger, and represented the club at the 1991 all-star game - the only all-star selection of his career.

mike munoz

munoz began his 12-year big league career with the dodgers in 1989, and pitched for them again in 1990.  following that season, he was traded to the tigers, but he eventually returned to the nl west with the rockies, with whom he spent the majority of his career. a lefty specialist, munoz appeared in 453 games (all in relief) and pitched a total of 364.1 innings in his career.

charlie neal

neal played mostly second base for the brooklyn and los angeles dodgers from 1956 through 1961.  he was an all-star in 1959 and 1960, and led the league in triples in the former.  neal hit .370 with a couple of home runs in the 1959 world series, but the dodgers traded him to the mets in the fall of 1961.  with the mets, neal was their inaugural second baseman, and he drove in the first run in franchise history on opening day, 1962.

bill north

north was a two-time stolen base champion for the oakland a's and a two-time world series champion (he was with the a's in 1973, but did not appear in the postseason due to injury, and played against the dodgers in the 1974 fall classic).  he began his career with the cubs, which is why he's wearing cub gear in the card photo.  i don't know why a photo of him from the early 1970's was used for his card, unless someone really wanted to make sure we acknowledged those sweet muttonchops.  anyway, north joined the dodgers in a may of 1978 trade (the trade that sent glenn burke to oakland) and took over in center field for rick monday.  he helped the dodgers win the nl west that year, but was 0 for 8 in the nlcs and 1 for 8 in the world series against the yankees, and he chose to leave la via free agency for the 1979 season.

lee rogers

rogers spent one year in the majors - 1938.  he was 1-1 in 14 games for the red sox, and then, following an august trade with the dodgers, he went 0-2 in 12 games for brooklyn.

dick smith

smith was originally signed by the dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1957, but he made his big league debut with the mets in 1963.  he returned to the dodgers for the 1965 season, and he was 0 for 6 with a sacrifice in 10 games.  he did not appear in the 1965 world series, although he was traded to the twins (the 1965 american league champions) prior to the 1967 season, after spending all of 1966 in the minors.

ben wade

similar to dick smith, wade signed his first professional contract in 1940 with the dodgers, however he made his big league debut as a cub in 1948.  the dodgers re-acquired the hurler prior to the 1950 season, and he marked his return to the majors two years later - this time with brooklyn.  he was 19-15 in the 2-plus seasons that he spent with the dodgers, and got to pitch in the 1953 world series for them as well.  after his playing days were over, wade became a scout for the dodgers, and he eventually served as their scouting director from the late 1970's into the '90's.  no word on whether or not he bought into sabermetrics, though.

sunday morning target dodgers - dude looks like a brooklyn groom

here we go with another sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger stadium giveaway set.  i remember seeing this set offered in the la times classifieds in 1990 (i usually looked at the sunday classifieds for collectibles, although i don't recall ever buying anything).  i wound up getting my set on ebay (in a couple different transactions) about 8 years later.  on to the cards.

dude esterbrook

dude! sweet! dude! sweet! i could go on for awhile.  esterbrook (given name thomas john) hit .375 in 3 games for the 1891 brooklyn grooms.  that was his last hurrah in the majors, as he finished his career that began in 1880 with the buffalo bisons.  still, esterbrook played in the minors until 1894 and, according to his obituary, fancied himself able to return to the majors at the time of his death in 1901.  the cause of his death was injuries sustained following a jump from a moving train while trying to escape a trip to a mental hospital.

mickey doolan

doolan (his name is spelled 'doolin' on baseball-reference) spent the first 9 years of his career (beginning in 1905) as the phillies' primary shortstop.  in 1914, he jumped to the federal league, but returned to the national league in 1916 with the cubs and later, the giants.  he did not appear in the majors in 1917, but signed with brooklyn for 1918.  in what would be the final season of his career, doolan hit .179 in 92 games as the robins' second baseman.

lou fette

fette pitched in 109 games during his big league career, 107 of which came with the boston bees/braves in two separate stints.  in 1940, after posting an 0-5 record for the bees, the dodgers claimed him on waivers and sent fette to the mound twice.  fette pitched a total of 3 innings in a dodger uniform, allowing 3 hits and issuing 2 walks, but no runs crossed the plate against him.  fette later returned to boston in 1945, where he pitched for his former franchise (having reverted to their previous name, the braves) and finished his big league career.

darrin fletcher

fletcher was a backup catcher who had a couple of cups of coffee with the dodgers in 1989 and 1990.  he was traded to the phillies for dennis cook during the 1990 season, but found success after the phils traded him to montreal following the 1991 campaign.  fletcher was a member of the 1994 expos, even representing them in the all-star game, and was their regular catcher from 1993 through 1996.  it's worth noting that fletcher was the catcher for tommy greene's no-hitter against the expos in 1991.

