this through the mail success rates a 0

al oliver is one of the better baseball players to not be in the hall of fame.  according to baseball-reference, his top comparable is steve garvey which automatically makes my initial statement valid in my mind.  

oliver played in all of 35 games as a dodger in the early part of the 1985 season before being traded to toronto, but topps kept him as a dodger in the traded set that year.  that was one of the cards i sent to oliver recently (along with a small donation) in the hopes that he would sign and return them to me.  he did just that.

the other card i sent was, of course, a 1978 topps card

which features one of the more melancholy poses you'll find on a baseball card (the 1994 ud collector's choice charlie hayes card comes to mind).  he may well be pondering the fact that he's wearing pajamas and sporting the number 16 instead of the 0 (or was it an "o"?) that he wore as a dodger.

oliver retired following the 1985 season with a batting title, an rbi title, and a world series ring, but he garnered less than 5% of the vote in his first appearance on the hall of fame ballot.  maybe that's what he's pondering.

thanks for signing my cards scoop!

sunday morning target dodgers - brought to you by the number 0. or is it the letter o?

two sundays into the new year, and i still haven't run out of sheets of cards from the 1990 target dodger set to show off.  i think i have enough to go for about 20 more weeks at which time i will have shown the entire set.  not sure if i'll make it that long, though.  here are this week's players:

bob barrett

barrett was 0 for 1 with a ribbie in his lone appearance for the robins in 1925. he had been acquired from the cubs in may, played in that one game, and was sent to the minors. he remained in the minors for the entire 1926 season, but returned to brooklyn in 1927.  that year, barrett hit .259 in 99 games.  he finished his big league career in 1929 with the red sox.

mace brown

the dodgers purchased the contract of mace brown from the pirates in april of 1941 and dealt him to the cubs in august of that same year. in between, brown appeared in 24 games for the dodgers pitching exclusively in relief.  he was 3-2 with a 3.16 era in those games. like barrett, brown finished his playing career as a member of the red sox, and later became their pitching coach and then a scout.  it was in the latter role that he discovered and signed hall of famer jim rice for the bosox.

gino cimoli

cimoli began his career in 1956 with the dodgers, and was an all-star for brooklyn in 1957.  he moved with the club to los angeles in 1958 (where he struck out as the first batter in a west coast major league baseball game), but was traded to the cardinals after that season as part of the wally moon deal.  as a dodger, cimoli had hit .269 in 324 games.  he also played for the pirates, braves, a's, orioles, and angels during his 10 year career.

ron davis

i don't remember ron davis as a dodger, probably because he only pitched in four games for them during the latter part of the 1987 season.  to me, ike's dad is a yankee, as he pitched for them from 1978 through 1981 when he faced the dodgers in the world series.  after i moved to minnesota, where davis pitched from 1982 into 1986, i came to know him as 'whiplash', as in the pain that twins' fans suffered as they followed a davis pitch approaching home plate and then being swatted into the outfield seats.  that's a bit of an exaggeration, as davis averaged 1 home run/9 innings pitched over his career, which is cole hamels-ish.  davis gave up no home runs as a dodger, but did walk 6 in his four innings of work for the blue.

art decatur

decatur was used as both a starter and a reliever for the robins from 1922 through 1924.  he also made one relief appearance in 1925 before he was traded to the phillies.  overall, decatur was 16-16 for brooklyn, with a 3.31 era.

jack fournier

fournier was the robins' first baseman from 1923 into the 1926 season.  he finished 9th in the league mvp voting in 1924 when he led the league with 27 home runs. the following year, he led the league with 86 walks and had a career high on-base percentage of .446.  he was regarded as a poor fielder, and his high error totals supported the reputation.

tom haller

haller was a two-time all-star for the giants when the dodgers traded for him following the 1967 season.  he was an all-star again in 1968, hitting .285 in 144 games for his new team.  haller remained with the dodgers until he was dealt to the tigers in december of 1971.  along the way, he hit .276 and caught in over 440 games as a dodger.  haller later became the giants' general manager, and was responsible for the signing of reggie smith.

