sunday morning target dodgers - featuring a trojan dodger

there's only one los angeles dodger on this particular sheet of cards from the 1990 target 100th anniversary set, yet the best known person on the sheet is known for wearing a different uniform in la.  oh, and there are only 14 people in this post because one of the guys on the sheet was a double dipper - he gets a separate post later.  enjoy.

leon cadore

cadore is known primarily as the brooklyn robins pitcher in the famous 26-inning, 1-1 tie with the braves during the 1920 season (friday was the 95th anniversary of the feat).  however, in addition to pitching 26 innings that day, cadore won 68 games during his 9 seasons with the robins, and appeared in one game of the 1920 world series against the indians as well.  still, that marathon game is his claim to fame, and it even got him a card in the 1961 topps set, which is nice.

andy carey

carey spent 10 seasons in the american league before joining the dodgers in 1962. he won three world series rings with the yankees (in 1953, 1956, and 1958 - although he did not play in the '53 series), and appeared in two other fall classics (1955 and 1957) as well.  with the dodgers, carey hit .234 in 53 games during the 1962 season, which was the last of his career.

raoul dedeaux

known better as 'rod', dedeaux was the legendary manager of the usc trojans baseball team from 1942-1987 and of the us olympic team in 1984 (earning himself a card in the 1985 topps set as a result). before all of that, however, dedeaux was a baseball player, and he appeared in two games for the brooklyn dodgers in 1935.  he was 1 for 4 with an rbi at the plate as a major league player, but went on to collect over 1,300 wins and 11 collegiate titles as the coach at southern cal.

carl doyle

doyle pitched for the dodgers in 1939 and part of 1940. he had a sparkling 1.02 era over his five games pitched in 1939 (including a shutout of the phillies), but he had just a 1-2 record to show for it. in 1940, he pitched in 3 games for the dodgers and had an era of 27.00 before he was traded to the cardinals in the ducky medwick deal.

dick durning

durning pitched in two major league games - one in 1917 and one in 1918.  both came as a member of the brooklyn robins, both were in relief, and both were as the final pitcher of the game. in his big league debut, durning pitched a perfect inning.  in his final appearance, he allowed 5 runs to score (3 earned) with 3 hits and 4 walks allowed over two innings.  perhaps he should have quit while he was ahead.

chauncey fisher

fisher pitched for the bridegrooms in 1897. he was 9-7 that year with a 4.23 era.  fisher also pitched for the reds, giants, cardinals, and cleveland spiders during his career.

nig fuller

fuller appeared in three games over a 12-day span in 1902 with the superbas, and was 0 for 9 with an rbi and a sacrifice in them.

carden gillenwater

gillenwater spent time in the major leagues over five different seasons, playing for four different teams. one of those teams was the 1943 brooklyn dodgers, for whom he played in 8 games and hit .176.

ed konetchy

a good fielding first baseman, konetchy spent the first 7 years of his career (1907-1913) with the cardinals, where he put up numbers that topped the franchise leader board in many categories until rogers hornsby surpassed them.  one number, his 151 steals as a cardinal, stood until lou brock passed him in the 1960's.  he joined the robins in 1919 after spending time with the pirates, braves, and one season in the federal league. konetchy helped the robins reach the world series in 1920 by hitting .308 in the regular season, although he hit just .174 in the fall classic.

john mcdougal

mcdougal made his big league debut with the brooklyn grooms in 1895, earning what today would be considered a save despite allowing four runs over three innings of work.  he did not pitch in the big leagues again until 1905, when he was a member of the cardinals.

darby o'brien

o'brien was a member of the 1890 brooklyn bridegrooms in their inaugural year as a national league team. he had joined the club in 1888, actually, and remained a member of the team through 1892. he hit .314 for the national league champion bridegrooms in 1890, but well below .200 during the postseason exhibition that year.

charlie schmutz

schmutz pitched for the robins in 1914 and 1915.  he was 1-3 in 18 games during the 1914 season, and had no record in the lone appearance he made in 1915.

