sunday morning target dodgers - seven dwarves edition?

there are some interesting names on this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set.  benny, johnny, eddie, sloppy, zoilo, possum, and doc. a dodger version of the seven dwarves?  here are this week's cards - only 14 in this post because i stumbled on to another dodger double dipper who will get their own post later today.

doc bushong

bushong, a dentist and thus referred to as 'doc', was a member of the inaugural brooklyn bridegroom national league team of 1890.  it was also the final year of his 13-year big league career

chris cannizzaro

cannizzaro spent the 1972 and 1973 seasons with the dodgers as a backup catcher.  he hit .235 over that span, with most of his action coming during the 1972 campaign.  he has the distinction of having been both an original new york met and an original san diego padre, and he was the first all-star representative for the friars.

bobby castillo

castillo is a dodger double dipper who is credited with teaching fernando valenzuela how to throw the screwball.  'nuff said.  unfortunately, castillo passed away last year at the age of 59.

roy cullenbine

cullenbine began the 1940 season with the dodgers following two years with the tigers.  he played in 22 games and hit just .180 before being traded to the browns around memorial day.  he knew how to draw a walk however, compiling 23 of them in those 22 games for the dodgers, giving him an obp of .405.  cullenbine actually had 121 walks in 1941 and an obp of .452 for the browns. he eventually made his way back to detroit where he was part of their 1945 world championship team.

gene demontreville

demontreville was traded to the superbas in 1899 along with jerry nops for hughie jennings.  a few days later, nops was returned to the orioles and jennings came back to the superbas, but demontreville stayed in brooklyn. he broke the roster in 1900, playing every infield position plus some outfield, and hit .244 in 69 games.  that was his only season in brooklyn, however, as the boston beaneaters purchased his contract prior to the 1901 campaign.

gil english

english finished his major league career by playing the 1944 season with the brooklyn dodgers.  he had previously played for the giants, tigers, and bees, but had most recently been in the minors where he was the 1939 american association mvp.  english hit .212 in 27 games for the dodgers serving as a backup infielder.

johnny klippstein

klippstein was part of the return package that the dodgers received during the 1958 season in the trade that sent don newcombe to the reds. he had previously been in the dodger organization during the 1949 seasons, but was lost in that year's rule v draft to the cubs without having made it to the big leagues.  in '58, klippstein was 3-5 with 9 'saves' and a 3.80 era. he was 4-0 with a couple of saves in 1959, although his era was 5.91.  in what would be his final appearance as a dodger, klippstein pitched two scoreless innings in game 1 of the 1959 world series against the white sox, and later pitched against the dodgers in the 1965 fall classic as a member of the minnesota twins.

benny meyer

meyer's card is fantastic when you realize that his nickname was 'earache' because he was a yeller.  he debuted in the big leagues in 1913 as a brooklyn superba, and hit .195 in 38 games. the following year, he jumped to the federal league where he played for the remainder of his career, save a single at bat in 1925 when he was serving as a coach for the phillies.  he hit a double in that at bat, by the way.

eddie solomon

solomon looks a little like bob gibson on his card, doesn't he?  and i'm guessing that's either willie davis or jimmy wynn in the background since solomon only pitched for the dodgers in the 1973 and 1974 seasons.  he appeared in only 8 regular season games for the dodgers, plus one in the 1974 nlcs.  early in the 1975 season, solomon was traded to the cubs in the burt hooton deal.  solomon was killed in a car accident in 1986, just four years after his big league career came to an end. he was just 34 years old.

bob stinson

perhaps best known to card collectors as a guy who appeared on multi-player rookie cards three years in a row for three different teams (1970 topps as a dodger, 1971 topps as a cardinal, and 1972 topps as an astro), stinson was the dodgers' first round pick in the 1966 draft.  he played in 4 games for the dodgers in both 1969 and 1970, but was traded to saint louis for dick allen prior to the 1971 season.  stinson eventually made his way to the expansion seattle mariners for the 1977 season, and he was the first catcher in the team's history going 1 for 3 with a walk in their inaugural game.  he played into the 1980 season, making him a 3-decade player.