billy herman

herman was a hall of fame second baseman who established himself with the cubs during the 1930's. he joined the dodgers via a trade made between the two clubs during the 1941 season, and played second in brooklyn through the 1943 season.  after missing two years due to military service during world war ii, herman returned to the dodgers in 1946, but was traded to the braves near the end of the season.  he eventually returned to brooklyn to coach the dodgers from 1952 through 1957.

hy myers

myers played for brooklyn beginning in 1909. he had a second cup of coffee with the club in 1911, and then became a regular in 1914.  he was a fixture in the robins' outfield through the 1922 season, after which he was traded to the cardinals for john fournier, profiled above.  for brooklyn, myers hit .282 and twice led the league in triples. he helped the club win two pennants, and was responsible for the only run that the team scored off of babe ruth in the 1916 world series thanks to his first inning solo home run.

al oliver

oliver, the man who wore number 0 for the dodgers, brought his .305 career batting average to los angeles following a february, 1985 trade with the phillies.  as a dodger, oliver fairly quickly lost his left fielder job and was used mostly as a pinch-hitter after the first month of the season.  he was traded to the blue jays in early july after compiling a .253 batting average in 35 games.

john ryan

ryan was a catcher who played for the 1898 brooklyn bridegrooms, hitting .189 in 87 games.  he played in a total of 13 seasons, although the last two each consisted of a single at bat while coaching for the washington senators.

frank skaff

skaff broke in with the 1935 dodgers, and hit .545 (6 for 11) in the 6 games in which he played.  he did not appear in the majors again until 1943 when he hit .281 for the philadelphia a's.  skaff later became the manager of the tigers in 1966, following the deaths of chuck dressen and interim manager bob swift.

roy spencer

spencer finished his 12 year career with the dodgers in 1937 and 1938.  he hit .222 as a dodger in 67 games during that span.

terry whitfield

whitfield had spent three years playing in japan where he had helped the seibu lions win a couple of championships before the dodgers signed him as a free agent for the 1984 season.  prior to that, he had found success with the giants, hitting .289 as a member of their outfield from 1977 through 1980.  as a dodger, whitfield hit .242 as a reserve outfielder and pinch-hitter from 1984 into 1986.  he was announced as a pinch-hitter in  the 9th inning of game 3 of the 1985 nlcs, but was pinch-hit for when the cardinals made a pitching change.  that was as close as whitfield got to postseason mlb action in his career.

pat zachry

zachry was acquired by the dodgers from the mets in december of 1982 in exchange for jorge orta.  he had been a starter for his entire career until the mets moved him to the bullpen during the '82 season, and the dodgers left him there (aside from one spot start in 1983 in which he was the winning pitcher) for the next two years.  zachry relieved in a total of 97 games for the dodgers, posting a record of 10-7 with 2 saves in that role.  he was traded to the phillies following the 1984 season in exchange for al oliver, which marks the second time a pair of players on this particular sheet of cards were traded for each other.  i really wish i knew what, if anything, the people who put these sheets together took into account when doing so.

sunday morning target dodgers - an ox, a rabbit, and el toro

only 13 players from this particular sheet of cards featured in the 1990 target dodger anniversary giveaway set.  the other two played for the franchise in two separate stints, so they get their own double dipper posts later.  don't fret - there are a couple of hall of famers and some other interesting tidbits with these guys.

jimmy archer

there was a jimmy archer who played for the 1918 brooklyn robins.  he was an irish bloke who spent most of his career with the tigers and cubs (he played in the 1907 world series with the former and the 1914 fall classic with the latter) before splitting the '18 season between the pirates, robins, and reds.  in his 9 games with brooklyn, archer hit .273.  the photo used on the card, however, is of jim archer - a guy who pitched for the kansas city a's in the early 1960's.  oops.

chuck churn

that is, in fact, chuck churn on his card, standing inside the los angeles memorial coliseum which served as home to the 1959 los angeles dodgers.  1959 was the only year that churn pitched for the club, going 3-2 in 14 relief appearances.  he also pitched in one game of the 1959 world series, which turned out to be his last major league appearance.