tommy sheehan

sheehan spent the 1908 season as a member of the brooklyn superbas following a couple of years with the pirates and a single game with the giants back in 1900.  he appeared in 146 games, a career high, but hit only .214.  actually, that .214 clip was slightly better than the team's average of .213, so maybe i shouldn't say 'only' when referring to the deadball era.

danny taylor

taylor joined the dodgers in may of 1932 after starting the season with the cubs, for whom he had played since 1929 (he also had a cup of coffee with the senators in 1926). taylor patrolled the dodger outfield through july of 1936, and had an even .300 batting average over his tenure with the club.

sunday morning target dodgers - a few players short of a full sheet

today's post features cards from two different sheets issued as part of the 1990 target dodgers 100-year anniversary giveaway.  when i first started showing cards from this set, i wasn't doing it sheet-by-sheet. instead, i posted groups of cards with no care taken from a set organizational standpoint.  my current self regrets that very much.  so, i'm going to finish off the sheets that have, to date, only been partially shown.  here are the remnants of the first one.

boog powell

yes, i've shown this card before - in the evolution series (the 'out of place guy' post).  it's worth showing again in a proper target dodgers post.  powell was used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter during his lone season with the dodgers (1977).  he had 10 hits (all singles) in 41 at bats, but his obp was .415 thanks to 12 walks.  powell was released on august 31, 1977 and so didn't get to experience the postseason as a member of the dodgers.  that's ok - he was there plenty with the orioles, including 1966 when the o's swept the dodgers in the world series.

now on to the players from this sheet that haven't made it to the blog before.

randy moore

moore spent the 1936 and part of the 1937 seasons with the dodgers, hitting .218 in a total of 55 games during his tenure.  you'll note that he is in a catcher's crouch on the card, although his position is given as an outfielder.  well, in his 8 big league seasons prior to joining the dodgers, and his first season with the dodgers, moore was used primarily (almost exclusively, really) as an outfielder.  however, the dodgers gave up hall of famer al lopez (a catcher in his playing days) in the trade that brought moore to brooklyn, so, despite him having played catcher in the big leagues only once before joining them, the dodgers used him primarily as a backstop in 1937.

john o'brien

o'brien was a native of new brunswick who played for the brooklyn grooms in 1891.  he was a second baseman who appeared in 43 games that season, and hit .246.  he would later be part of the 1899 trade between louisville and pittsburgh that sent honus wagner to the pirates.

john russell

this is one of the odder cards in the set.  it is an egregious case of mistaken identity.  the card shows former big league catcher john russell, who played for the phillies, rangers, and braves, and most recently managed the pirates a few seasons back.  the john russell who pitched for the dodger franchise did so in the 1917 and 1918 seasons as a member of the robins.  he was 0-1 in 6 games for brooklyn, and later pitched for the white sox in 1921 and 1922.

ray searage

searage signed with the dodgers in april of 1988, but he unfortunately spent the entire championship season at albuquerque.  he did spend most of 1989 and 1990 with the big club, however, pitching effectively out of the bullpen.  he was 4-4 as a dodger and i believe he is currently the pitching coach for the pirates, a job he started while john russell (the guy pictured on the above card, not the actual brooklyn pitcher) was the team's manager.

bill swift

swift pitched for the dodgers in 1941, after spending 8 seasons in pittsburgh and another in boston with the bees.  he appeared in 9 games for brooklyn, posting a 3-0 record with a save and an era of 3.27.

tim thompson

thompson was a good hitting minor league player who didn't make his big league debut until he was 30 when he appeared for the dodgers in 10 games early in the 1954 season.  he hit .154 with one double and an rbi in 14 plate appearances in those games, and didn't return to the majors until 1956 when he was with the kansas city a's.  thompson is known as the first national league catcher to wear glasses.

that's is for the first sheet.  the other players from this sheet are john wetteland and eddie stanky (featured here); pop corkhill and tex carleton and pop dillon (featured here); tom baker and william brennan (featured here); and glenn wright (featured here).

here are some cards from another sheet.  same story - for some reason a few players on the sheet haven't been addressed until now.

