the evolution of the dodger second baseman, part four

when last we visited the evolutionary chain of the dodgers' second basemen, we saw jeff kent retiring following the 2008 season.  to replace him, the dodgers went out and signed free agent orlando hudson.

orlando hudson (2009)

hudson's tenure as a dodger began with a bang.  after the season started on the road, the team opened in los angeles against randy johnson and the giants.  hudson went 4 for 5, hitting for the cycle in his dodger home debut.  he became the first dodger to hit for the cycle since wes parker did it in 1970.  he was also the second los angeles dodger to accomplish the feat, and the first to do it at dodger stadium.  the card shown above, a 2009 topps unique unparalleled performances insert, is all about the cycle.  hudson didn't miss many games that year, starting 143 contests as the team's second baseman although joe torre seemed to lean more towards ronnie belliard at second in the last few weeks of the season, and certainly in the postseason.  still, hudson won the gold glove for the position and signed a free agent deal with the twins for 2009.

blake dewitt (2010) first half

here we have a 2009 topps allen & ginter relic card of dewitt, who wound up as the dodgers' second baseman as the 2010 season got underway.  he started 76 of the team's first 103 games at second, hitting .270 with a .352 on-base percentage.  the dodgers traded dewitt to the cubs at the trading deadline that year, meaning that another second baseman would take over.

ryan theriot (2010) second half

theriot was part of the trade that sent dewitt to the cubs.  he and ted lilly came over for dewitt, brett wallach, and kyle smit. theriot, shown on a 2010 topps update walmart black parallel card, started 50 games for the dodgers at second.  he hit .242 and was traded to the cardinals after the 2010 season ended.  theriot wound up winning world series rings with the cards in 2011 and the giants in 2012.

jamey carroll (2011)

carroll had been with the team in 2010 (playing mostly shortstop with some second, third, and outfield thrown in), but played only second and short in 2011.  that's a target red parallel 2011 topps update card, by the way.  unfortunately, there aren't too many jamey carroll as a dodger cards out there. anyway, carroll wound up playing second base in 81 games for the dodgers in 2011.  aaron miles played in a few fewer games than that, although he made more starts than carroll.  however, carroll spent more innings at second than did miles, so carroll gets the nod here.  at the dish, carroll hit .290 in 2011 and like hudson, joined the twins after his dodger tenure ended.

mark ellis (2012-2013)

that's ellis turning two on his 2014 topps walmart blue parallel card.  ellis played second base in 110 games for the dodgers in 2012 (100 starts) and 119 games (106 starts) in 2013.  overall, he hit .264 and made only 9 errors.  he signed with the cardinals for the 2014 season.

dee gordon (2014)

dee is red hot on his 2014 topps red hot foil parallel.  he's also hot on the basepaths this season, having stolen 51 bases through 111 games.  there was speculation going into spring training that alex guerrero would be the dodgers' second baseman, but he was left behind when camp broke to get more developmental playing time.  gordon has made the most of his opportunity (he made the all-star team and has hit around .300 for most of the season).  it will be interesting to see what happens with hanley ramirez in the offseason.  if the dodgers don't re-sign him, will gordon move back to short with guerrero playing second, or will guerrero (or someone else) play short with dee staying at second.  i don't see darwin barney as a dodger long term.

just one position left to review - i'll get to the evolution of the dodger first baseman soon...

sunday morning target dodgers

fourteen more from a sheet of fifteen (double dipping ray hayworth gets his own post later), courtesy the fine folks at twin cites based target who, for some reason, issued a set in 1990 featuring nearly all the players and managers to appear for the brooklyn/los angeles groom/bridegroom/superba/robin/dodger franchise.

let's kick this installment off with some mean muttonchops.

orlando alvarez

alvarez made his big league debut in 1973 as a pinch-hitter for charlie hough.  future dodger jerry reuss struck him out.  the next day, however, alvarez again was called upon to pinch-hit, and this time he doubled.  it would be his only hit as a dodger although he made two more pinch-hitting appearances that season, plus one in 1974 and four in 1975.  in fact, alvarez only played in the field as a dodger in one inning as a defensive replacement in 1974.  alvarez was traded to the angels on the eve of the 1976 season for ellie rodriguez.