ox eckhardt

eckhardt was a minor league legend.  he appeared in only a few big league games - 8 with the 1932 boston braves and 16 with the 1936 brooklyn dodgers - but in his 14 years in the minors, eckhardt recorded over 2700 hits.  his stint with the dodgers, in which he hit .182 with a home run and 6 rbi, came after eckhardt had recorded 200 hits or more in 7 straight minor league seasons, including 315 hits in 1933.  with a .367 career minor league average and several big seasons, he outhit joe dimaggio when both were in the pacific coast league, and was entered into the pcl hall of fame in 2003.

candy maldonado

what i recall most about maldonado is that he seemed to check his swing on every pitch.  he was one of the highly touted prospects in albuquerque that didn't quite live up to those expectations once he reached the majors in the early 1980's.  maldonado had cups of coffee with the dodgers in 1981 and 1982, an expanded stay in 1983, and was a relative fixture on the roster in 1984 and 1985.  the dodgers dealt him to the giants in a rare trade between the two teams (the last had been in 1968 involving nate oliver and tom haller) prior to the 1986 season, and maldonado went on to achieve greater success than he had with the giants.  perhaps the highlight of his career came in 1992 when he was a member of the world champion blue jays.

rabbit maranville

maranville spent just one of his 23 big league seasons in brooklyn.  he was a robin in 1926, appearing in 78 games and batting .235.  from there he went to saint louis, where he helped the cardinals reach the world series in 1928.  maranville was voted into the hall of fame in 1954, and depending upon when the voting results were announced, he may not have known he was a hall of famer, as he passed away in january of that year.

rube marquard

that's hall of famer rube marquard, by the way.  although best remembered as a new york giant thanks to his success from 1911-1913 with the national league pennant winners, marquard joined the robins late in the 1915 season (after starting that year by no-hitting brooklyn for the giants) and pitched for them through 1920. as such, he pitched in the world series against the red sox in '16 (he lost 2 games) and against the indians in 1920 (he lost once).  marquard was selected for the hall of fame by the veteran's committee in 1971.

carmen mauro

mauro was an outfielder that the dodgers picked up from the cubs following the 1951 season.  after a year in the minors, the dodgers brought mauro up to the big club for the 1953 season.  he appeared in 8 games, going 0 for 9, before they traded him to the senators for ken wood.

les munns

munns pitched for the dodgers in 1934 and 1935.  he amassed a record of 4-10 in that time, and then went to the cardinals for whom he was 0-3 in 1936.

nate oliver

from 1963-1967, oliver was a backup infielder for the dodgers who hit .234 in that span.  the club won three pennants and two world series titles in that timeframe, but oliver only appeared in the 1966 fall classic, which was the one that the team lost.  oliver was traded to the giants after the 1967 season in the  aforementioned tom haller deal (two trades with the giants in one post - yikes!).

nap rucker

rucker pitched for brooklyn for his entire 10-year career which spanned from 1907 through 1916.  he won 22 games in 1911, and then lost 21 the following year.  his career record wound up being an even 134-134 despite a nice 2.42 era.  rucker made his final big league appearance in game 4 of the 1916 world series when he threw 2 scoreless innings in relief in one of the aforementioned games that marquard lost.

greg shanahan

shanahan may be best known to card collectors as one of the guys on dave freisleben's 1974 topps card that is one of the washington nat'l league variants in the set.  shanahan pitched for the dodgers from september of 1973 through september of 1974.  he didn't appear in the '74 postseason, and finished his minor league career with the royals' triple-a affiliate in 1977.