jim bunning's 1990 target card was previously shown in the same evolutionary post as boog's, but here it is again

bunning spent the latter part of the 1969 season with the dodgers, making 9 starts and posting a record of 3-1 with a 3.36 era.  the dodgers had beaten bunning twice earlier in the season while he was with the pirates, but traded for him anyway.  they released him following the season, and he was picked up by one of his former teams, the phillies.

walter alston

alston managed the dodgers for just shy of 23 seasons (he retired with two games to go in 1976 to give tommy lasorda a chance to get his feet wet as the team's manager).  in that span, the dodgers won 2040 games, seven national league pennants, and four world championships.  alston was elected to the hall of fame in 1983, and his number 24 was subsequently retired by the team.

don lejohn

if you were to only play in the major leagues for one season, you couldn't do much better than don lejohn did, as far as timing goes.  called up to the dodgers in late june of 1965, lejohn played a fair amount of third base for the club down the stretch as they held off the giants for the national league pennant.  lejohn began his big league career that season with a 5-game hitting streak, and finished it with a pinch-hit strikeout in game one of the 1965 world series.  the dodgers, of course, won the series, and so lejohn earned a ring in his only big league campaign.

jose pena

the dodgers selected pena in the 1969 rule v draft from the reds, and he was a part of their bullpen for the next two-plus seasons.  he posted a record of 6-3 with 5 saves in 55 games during his dodger tenure, and continued to pitch in the mexican league through 1984 with great success.  in fact, pena is a member of the mexican baseball hall of fame.

schoolboy rowe

rowe had won 105 games and pitched in three world series in 10 seasons with the tigers when the dodgers purchased his contract in 1942.  he pitched in 9 games for brooklyn that year, starting two, and finishing with a 1-0 record.  the phillies purchased his contract prior to the 1943 season, and so ended rowe's brooklyn tenure.  rowe was also a decent hitter, with a .263 lifetime average and 18 home runs to his credit.

rube walker

walker joined the dodgers in 1951 after three-plus seasons with the cubs.  he was roy campanella's backup from then through the 1957 season, and then backed up john roseboro for part of the 1958 campaign in los angeles.  he never played in more than 60 games in a season for the dodgers, and his cumulative batting average for the club was .214.  a few years after the end of his playing days, walker's teammate gil hodges added him to his coaching staff with the senators and later the mets.

matt young

the dodgers acquired young from the mariners prior to the 1987 season.  young had shown some flashes of potential with seattle, but they were a bad team and he was pretty inconsistent as a starter.  in 1986, the mariners moved young to the bullpen after a few bad starts, and he saved 13 games.  as such, the dodgers decided to use young exclusively in relief, and he wound up saving 11 games, tying alejandro pena for the team lead.  after the season, however, young was dealt to oakland with bob welch in the three-team trade that netted the dodgers alfredo griffin, jesse orosco, and jay howell.

the other players found on this particular sheet have been featured in earlier 'sunday morning target dodger' posts.  they are:  gary thomasson (featured here); gus getz and bob logan (featured here); jim baxes (featured here); cesar cedeno (featured here); tommy john and hank edwards (featured here); and then there is bill reidy, a double dipper who gets a separate post later today.

sunday morning target dodgers

here are this week's players from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  fourteen players are featured in this post, with the fifteenth member of the sheet making an appearance a little later.

dan bankhead

bankhead was the first african-american pitcher to appear in the major leagues.  his negro league and minor league success didn't translate to big league success, however, and he ended his major league career with a 6.52 era over 52 games.

buzz boyle

boyle spent three seasons (1933-35) patrolling the outfield for the dodgers.  he hit .305 in 1934 and had a 25-game hitting streak while doing so.  that streak stood as the longest in dodger history until joe medwick hit in 27 straight in 1942.  willie davis is the dodger with the longest streak to date, with 31 in 1969.

larry cheney

cheney was traded to the robins from the cubs in 1915.  the next season, he won 18 games and helped brooklyn reach the world series in which he appeared in game 4.  cheney remained with the robins into the 1919 season when he was picked up on waivers by the braves.