george bell

no, not that george bell.  this bell was a pitcher who spent five seasons (1907-1911) in the majors, all with brooklyn.   the image on the card shows him in the 1909 superbas uniform, which matches the year that he had his only winning record (16-15).  the following year, bell led the league with 27 losses.  overall, he posted a 43-79 record in his career, with an era of 2.85.  the teams he played on just weren't very good.

john bolling

following a stint with the 1939 phillies, bolling pinch hit and played some first base for the 1944 brooklyn dodgers and did pretty well.  in 56 games, he hit .351 and made only 2 errors in 27 games spent in the field.  his season was cut short by military duty, and he chose to retire from baseball after a year in the minors following his service.

elmer brown

brown pitched for the superbas and robins during the 1913-1915 seasons.  over that span, he was 1-2 with a 3.66 era.

gilly campbell

campbell finished his major league career with the 1938 brooklyn dodgers.  he had previously played for the cubs and reds, and in 54 games as a dodger, he hit .246.  he spent the rest of his career in the minors, and while with the la angels of the pcl in the early 1940's, campbell had a small role in the film 'the pride of the yankees'.

ownie carroll

carroll, who had led the league in losses as a red in 1932, joined the dodgers for the 1933 season in a trade with the cardinals in which the dodgers gave up dazzy vance.  carroll went 13-15 with 11 complete games in 1933, and followed that up with a 1-3 record in 1934 when he was used primarily out of the bullpen.

cozy dolan

dolan played for the superbas in 1901 and 1902.  he led the league in games played, plate appearances, and at bats in 1902, hitting .280 in 141 games.  a converted pitcher, dolan played outfield and first base for brooklyn, although he did make a couple of appearances on the mound after leaving the superbas.  in 1907, during spring training with the boston braves, dolan contracted typhoid fever and passed away.  the braves wore a memorial black crepe bow on their uniforms that season - if only the t206 set had come out a year or two earlier, i might have been able to find a card with the bow for my memorials collection.

spider jorgensen

jorgensen made his big league debut on april 15, 1947 - the same day jackie robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball.  later in his career, jorgensen played for the new york giants in willie mays' first big league game.  in between, however, he put together a solid rookie campaign as the dodger third baseman, hitting .274 in 129 games.  an injury following the 1947 season limited jorgensen's playing time, and he appeared in only 86 more games for the dodgers before he was traded to the giants early in the 1950 season.  he retired following his release in 1951, and later became a scout for the cubs, signing mark grace among others.

tommy mccarthy

hall of famer mccarthy closed out his career with a single season in brooklyn.  playing for the 1896 bridegrooms, mccarthy hit .249 and stole 22 bases in 104 games.  he's probably one of the weaker hall of fame players - 1493 hits, .292 batting average - although he may have been recognized as a pioneer of the game as well.

jay partridge

partridge played for the robins in 1927 and 1928.  somewhere in there is a ornithological joke.  he hit .260 in 146 games as the robins' second baseman in 1927, but played in just 37 games the following year, hitting .247.

mike jeffrey ramsey

one of two mike j. ramseys to play for the dodgers, this one finished his big league career with 9 games as a dodger early in the 1985 season.  he hit .133 before being released in june, thus missing out on the opportunity to face his former club, the cardinals, in the nlcs.

harry riconda

during his lone season with brooklyn (1928), riconda appeared in a career high 92 games, hitting .224 with 3 of his 4 career home runs coming that season.  he was traded by the robins after the season to pittsburgh.

rosy ryan

ryan pitched in 30 games for the 1933 dodgers, all in relief.  a former starter for the formidable new york giant teams of the early 1920's, ryan was 1-1 for the dodgers in what would be his final big league season.