wayne terwilliger

twig joined the dodgers during the 1951 season as part of the andy pafko trade.  he played in 37 games for brooklyn after the trade, hitting .280.  terwilliger spent 1952 in the minors at the dodgers' saint paul affiliate, and was picked up on waivers by the senators when the season ended, bringing his dodger experience to a close.  his baseball career was still in its infancy, however, as he went on to play in the majors into 1960 and then worked as a coach with the senators/rangers under ted williams.  following another stint with the rangers, terwilliger returned to minnesota and joined the twins' staff under tom kelly, playing a part of their two world championship teams.  in 1995, he joined the staff of the independent league saint paul saints and coached there for several years.

fernando valenzuela

el toro took the baseball world by storm in 1981, thanks to a torrid start to the season in which he won his first 8 starts, 5 by shutout, and pitched 9 innings in all of them - the only start in that stretch in which he did not throw a complete game was his sixth start in which he threw 9 innings and the dodgers won the game for him with 5 runs in the top of the 10th inning.  of course, valenzuela was only 5-7 over the remainder of the season, but we don't talk about that.  fernando wound up throwing a couple more complete games in the postseason, including one against the yankees in the world series, and he capped his rookie year with a world series title to go along with his cy young and rookie of the year awards.  fernando pitched for the dodgers for 11 seasons, posting a record of 141-116.  he is currently a spanish radio analyst for the club.

dodger cards are patriotic

i bought a hanger pack of 2014 panini prizm last week primarily because i was intrigued by the 'red, white, and blue pulsar prizm refractor pack!' promised inside.  they look like bomb pops or rocket pops and are perfect for the fourth of july.  here are the three i received - former dodger kiroki kuroda

jorge de la rosa

and taijuan walker

also appropriate for the fourth of july is this 2014 topps wil myers future stars variation i found in a series 2 value box

while the futures game usa uniform is not red, white, and blue, myers is wearing the stars and stripes.  a better team usa jersey can be found on this 2013 topps joe mauer wbc card

and then there are these 2005 donruss champions cards of dodgers - al oliver

darryl strawberry

and jayson werth

- that could not be any more red, white, and blue.

the truth is, however, that when it comes to the home dodger uniform, there is nothing but red, white, and blue.  here are a couple of cards to illustrate that fact - a 2004 upper deck kazuhisa ishii at home in dodger stadium

and a 1995 upper deck collector's choice orel hershiser gold signature parallel

tailor made for the fourth of july.  happy birthday, america!

the evolution of the dodger second baseman - beginning with jackie

just two positions left to review in my evolutionary posts.  this one is special to me because i spent most of my playing days at second base, and even though i was a steve garvey fan, i marveled at the dodger lineage at second base.  as a little leaguer, i traced it back from dave lopes to jim lefebvre to jim gilliam to jackie robinson.  i later learned that it wasn't quite that clean, but still.  at some point, it traces back to jackie, which is where i will start.  besides, it gives me a reason to show my 1952 topps jackie robinson card again, now freed from its plastic cage.

jackie robinson (1948-1952)

jackie was named the rookie of the year in 1947 when he was the dodgers' first baseman.  in 1948, brooklyn traded their second baseman, eddie stanky, to boston and gil hodges took over at first with jackie moving to second.  he stayed there for five seasons, winning the mvp award in 1949 and leading the league with a .342 average as well.

jim gilliam (1953-1957)

like jackie, gilliam was named the rookie of the year, but he won the award as the dodgers' second baseman in 1953.  that's his 1954 topps card - i unfortunately don't have a copy of his 1953 topps issue.  although gilliam also played some outfield in 1955 and 1956, he was the team's primary second baseman through 1957.  he finished fifth in the league mvp voting in 1956, when he hit .300 and helped the dodgers return to the world series.

charlie neal (1958-1961)

gilliam moved to the outfield in 1958 as the dodgers moved west, and so charlie neal moved from short to second.  he remained the dodgers' second baseman until he was traded to the mets following the 1961 season.  he made two all-star teams for the dodgers in his tenure as their second baseman, including the 1960 team as noted on his 1960 topps all-star card, and he also won the gold glove at the position in 1959.

jim gilliam (1962-1963)

with neal in new york, jim gilliam returned to the position in 1962, which is the year that the bell brand card shown above was issued.  he finished 6th in the mvp voting in 1963 as the team's second baseman, but once the world series came along, he moved to third base and dick tracewski played second in the dodgers' four game sweep of the yankees.