fay thomas

thomas was a brooklyn robin during the 1932 season.  he made 7 appearances for the robins, earning just one decision - a loss in his only start.  he also pitched for the giants, indians, and browns in the majors, but was a bigger success in the pacific coast league where he earned a spot in their hall of fame.  thomas is also known as the first big leaguer to come from usc, and as the actor who portrayed christy mathewson in 'the pride of the yankees'.

sloppy thurston

thurston's given name was hollis, and he apparently earned his nickname by being anything but sloppy in his appearance.  isn't it ironic?  anyway, he's shown on his card as a member of the white sox for whom he pitched from 1923-1926.  he earned a card in this set, however, by pitching for the robins from 1930-1933.  during that time, he was 33-29 with a 4.02 era in 108 games.

zoilo versalles

versalles was the 1965 american league mvp for the al champion minnesota twins, and he hit .286 in the world series against the dodgers that year. he must have made an impression, because after the 1967 season, the dodgers - still trying to replace maury wills who had been dealt to pittsburgh a year earlier -  traded ron perranoski, john roseboro, and bob miller to the twinkies to get versalles and mudcat grant.  versalles only played for the dodgers during the 1968 season (he hit just .196 in 122 games) as he was taken by the padres in the expansion draft that followed the year of the pitcher.

possum whitted

whitted's big league career began in 1912 with the cardinals, but it was in 1914 as a member of the boston braves that he won a world series ring.  he returned to the fall classic the following year with the  phillies, but lost to the boston red sox who had a young player named babe ruth on their roster. the phillies traded whitted (given name george) to the pirates in 1919 for casey stengel, and the robins picked him up from the steel city during the 1922 season.  after all that, whitted made one appearance as a brooklyn robin, going 0 for 1 as a pinch-hitter in an april game against the new york giants. soon thereafter, whitted was managing the toledo mud hens.

see you next sunday for more player tales from the 1990 target set!

turning chris cannizzaro candids into cards that should have been

a long time ago, johngy asked for a 1973 topps chris cannizzaro card.  i tried to oblige, but what resulted was a pretty crappy colorization of a black and white photo.  then, about a year and a half ago, reader eric alerted me to some photos from 1972 and 1973 made available by topps that showed cannizzaro in a dodger uni.  color photos at that!

i grabbed the images and just recently spent some time trying to improve upon my first shot at creating the 1973 topps chris cannizzaro card that should have been.  here's what i came up with.

the first one and this next one suffer from close-cropping in an attempt to avoid the watermark/avoid trying to photoshop the watermark out

this third one might be my favorite, thanks to the holman stadium background

i did spend some time getting rid of the watermark on that one.

same goes for this one

a lot of these photos look like they came from candlestick

on two separate occasions

here he's back in vero beach

and here's the last one

i suppose i should have used some of these for a 1974 topps card that should have been, since he was omitted from that set, too, after spending the 1973 season with the dodgers.  heck, i should have photoshopped a couple of them into padres unis and made a better version of his 1975 topps card as well.

request fulfilled - the 1973 topps chris cannizzaro card that should have been

by request (way back on new year's day), here is the 1973 topps chris cannizzaro card that should have been.  johngy, this one's for you.

i could only find a black & white photo, and my colorizing skills are quite there yet, but it works in a pinch.  cannizzaro, as johngy pointed out, started more games at catcher (59) for the dodgers in 1972 than any other player.  duke sims was second, followed by steve yeager, dick dietz, and joe ferguson.  while sims moved on to detroit in 1973 (and was featured as a tiger in the 1973 topps set), cannizzaro stayed in la.  the other three catchers mentioned, yeager, dietz, and ferguson (who took over the majority of the catching duties), all appeared as dodgers in the 1973 set.  so why not cannizzaro?

after the 1973 season (in which he appeared in just 17 games), the dodgers released cannizzaro.  he was not featured in topps' 1974 set, but was picked up by the astros and then purchased by the padres prior to the start of the 1974 season.  in san diego, cannizzaro appeared in a mere 26 games, but that was enough to earn a card in their 1975 set. just a horrific airbrushing job - on a final tribute card no less!

here's to you, the 1973 topps chris cannizzaro card that should have been!