jimmy sebring

having previously played for the pirates and reds, sebring began the 1909 season, his fifth and as it would turn out, final season in the big leagues with the  superbas.  he hit .099 in 25 games before being released by the team.  he was signed by the senators and played in one more game that season.  during the following offseason, sebring died of bright's disease (nephritis) at the age of 27.  he is perhaps best known for hitting the first world series home run in history, taking cy young deep in the 1903 fall classic.

the evolution of the dodger shortstop, part 3

this post will wrap up the dodger shortstop evolutionary chain.  at least until hanley ramirez fails to play the majority of time at the position.  we left off a couple of days ago with cesar izturis being injured in 2005.  as a result, ned went out and signed rafael furcal for the 2006 season.

rafael furcal (2006-2007)

furcal, seen above on a 2007 bowman heritage card, had a fantastic inaugural season with the dodgers.  he hit .300, played short in 156 games, stole 37 bases, tied a career high with 15 home runs, and finished 14th in the mvp voting.  he regressed in 2007, but still appeared at short in 138 games that year.  it looked like he had turned things around the following season, as he was hitting .366 through may 5, 2008, but furcal suffered an injury that kept him out of action until the final week of the season.

angel berroa (2008)

berroa was the main beneficiary of furcal's injury in 2008.  nomar garciaparra, chin-lung hu, luis maza, and pablo ozuna all spent some time at short with furcal out, but berroa got more starts (69) than any of them.  overall, he appeared in 84 games and hit .230.  after the season ended, he signed a deal with the yankees, and later almost double dipped with the dodgers.  they signed berroa to a free agent deal after the 2009 season ended, but wound up releasing him towards the end of spring training 2010.

rafael furcal (2009-2010)

furky returned to reclaim the position in the 2008 postseason, and then appeared in 149 games as the dodgers' everyday shortstop in 2009.  he also led the team in appearances at the position in 2010, although the number of games he played there dwindled to 93 that year.  he hit an even .300 in 2010, and made the all-star team for the first time as a dodger.  he appeared in only 37 games for the dodgers in 2011 prior to a trade deadline deal that sent him to saint louis.

jamey carroll (2011)

carroll actually played more second base than shortstop in 2011, but his 54 games started at short narrowly edged dee gordon's 51.  gordon claimed the job towards the end of the season, but i will still acknowledge the time that carroll spent there after furcal was traded.  carroll hit .304 as a shortstop in 2011 and made only 4 errors in 214 chances.  he parlayed his solid play into a free agent deal with the twins for the 2012 season.

dee gordon (2012)

gordon led all dodger shortstops with 73 starts in 2012.  he struggled at the plate, however, as his batting average dropped almost 80 points from his 2011 mark of .304.

hanley ramirez (2013)

it's taken a village to cover the shortstop position for the dodgers since furcal was traded.  in addition to carroll and gordon, the likes of aaron miles, justin sellers, luis cruz, juan uribe, elian herrera, and jerry hairston (and maybe a couple more) have played the position.  in 2012, ned traded for hanley ramirez to try to stabilize things.  he played there in 57 games after coming over from the marlins and then last year appeared in 76 games at short.  injuries limited him to just 86 total appearances, but he hit .345 and finished 8th in the mvp voting.

ramirez is slated to play short for the dodgers in 2014, which is a contract year, so i expect big things.  i also hope he re-signs, because i am pretty tired of the turnstile at short.

coming soon, the evolution of the dodgers' second basemen…stay tuned.

carroll cares

after waiting for two years for someone to make a card of jamey carroll in a dodgers' uniform, topps finally came through with a carroll card in their 2011 update set.  

shortly thereafter, carroll left los angeles and signed with the minnesota twins.

i sent a copy of carroll's lone dodger card to him c/o the twins' spring training home, and waited a few weeks before it showed up in my mailbox the other day.

it looks great.  it's only my second return of the spring - the first was jerry sands.  hopefully the other few players i sent to are waiting for camp to break to hit the mailbox.  anyway, carroll is slotted to be the twinkies' everyday shortstop as they sent last year's bust to the minors.  i'm looking forward to seeing his scrappiness on display on fox sports north starting next week.