cliff dapper

i figured that the only thing i knew about dapper when i saw this card is that he played for the pirates in addition to the dodgers.  i was wrong.  dapper's  big league career began and ended with the dodgers in 1942.  he hit .471 over the course of two weeks early in the '42 season, an average that stands as the highest for any player with 8 or more hits, according to baseball reference.  he served in world war ii from 1943-45, and never made it out of the minor leagues after returning from service.  in 1948, the dodgers famously traded him to double-a atlanta for announcer ernie harwell. as far as i can tell, the pirates uniform comes from dapper's time as a minor league player/manager in the pirates' system.

al downing

downing was traded to the dodgers by the brewers prior to the 1971 season (the guy the dodgers gave up is also on this sheet, and shows up later in the post).  he immediately went out and won 20 games and finished 3rd in the league cy young award voting.  downing wore number 44 for the dodgers, which is the same number worn by hank aaron, who hit a downing pitch in 1974 for home run number 715.

jim hickman

hickman came to the dodgers in the deal that sent tommy davis to the mets.  he only played for la in 1967, and was then traded to the cubs.  hickman's 67 appearances for the dodgers in '67 did not yield any home runs - the only season in which hickman failed to hit a long ball - but did include his lone career pitching performance.  in two innings of work against the giants on june 23, hickman allowed just one run - a home run by willie mays.

gil hodges

hodges is the star of the sheet, no doubt, even though there's a hall of famer on the sheet.  he came up as a catcher, but moved to first base for the dodgers in 1948 when jackie robinson moved to second (the guy that jackie replaced at first is also on this sheet).  hodges stayed at first for 14 seasons, helping the dodgers to 6 world series and hitting 360 home runs in that span.  he was selected by the expansion mets following the 1961 season, and hit the first home run in the team's history in their inaugural game.  he was traded to the senators during the 1963 season who wanted him as their manager.  a few years later, the mets would trade to get hodges back to be their skipper, and they were rewarded as he led them to their 1969 world championship.

rick honeycutt

honeycutt joined the dodgers in august of 1983 following a trade with the rangers that sent dave stewart to texas.  his 2.42 era for the rangers wound up leading the league that year, although his total era for the season was 3.03 - higher than mike boddicker's 2.77.  this was a similar situation to eddie murray's lost batting title in 1990 when willie mcgee was traded to the a's and wound up with a lower batting average overall than did murray, but maintained a higher national league average.  these days, the titles are won based on overall averages, not intraleague stats, which would have been good for murray but bad for honeycutt.  anyway, honeycutt pitched for the dodgers for almost exactly four years before being traded to oakland in august of 1987.  the dodgers received tim belcher in exchange, and wound up beating honeycutt and the a's thanks in part to belcher in the 1988 world series.  honeycutt returned to the dodgers as a coach following his retirement, and is currently don mattingly's pitching coach.

andy kosco

kosco spent two seasons with the dodgers - 1969 and 1970.  his 19 home runs and 74 rbi in 1969 led the team, but he was traded to the brewers following the 1970 season for al downing, straight up.

bob o'brien

o'brien gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the big leagues (cito gaston), but also struck out the side in that same inning of work.  he pitched for the dodgers only in 1971, appearing in 14 games and earning a record of 2-2.  he made four career starts, the first of which ended in a 6-hit shutout against the cardinals.  o'brien made his lone topps appearance on the same 1972 rookie card as charlie hough and mike strahler, although his big league career was over at that point.

luther roy

roy pitched in two games for the brooklyn robins in 1929, giving up 2 runs in 3.2 innings.  those were the final two appearances of his career, a career that saw him post the highest era (7.17) for any player after 1900 who pitched more than 150 innings (since surpassed only by aaron myette).

ed stevens

stevens debuted for the dodgers in 1945, and was their primary first baseman in 1946.  he hit 10 home runs that year, good for second on the team behind pete reiser's 11.  in 1947, stevens was replaced at first base by jackie robinson, and spent most of the season at montreal.  after the season ended, his contract was purchased by the pirates, and he went on to play three more seasons in pittsburgh.