the evolution of the catcher

i enjoyed the trip down dodger memory lane so much the first time, i figured i would do it again. so, here's a look at the evolution of the dodgers' catcher position. a quick note - this isn't just the opening day starters (sorry, chad kreuter), but rather the primary catcher over the course of a given season. we'll start in 1948, which seems appropriate enough, since that's when roy campanella took over the tools of ignorance.

roy campanella (1948-1957)campy was a three time mvp and played in the all star game in eight of his ten major league seasons. he was paralyzed in an automobile accident in january of 1958, and so never played for the los angeles dodgers. over 93,000 turned out to the la coliseum for roy campanella night in 1959 - a then record crowd for a major league baseball game. the dodgers retired the hall of famer's number 39 in 1972 - the same day they retired the jerseys of jackie robinson and sandy koufax. roy campanella died in 1993.

campy's accident gave way to john roseboro (1958-1967)

roseboro was an all star in his first full season with the dodgers, and won a couple of gold gloves as well. he hit .251 over his 11 seasons in los angeles, with an ops of .709. he hit just .157 in the 4 world series he played in with the dodgers, although he was a three time world series champion. after the 1967 season, the dodgers traded him to the minnesota twins (with bob miller and ron perranoski) for mudcat grant and zoilo versalles. roseboro died in 2002.

tom haller (1968-1970)haller was acquired by the dodgers from the giants (!) prior to the 1968 season for ron hunt and nate oliver. a two-time all star with the giants, haller made the all star team two more times with the dodgers, setting a career high in hits with la in 1968. he didn't hit with as much power for the dodgers, but did hit for a higher average (.276) than he did over the course of his stay with san francisco (.248). after three seasons as the primary catcher, haller would essentially platoon with duke sims in 1971. the dodgers failed to make the postseason during haller's four seasons with the club, and they sold him to the tigers after the 1971 season. haller died in 2004.

duke sims (1971) as mentioned above, sims platooned with haller in 1971, although duke played slightly more games (74) at the position than haller (67), so he gets a full mention here. acquired from cleveland for alan foster and ray lamb prior to the 1971 season, sims hit .274 with 6 home runs and an ops of .757 in 1971. he stayed with the club through about half of the 1972 season when he was picked up off of waivers by the tigers, and once again, joined tom haller behind the plate. while both haller and sims would go to the postseason with detroit in 1972, their successor was not so lucky.

chris cannizarro (1972) cannizzaro was picked up on waivers by the dodgers from the cubs prior to the 1972 season. he caught in 72 games for the dodgers, but the other games were split amongst the next two catchers to be featured, so cannizzaro gets the nod for this season. kind of like jesse ventura winning against two career politicians as a third party candidate. anyway, chris's time was short lived, and he was released late in the 1973 season after batting just .235 for the dodgers during his stint in la. he was picked up by the padres, and his 1975 topps card may well be the worst card ever. stay tuned to night owl's new blog to check it out.

joe ferguson (1973)ferguson was one of the players selected by the dodgers in their legendary 1968 draft. he made his debut in 1970, and slugged a career high 25 home runs as he became the dodgers' primary catcher in 1973 (although the next guy would supplant him late that same season). as a result, ferguson would also spend time in the outfield, and is perhaps best known for his assist in the 1974 world series when he threw sal bando out at the plate. ferguson had two stints with the dodgers as a player (he was traded away for reggie smith, and the dodgers later gave up jeffrey leonard to get him back), and would then return again as a coach. he currently manages in the atlantic league. btw, baseball almanac tells me that would be craig robinson, foreground lurker.

steve yeager (1974-1980, 1983)as the catcher of my youth, yeager probably could, and should, be considered as part of the longevity story that is usually applied just to the dodgers' infield of garvey, cey, russell, and lopes. he was the primary catcher for their three 1970's pennant winners (and filled in during the 1981 postseason), although he was not a major offensive threat. he was known for his strong arm, and his defense was pretty good. plus, he could call a game well. over the course of his career, yeager threw out 38% of the runners attempting to steal off of him, made just 88 errors and retired with a fielding percentage of .987. after being named the backup in 1981, yeager would reclaim the starting role in 1983 when mike scioscia went down with an injury. after the 1985 season, the dodgers would trade the 1981 world series co-mvp to the mariners for ed vandeberg. with the mariners, yeager appeared in roger clemens' first 20-k game. to his credit, yeager struck out only once that day in two at bats. yeager has managed in the dodgers' farm system, but i think he is now involved in public relations for the team.