nate oliver (1964)

oliver was a second year player in 1964 when he hit .243 in 99 games and played more second base than any other dodger.  tracewski and gilliam also spent time at the position that season, but oliver started 97 contests there.  in 1965, however, he played second in only 2 games at the big league level.

jim lefebvre (1965-1966)

another dodger second baseman to win the rookie of the year award, lefebvre (shown on his 1965 topps rookie card) hit .250 with 12 homers en route to the honor.  he did better in 1966, hitting 24 homers with a .274 batting average while being named to the all-star team for the only time in his career.  he also began playing some third base, and spent most of the 1967 season at the hot corner.

ron hunt (1967)

hunt was acquired by the dodgers after the 1966 season from the mets in the tommy davis trade.  topps was abel to get him into the 1967 set as seen above, although the card is a bit of a high number (525).  he spent the 1967 season in los angeles before being traded to the giants prior to the 1968 campaign.  during his stint with the dodgers, hunt started 89 games at second base batting .263 while hitting 3 homers and driving in 33 runs.

paul popovich (1968)

with hunt going to the giants, the dodgers turned to popovich, an offseason acquisition from the cubs, to man second base in 1968.  his 1968 topps card there identifies him as an infielder, and he lived up to that billing by playing second, short, and third in '68.  still, his 80 starts at second base is what qualifies him for a spot in the team's evolutionary chain.  he hit only .232 on the season, and was traded to the expos early in the 1969 season, meaning that the merry-go-round of dodger second basemen would continue...

card show recap - dealers 5, 6, and 7. hunting for memorials

on to dealer 5.  this was the guy that had the 1995 topps brooklyn dodgers archives cards in a dime box the last time i was there.  i didn't get any more of those, but i did pick up these cards.

1991 classic eddie murray

1991 fleer ozzie smith

1991 fleer ultra don mattingly

1994 upper deck all-time heroes vida blue 125th anniversary parallel

1994 upper deck all-time heroes bert campaneris 125th anniversary parallel

1994 upper deck all-time heroes al oliver 125th anniversary parallel - with bonus expos hat

2001 topps gallery chan ho park - it's night time at dodger stadium

1993 upper deck sp tony gwynn - in scott sanders' jersey

2002 topps total glossy chipper jones checklist
2003 laser line vladimir guerrero

2008 upper deck first edition buddy carlyle
2008 upper deck first edition chien ming wang
2008 upper deck goudey jimmy rollins
2009 topps update carl crawford
2009 upper deck icons brian roberts
2009 upper deck icons mariano rivera
2009 upper deck icons jimmy rollins
2009 upper deck sweet spot shin soo choo
2009 upper deck sweet spot raul ibanez
2010 upper deck roy halladay biography

most of those are for my memorials project, so they'll be showcased over time.

short and sweet with dealer 6.  this was the guy that completed my 1973 topps set a while back at the big annual show in town.  i was hoping for more set completing karma.  i failed.  he did have the last player card i needed, though.

1974 topps phil niekro

i still need a couple of checklists from the set.  mission not accomplished.

dealer 7.  i bought 10 cards from this guy, all from 2011 topps update.  8 of the cards are for the memorials project, and two were double plays.

2011 topps update willie bloomquist cognac

2011 topps update dj lemahieu cognac

2011 topps update derek jeter checklist cognac
2011 topps update clayton kershaw cognac
2011 topps update clayton kershaw diamond
2011 topps update jay bruce diamond
2011 topps update andre ethier cognac
2011 topps update starlin castro cognac
2011 topps update lonnie chisenhall cognac
2011 topps update brandon wood cognac

so there you have it. my card show loot from dealers 5, 6 and 7.  remember, i am looking for three numbers in the comments - how much did i spend with each dealer?  closest (or first to get the exact amount correct) wins some cards.

last dealer post coming tomorrow morning! stay tuned.