dave goltz

i first learned about goltz from his appearance on a 1978 topps league leader card.  there he was, in a minnesota twins hat along with dennis leonard, jim palmer, and steve carlton thanks to the fact that he, leonard, and palmer all had 20 wins in 1977.  a couple years later, goltz signed with the dodgers as a free agent.  the move didn't work out so well for the minnesota native although he was part of the 1981 world champions (he relieved bob welch in game 4 of the series - a game the dodgers came back to win by scoring two late runs off of old friend tommy john.  goltz pitched for the angels in 1982 after leaving the dodgers, but he never regained the touch he had during his time in minnesota.

harvey hendrick

hendrick played for the robins from 1927 into the 1931 season.  he hit .354 in 1929, which was only good enough for 9th in the national league (lefty o'doul hit .398) and second on the robins (babe herman hit .381).  hendrick, who was a member of the world champion yankees in his rookie season of 1923, hit .318 for brooklyn during his tenure which ended after one appearance in 1931 after which he was traded to the reds.

ricky horton

horton had the good fortune to join the dodgers in august of 1988.  last week i noted that shawn hillegas was the guy with the bad luck who was traded away by the dodgers to the white sox on august 30, 1988, and now here's the guy who the dodgers received in return showing up on this week's sheet.  horton appeared in 12 games for the dodgers down the stretch, going 1-1 with a 5.00 era.  he also appeaered in 4 games of the nlcs and didn't allow any runs, but he didn't pitch in the world series.  horton returned to the team for the 1989 season, but was released in july of that year.

tom mccreery

mccreery suited up for the superbas in 1901, '02, and part of '03 towards the end of his 9-year career.  he hit .264 during that time, which was below his career average of .289.

lemmie miller

lemmie's big league career consisted of 8 games for the dodgers in 1984.  he was 2 for 12 with a walk and a run scored in those games, the last of which occurred on his 24th birthday.

eddie moore

moore played for the robins in 1929 and 1930, hitting .291 for brooklyn during that time.  he had been the second baseman on the pirates' 1925 world championship team, although he led the league in errors at that position that season.

van lingle mungo

mungo was often referred to by his full name for some reason, so as not to be confused with all of the other van mungos out there perhaps.  or maybe i am just thinking that because of the song 'van lingle mungo'.  mungo pitched for the robins/dodgers from 1931 through 1941, and was a 3-time all-star.  in 1936, he led the league in strikeouts (and walks), and he also led the league in fip and k/9ip although he had an 18-19 record to show for it.

hal peck

the sum total of hal peck's dodger career is a single pinch-hit appearance in 1943.  peck flew out against rip sewell in his major league debut while pinch-hitting for bobo newsom.  two days later, peck's contract was purchased by the cubs and he never played for brooklyn again.  he did, however, play through 1949, and was a member of the indians' 1948 world championship team.

jack savage

savage pitched in 3 games for the 1987 dodgers, retiring 10 of 14 batters and allowing only one run in those 3.1 innings of work.  during the offseason, he found himself headed to the mets as part of the three-team trade that also involved bob welch, jay howell, jesse orosco, and others.  savage didn't pitch for the mets, however, and was eventually traded (with tapani) to the twins in the frank viola deal.

sunday morning target dodgers - wampum edition

sadly, dick allen's card from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary giveaway set features him as a member of the chicago white sox.  that was the team to which the dodgers traded allen (for tommy john), and the team with which allen subsequently went and won the most valuable player award.  still, allen leads off this week's trip through a sheet of 15 cards in the set, although the 15th card (of double dipper vito tamulis) gets a separate post later on.

dick allen

allen had played for one year in saint louis as the cardinals' first baseman following his best years in philadelphia before joining the dodgers for the 1971 season.  the dodgers moved him back to third base,  and he hit .295 over 155 games with 23 home runs and 90 rbi.  the dodgers, of course, had steve garvey and ron cey waiting for a chance to play third base, but it was al campanis' desire to bring frank robinson to los angeles that may have spurred the consummation of the allen for john deal prior to the 1972 season.

willie crawford

crawford was a local standout athlete when he signed a contract with the dodgers in 1964 as a 17-year old.  he debuted for the big club that same season, shortly after turning 18.  at 19, crawford was playing the world series, getting a hit in one of two appearances against the twins.  he was in the majors for good in 1969, and stayed with the dodgers through the 1975 season.  with a .268 average in 989 games as a dodger, crawford was traded to the cardinals prior to the 1976 campaign for ted sizemore.  oddly enough, sizemore was one of the players the dodgers had given up in order to get dick allen prior to the 1971 season.  crawford did return to the dodgers for spring training in 1978, but was cut by the team before he had a chance to become, like sizemore, a double dipper.