gary weiss

weiss is probably best known for being the last dodger to wear number 1 before it was retired in pee wee reese's honor.  he was a september call up for the dodgers in both 1980 and 1981.  he got into 8 games in 1980, all as a pinch runner, and then played in 14 games in 1981, including four consecutive starts at shortstop.  both of his career hits came in the same game - 9/20/81 against mario soto of the reds - and his lone career rbi was an eventual game winner - a sacrifice fly that scored steve garvey on 9/17/81.

larry white

white was acquired by the dodgers in the deal that sent rick sutcliffe to the indians.  he made his big league debut in 1983 for the dodgers, and pitched well in the four games in which he appeared, giving up just one run in 7 innings of work (the run came courtesy of an rbi single by nolan ryan).  in 1984, white had a couple cups of coffee with the dodgers, finishing the season with the club and striking out the last batter he would face in the big leagues - terry puhl on 9/25/84.

the 1978 topps dodgers that debuted in 1972

there were a handful of 1978 topps dodgers who got their first taste of cardboard in 1972.  let's meet them.  since we're going in alphabetical order, first up is the penguin, ron cey.

here is cey's less heralded multi-player rookie card (we'll see the big cheese when i get to the 1973 installment) 

the penguin made his major league debut during the 1971 season, going 0 for 2 in 2 late season 9th inning pinch hitting appearances against the reds. he struck out both times, including his first big league at bat which came with the bases loaded against joe gibbon.  how cool would it have been if he had hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat?  very very cool.  (as an aside, i recall mickey hatcher having the same opportunity in his big league debut.  he didn't do it either - the stuntman walked).  cey wouldn't appear in the field until the 1972 season, when he would start 11 games at third base while batting .270 with an ops of .778.  he hit his first career home run in 1972, a two-run shot off of the padres' mike caldwell.

terry forster gets his own card in 1972,

the only one of the newcomers to warrant a solo spot in the topps set. forster had debuted in 1971 at the age of 19 against the minnesota twins. brought in to relieve bart johnson in the 6th inning with cesar tovar and rod carew on base, forster got tony oliva to pop out to third. in his second inning of work, forster allowed a single to harmon killebrew, but then struck out rich reese and got jim holt to ground into a double play. forster was pinch-hit for by luis alvarado (he of the awesome 1973 topps card) and his debut came to an end. in hindsight, forster probably should have been allowed to bat. alvarado made an out, and forster went on to go 2 for 5 in 1971 with a double at the plate (both of his hits in 1971 came courtesy of future teammate andy messersmith).

on the mound, he appeared in 45 games (3 starts) and had a 2-3 record with a save. in 1972, forster was used exclusively out of the white sox bullpen, and posted a 6-5 record with 29 saves and an era of 2.25. at the plate, he was 10 for 19 with 3 rbi and only 2 strikeouts. he faced future teammate reggie smith 4 times in 1972, walking him once and striking him out twice while holding him hitless.

burt hooton appeared with two other cubbies on his rookie card

like forster, hooton debuted in 1971, although burt was 21 when he first took the mound for the cubs. he was called up to make a start in june against the cardinals, and lasted just 3.1 innings while earning a no-decision in what turned out to be a cubs victory. hooton allowed 3 runs on 3 hits (including a joe torre home run) and 5 walks. he did strike out 2 batters, including the very first batter he ever faced in the big leagues - hall of famer lou brock. hooton was called up once again in september, and made 2 more starts. the first was a 3-hit complete game against the mets in which hooton struck out 15 batters. the only two runs he allowed were on a ken singleton home run.