mike scioscia (1981-1982, 1984-1992)scioscia took over for yeager in 1980, some might say, but didn't claim the majority of the playing time until 1981. like yeager, scioscia wasn't the biggest offensive threat, but he was a smart catcher who called good games, and man did he know how to block the plate. he also became the first dodger catcher to start an all star game (in 1990) since roy campanella. the dodgers made the postseason three times with scioscia behind the plate, and won two world series, with scioscia hitting a crucial home run in the 1988 nlcs against dwight gooden. good times. some would say that the dodgers' all time leader in games caught went on to play for the padres and rangers, but i choose not to believe that since it doesn't show up in his career stats. of course, the dodgers did allow him to go to orange county and manage a different team - that we know for sure.

mike piazza (1993-1997) perhaps the greatest offensive catcher since roy campanella was inexplicably traded by the dodgers early in the 1998 season. this after winning the rookie of the year and posting 5 top ten mvp finishes in each of his first 5 seasons with the club, leading them to the postseason twice. the should-have-been 1997 mvp (no disrespect to larry walker intended - walker beat piazza in pretty much every offensive category, but he played in coors field and piazza played in dodger stadium and was a catcher for goodness sakes!) had a .331 average with 177 home runs and an ops of .966 over his career with the dodgers. piazza, dubbed by then radio schmuck jimmy kimmel as the 'italian-american superstar slugger, mike piazza' also became only the second person to hit a ball out of dodger stadium. willie stargell was the other. stupid fox.

charles johnson (1998)cj was one of the guys the dodgers got for piazza. he had been one of the heroes for the 1997 world champion marlins, and had finished 11th in the league mvp voting that year. he didn't do much in la, though, hitting just .217 with an ops of .638 in his one (partial) season with the dodgers. perhaps realizing that they had dealt away a huge part of their offense, the dodgers sent johnson to the mets after the 98 season (with roger cedeno) for todd hundley.

todd hundley (1999-2000)hundley had, in fact, hit over 40 home runs as a catcher for the mets before he was injured. while he was out, they traded for mike piazza, and hundley, now without a position, made an ill-fated attempt at playing the outfield. he came to the dodgers and was inserted as their primary catcher for 1999. that year he hit only .207 and had the strange statistic of 24 home runs with just 55 rbi. the following year, he rebounded nicely, hitting 24 home runs again but with 70 rbi and a .284 batting average in just 90 games. he signed with the cubs as a free agent after the 2000 campaign, but would return to the dodgers for the 2003 season when he was traded with chad hermansen for eric karros and mark grudzielanek.

paul loduca (2001-2004)loduca burst on the scene in 2001, putting up career highs in home runs (25), rbi (90) and batting average (.320) in his first full season. of course, we know now that he was using peds. anyway, paulie made us forget all about todd hundley, and to some extent mike piazza, until he followed in piazza's footsteps and got traded to the marlins in 2004. the trade (loduca, guillermo mota, and juan encarnacion for brad penny, hee seop choi, and bill murphy) was lambasted in the press by the la columnists (plaschke) and even mourned by the manager (jim tracy) who traded in his number 12 jersey to wear loduca's number 16. if i recall correctly, the dodgers still won the west in 2004, even if paul depodesta forgot to line up a decent catcher to replace the traded 'heart and soul' of the team.

jason phillips (2005)

i kind of wish that 2005 would have belonged to dioner navarro, but jim tracy didn't see it that way. in fact, if you look at who the primary position players were in 2005, you might think tracy was trying to get fired. anyway, phillips didn't perform that badly, and the mets did agree to take kaz ishii off our hands in exchange for him. a free agent after the 2005 season, phillips signed with the blue jays, allowing the next guy to take over.

russell martin (2006-present)

although sandy alomar, jr started the 2006 season at catcher, martin quickly took over and we haven't looked back since. in his four seasons, martin has a .276 average and an ops of .774. here's hoping russell nathan coltrane jeanson martin rebounds from a subpar year in 2010. after all, next year is his '27' year...

thanks, baseball reference!