tommy davis

davis was another local prospect signed by the dodgers, but he was a brooklyn-ite, signed while the club was still playing in ebbets field.  davis didn't make it to the majors until the dodgers were in los angeles, first appearing in one game during the 1959 season before becoming a regular sometime during the 1960 season.  davis led the league in batting average in both 1962 and 1963, setting the dodger franchise record for rbi (153) in 1963.  his career was sidetracked by a broken ankle suffered in 1965, and davis wound up as a bit of a journeyman after being traded by the dodgers in november of 1966.

al ferrara

the bull, as ferrara is known, played for the dodgers from 1963-1968, although he didn't appear in the majors during the 1964 season.  the only world series that ferrara played in was the 1966 fall classic, in which the dodgers were swept by the orioles.  he did manage to get a hit in his lone at bat, however.  ferrara was also one of the many dodger players to get some side work on tv, appearing in episodes of gilligan's island and batman, among others.  he was selected by the padres in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season, and became the team's first pinch-hitter when he substituted for longtime friend and teammate johny podres in the friars' second game.

burleigh grimes

ol' stubblebeard is back.  he was a pitcher for the robins from 1918-1926, and later succeeded casey stengel as the manager of the dodgers in 1937.  the photo on the card above must come from grimes' two-year stint as the dodger skipper.  grimes was inducted into the hall of fame as a pitcher (he won a total of 270 games, with 158 as a dodger) in 1964.

luke hamlin

hamlin was a pitcher who won 20 games for the dodgers in 1939.  he was 20-13 that year, following campaigns in which he was 11-13 and 12-15 for the dodgers despite posting consistent era's around 3.60.  goes to show how little a win-loss record tells you.  hamlin was 17-16 for the dodgers in 1940 and 1941 combined, and was dealt to the pirates in the arky vaughan trade in december of '41.

fielder jones

jones played for the bridegrooms and superbas from 1896 through 1900.  he hit over .300 (with a high of .354 in 1896) in four of those years, batting .285 in the other. at first i thought that perhaps his nickname was ironic, because he made 144 errors in his career, including 14 in his rookie year, but that is actually his first name.

rafael landestoy

landestoy bookended his career with stops in los angeles.  he was a rookie on the 1977 nl champion squad and then returned to the club for the 1983 and '84 seasons.  he played for houston and cincinnati in between.

cy moore

moore began his big league career with the robins in 1929, and pitched for the franchise through the 1932 season when they became known as the dodgers again.  he was 4-8 over those four seasons in 76 games, in which moore started only 6.  he finished his career with two seasons in philadelphia.

ray moore

no known relation to cy, ray moore pitched for the dodgers in 1952 and 1953.  he amassed a record of 2-3 in 15 games as a dodger, and he went on from there to find greater success in the bullpens of the white sox, senators, and twins.  with the chisox, moore faced the dodgers in the 1959 world series, giving up one of chuck essegian's pinch-hit home runs.

bob ramazzotti

ramazzotti played in 62 games as a 29-year old rookie in 1946, but didn't make it back to brooklyn until 1948.  he appeared in only 4 games that year, and was on the field for the dodgers in only 5 games in 1949 before he was traded to the cubs.

willie randolph

randolph joined the dodgers in what turned out to be a swap of free agent second basemen - steve sax went to the yankees following the 1988 season, with randolph leaving the bronx to sign with the dodgers.  randolph hit .282 in 144 games for the dodgers in 1989, making the all-star team in his return to the national league.  in 1990, he began the season as the dodgers' second baseman but was traded to the a's in may in exchange for stan javier.  it worked out well for willie, as he was able to return to the postseason for the first time since 1981.

ellie rodriguez

rodriguez began his big league career in 1968 with the new york yankees, but was taken by the royals in the expansion draft and became the first catcher in team history the following spring.  that year he was also the first royal all-star, although he did not get into the game.  after stints in milwaukee and anaheim, rodriguez was dealt at the end of spring training in 1976 to the dodgers in a rare trade between the clubs.  rodriguez wound up playing in 36 games, spelling steve yeager behind the plate.  he had an obp of .400 which is probably partially due to hitting in front of the pitcher - he was walked 19 times in 90 plate appearances.  rodriguez was released by the dodgers in may of 1977 without having appeared in a game.

mack wheat

mack wheat stands beside dave sax as probably the most forgettable dodger teammate brother in history.  zack's younger brother hit .191 in parts of five seasons with the robins from 1915-19, while zack hit .300 in that span, including a league-leading .335 in 1918.  mack was picked up by the phillies following the 1919 season, and had his best campaign in 1920 when he hit .226 with 20 rbi.