the next start was also a complete game for hooton - a 2-hit shutout against the mets at wrigley. so, hopes were high for hooton going into the 1972 season. in his first full season, hooton hurled three more shutouts in 1972, winning 11 games and losing 14 despite a 2.80 era. his first start of the season came on april 16th against the phillies, and hooton spun a no-hitter (although he did allow 7 walks), in a 4-0 victory. against his future teammates, hooton had some success. dusty baker was 0 for 1, vic davalillo was just 2 for 13 with 4 strikeouts (and a home run), steve garvey was 3 for 9 (all singles), jerry grote was 0 for 6 iwth a strikeout and a sacrifice, tommy john was 0 for 1, ted martinez was 1 for 3 with a sacrifice, manny mota was 2 for 3, and (looking ahead to some newcomers in 1973) ed goodson was 0 for 1 and steve yeager was 1 for 1.

charlie hough was featured with two other dodgers,

both of whom were out of the dodger organization (and the majors) by the time 1977 (and the 1978 topps set) rolled around. in o'brien's case, he was out of both by the time this card was issued, although he pitched in the minors through 1974, including a brief stint in albuquerque that final year.  hough actually debuted in 1970, pitching in 8 games and earning 2 saves while posting a 5.29 era. he made his first appearance in a 11-4 dodger victory against the pirates, relieving pete mikkelsen with 2 outs in the 9th. he walked al oliver to load the bases, but then struck out willie stargell to end the game. not bad for a debut. in 1971, hough pitched in 4 games without a decision or a save and his era was 4.15. he improved on that in 1972, posting a 3.38 era although he pitched in just 2 games that season. in those two games, hough didn't face any of his future 1978 topps dodger teammates.

for the second time, a 1978 topps dodger makes his topps debut by sharing space with don baylor. in 1971 it was dusty baker, and this year, it's johnny oates' turn.

oates, like hough, debuted in 1970. unlike hough, he didn't play in the bigs again until 1972. oates' debut season consisted of 5 september games, 21 at bats, and 5 hits. he got a single his first time up in the majors (as a pinch hitter against the senators' dick bosman) and he also hit one of his two career triples. his last four games that year were all games he started behind the plate, and they all went into extra innings, with oates catching 11, 12, 13, and 11 innings respectively. the orioles went on to win the world series that year, but oates was left off of their postseason roster.

in 1972, he hit his other career triple, along with the first 4 home runs of his career. he played in 85 games, the most of any orioles' catcher, and posted a .261 average.

i'll update the tally in the veterans post, coming soon.

mike strahler through the mail success (with a valentine's day appearance by bobby v)

mike strahler never did get his own topps card as a dodger.  in 1971, he was featured along with bobby valentine, and then in 1972, he shared space with charlie hough and bob o'brien.  by the time 1973 rolled along, strahler had been traded to the angels, and only then did he get a solo card.  he also signed all three of those cards through the mail for me a while back.

here they are, in all of their ballpoint glory.  1971 topps:

i had sent this request out prior to receiving a duplicate of the card back from bobby v.  i don't think i will bother to send either one out to the other player, though.

1972 topps:

i still have to decide whether to send this to hough or not.  he has been a good signer, so i probably will risk it someday.

1973 topps:

it's too bad that topps didn't have a nice dodger stadium shot of strahler to use like they did for the bobby v and frobby 1973 cards.  still, this card is still interesting to me because, not only is strahler wearing dodger gear, but he never pitched for the angels in the big leagues.  he was part of the big offseason trade that sent valentine, frank robinson, bill singer and billy grabarkewitz to the angels for andy messersmith and ken mcmullen.  however, the angels sent strahler to the tigers early in the 1973 season before he had a chance to pitch for the halos.

strahler had an interesting debut for the dodgers on september 12, 1970.  he relieved ray lamb in the bottom of the 7th inning in a game against the giants.  the first (and only, as it turns out) batter he faced that day was bobby bonds.  bonds singled to drive in a run, but a second runner was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.  strahler was then pinch hit for by joe ferguson who was making his major league debut as well (he hit a sac fly).  in all, strahler pitched in 31 games as a dodger over 3 seasons.  he went 2-3 in that time with an era of 2.76.  as a tiger in 1973, he pitched in 22 games, posting a record of 4-5 with an era of 4.37, and while he was picked up by the brewers after the season, he never appeared in another big league game.

here's to you, mike strahler, and thanks for signing my cards!