sunday morning target dodgers - with a couple of barneys

it's time for another sheet from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set. here are 15 more players to have worn the brooklyn/los angeles uniform.

raleigh aitchison

aitchison was 0-1 for the 1911 dodgers despite having an era of 0.00.  he allowed two unearned runs in his lone outing that year and took the loss.  he was back in the majors in 1914, when he was 12-7 with a 2.66 era for the robins, but in 1915 - his last season in the big leagues - he was 0-4 for brooklyn with a 4.96 era.

ed appleton

appleton was a teammate of aitchison's in 1915. in fact, their photos on these cards may well have come from the same team photo. anyway, appleton was 4-10 for the robins in 1915, and then 1-2 in 14 games for them in 1916. he did not appear in the 1916 world series against the red sox.

rex barney

barney broke into the majors in 1943 as an 18-year old pitcher for the dodgers. he made it back to the big leagues to stay in 1946, and was a member of the dodger pitching staff for the next five seasons.  his best season came in 1948 when he won 15 games and threw a no-hitter against the giants, although his greatest thrill in baseball may well have been when he struck joe dimaggio out with the bases loaded in the 1947 world series.  after retiring as a player, barney became the public address announcer for the baltimore orioles, and held that position until he passed away in 1997.

bob barr

barr's big league career consisted of 2 road games during the 1935 season. he pitched a total of 2.1 innings for brooklyn in those games, allowing 3 runs (one earned).

john corriden

this one is interesting.  that is a photo of john 'red' corriden, who played in the major leagues from 1910-1915, although not for brooklyn. he did join the dodgers as a coach from 1941-1946, and that timeframe is certainly from where this photo originated.  however, corriden's son, also named john, did play for the dodgers in 1946.  while the elder corriden was an infielder, the son played the outfield, although not in the major leagues.  in his lone big league appearance, john corriden was used as a pinch-runner, and he scored a run.

jack doyle

doyle, a native of ireland, was the superbas' first baseman in 1903.  he hit .313 that year, with 91 rbi. after a slow start to the 1904 season, doyle's contract was purchased by the phillies.  doyle later scouted for the cubs.

kid elberfeld

eberfeld (nicknamed 'the tabasco kid') had already been a major league manager (new york highlanders in 1908) and a minor league manager (chattanooga lookouts in 1913) when he joined the robins in 1914.  in his last term as a major league player, eberfeld appeared in 30 games for brooklyn, hitting .226 with a double and an rbi.

johnny enzmann

enzmann (nicknamed gentleman john) was a teammate of eberfeld's in 1914.  while it was the last big league season for eberfeld, it was enzmann's first, and he was 1-0 in 7 appearances.  enzmann didn't return to the majors until 1918, however, when he was a member of the cleveland indians.

barney koch

koch appeared in 33 major league games, all with the 1944 brooklyn dodgers.  he played shortstop and second base, and hit .219 in 101 plate appearances.

joe koukalik

there's already been an irishman on this sheet, and now we have a guy who was born in austria.  koukalik pitched in one game for the 1904 superbas. he took the loss, although he pitched a complete game (8 innings) and allowed just one earned run.

hack miller

miller made his debut with the 1916 brooklyn robins. he was 1 for 3 at the plate, with his lone (and first) hit being a triple.  he didn't appear in the world series that year, but did win a ring in his next big league season - 1918 - with the red sox.

chink outen

outen was a catcher on the 1933 dodgers, and he appeared in 93 games for the club. he hit 4 homers, including an inside-the-park job, and drove in 17 runs. he had an extended minor league career, but just the one season in the majors.

lou rochelli

rochelli, like barney koch above, spent just one season (one week, really) in the majors -  1944 with the dodgers.  he played in 5 games and was 3 for 17 with a triple.  after serving in the armed forces following his big league experience, rochelli returned to the dodger organization and managed in their minor league system for several years.

jack ryan

ryan pitched in 3 games for the 1911 dodgers. he started one and finished two others, and was 0-1 with a 3.00 era.

joe schultz

also known as 'germany', schultz spent the first part of the 1915 season with the robins.  before they traded him to the cubs, he appeared in 56 games and hit .292.  during his career, he played for seven of the eight national league clubs (he was never a giant), and he later scouted for the pirates. his son, joe schultz, was the manager of the pilots in their lone season.

the evolution of my oldest card

i'll take a break from my other evolutionary posts and jump on the 'evolution of my oldest card' bandwagon that has been perpetuated by night owl, the vintage sportscards blog and the number 5 type collection recently.

the first cards i ever owned were 1977 topps. i remember being given a pack probably around the world series that year, and opening it in the back seat of our car. the only card i really remember from that pack is this one, a 1977 topps mike schmidt card.

i previously feted this card here.  it was instantly the oldest card that i owned.  a few years later, i would be on the lookout for (and eventually the lucky recipient of) his rookie card, but only because of the presence of the penguin.

sometime in 1978, i came across this beauty, a 1976 topps reggie smith,

the details of which i wrote about here. this card then became the oldest card i owned.

there was some furious trading going on in my neighborhood in 1978, and i somehow landed a small sampling of 1971 topps cards, including this thrashed 1971 topps jim shellenback card

i have since sent this card to night owl as i upgraded it, but i still remember it fondly.

at some point that same year, i vacationed north of the border and was introduced to the wonder that was o-pee-chee. i also accompanied my parents to many a prairie antique barn, and, much like my reward in that 1976 topps reggie smith card, i found a few 1960 fleer cards, including mel ott, cy young, and this tris speaker card.

i told you i didn't object to antiquing!

in 1979, i was able to trade some giants cards to a guy who lived on the other side of my block. he humored me and gave me a 1955 bowman don hoak card.

for the first time, my oldest card was a dodger, and for a long long time, it was the oldest card in my collection.

fastforward to 2000 or so, and i decided that i would collect one card for each team, subset, and color combination variation from each topps set, from 1952 through 1977. at that time, i had complete sets from 1978 on (since then, i have completed the 1970 and 1977 sets, and am working on the 1971 and 1976 sets). it was fairly easy to do this, thanks to my topps coffee table book and ebay. the first 1952 topps card i purchased was this ralph branca card

it reigned as my oldest card for a couple of years before i purchased a vintage card lot on ebay that included this 1909-11 t206 dick egan card

as well as a 1951 topps luke easter red back. this t206 card was awesome, but i never really connected with it (i had purchased the lot more for the 1953 topps cards that were in it) so i sold it on ebay about a year and a half ago. around the same time, i also sold the luke easter card.

that meant that the 1951 topps gene hermanski

(and 1951 topps gil hodges) cards that i had acquired in the meantime were now my oldest cards.

that was until a couple of months ago when i plucked this 1951 bowman rex barney from the vintage bargain bin at the local card show.

i consider it to be older than the 1951 topps cards simply due to alphabetical order. the bowman card is the first card in my 1950's binder.

so there you have it. the evolution of my oldest card. i'm accepting new (older) entries if anyone has some pre-war dodgers to offer up!