thanks jamey for signing and returning my card!

catching up on some 2010 goose joak originals

i couldn't let one of the few positive experiences the dodgers have had recently pass by without commemmorating it with a 2010 goose joak original.  i'm talking about andre ethier's walk off grand slam thursday night.

a nice 'welcome home' shot of ethier and the lurking teammates.  that's garret anderson and the helmeted guys are james loney and jamey carroll, both of whom were on base.

here's another angle on the granny

get out of town.  i had previously made an ethier card using a photo from the dodgers' first homestand

but i have no problem making multiples.

here's john ely, who was making his second start thursday night and pitched well in doing so.

i'm hoping the roster move that corresponds to jeff weaver's return will be the release of ramon ortiz and not the demotion of ely.

here's a nice dp shot featuring the now-injured rafael furcal

i also made a few cards for fun, like this matt kemp/andre ethier classic combo type card

as well as a few non dodger cards, simply because i thought the getty photos rocked.

here's milwaukee's ryan braun

i've mentioned a few times that i'm a sucker for the back photo.  i'm also fond of cards that feature the exxon cars in the giants' stadium, and i found a similar image from the oakland coliseum featuring matt carson

and, as much as i don't care for alex rodriguez, i thought this getty photo was awesome.

there is so much potential energy in his pose, and the lights really add something to the shot.

finally, a card that takes some getting used to.  at least for me.

i am really happy to see vlad doing well in texas, but he just doesn't look right in their unis.

to be continued...

i have posted before about cards that have the same or similar photos, or even have sequential photos, but i don't think i have noted any two cards that each use one-half of the same photo.  that's the case on these 2000 upper deck yankees legends cards of lou gehrig

and babe ruth.

the photo shows a gracious gehrig congratulating ruth after a home run.  maybe it would be easier if the cards were side-by-side.  like this:

well, it's certainly not the same, but i saw a similar photo from the dodgers' series at citi field with jamey carroll and russell martin and decided to try my hand with their 2010 goose joak originals, even though i had already done cards for both of those guys.

here goes - jamey carroll

and russell martin

side-by-side

definitely not as iconic as gehrig and ruth, but at least it makes the cards more interesting. 

more 2010 goose joak originals

here's a few more goose joak originals for your enjoyment.  or maybe just mine. all of the photos are from getty images.

dodger stadium

the vertical orientation of the design this year wouldn't normally lend itself to a stadium shot, but i saw this one and it works pretty well.  every year around this time i get homesick, and this is a big reason why.  what a great stadium.

ronnie belliard

belliard has been great this year so far in his super-sub role.  at the plate, anyway - he's hitting over .400 thanks in large part to his two three-hit games, including that monster game against the pirates where he was a single short of the cycle.  in the field he's committed 3 errors already in limited action.  yikes.

chad billingsley

bills is an enigma.  the natives are getting restless and feel that he needs to sort things out quickly.  there's a lot expected from him, and so far this year we're not even getting the good first half.

casey blake

no beard this year.  he's been fairly solid, but is tied with belliard and russell martin for the team lead in errors and has only scored 4 runs so far.

jonathan broxton

there haven't been too many save situations so far for brox (thanks george).  in fact, he has just 1 save in 6 appearances.  he's striking guys out, though, with 9 in just under 6 innings.

jamey carroll

this signing surprised me because of the fact that we already had ronnie belliard and blake dewitt on the roster, along with chin lung hu.  no offense, but i think hu should be here instead.

blake dewitt

i was happy to see dewitt get the starting job at second.  with a .426 obp, he's doing what he needs to do, although all those times on base have only translated to 5 runs so far.  maybe a fair number of his walks have been intentional to get to the pitcher's spot, i'm not sure.

speaking of pitchers (sort of), here's russ ortiz

he's no longer a dodger.  which is probably a good thing.  he appeared in 6 games and gave up 8 earned runs in 7 innings.  i am guessing ned owed him something from their time in san francisco.

i have a few more cards lined up but i'll share them another time, although i think you can see them all by going to dave's site.