this week's sheet of 15 cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set features a bunch of guys who played during the early years of the franchise. and ted power.
doug baird
baird was picked up by the robins on waivers late in the 1919 season. he appeared in 20 games and hit only .183, but they brought him back in 1920. he was 2 for 6 in 6 games that year before his contract was purchased by the new york giants for whom he played out the remainder of the season.
glenn chapman
chapman spent one season in the major leagues, and that was 1934 with the dodgers. he appeared in 67 games for casey stengel's squad, hitting .280 with a home run and 10 rbi.
fats dantonio
dantonio debuted in 1944 with the dodgers, and made it into 3 games, going 1 for 7 at the plate. he was back with brooklyn in 1945, this time playing in 47 games and hitting .250. in those 47 games, however, dantonio made enough errors (12) to lead the league in errors by a catcher. he did not appear in the majors after the 1945 season, but he continued to play minor league ball and eventually retired with a .300 career batting average as a minor leaguer.
bil doak
doak was acquired by the robins during the 1924 season, and he posted a record of 11-5 in the 21 games in which he pitched for them that year. it looks like he took a couple of years off before returning to the team in 1927 when he was 11-8 in 27 games, and his time with the franchise ended after the 1928 season in which he was 3-8 in 28 appearances. doak was one of the spitballers who was allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was outlawed in 1920. doak may be best known, however, not as a pitcher who twice (1914 and 1921) led the league in era, but rather as the inventor of the modern fielder's glove as he worked with
rawlings in 1919 to add a webbing to the gloves of his era.
gil hatfield
hatfield took some time out from his family's feud with the mccoy's to play for the 1893 brooklyn grooms. no, that's not true - he had spent 1892 managing a minor league team in seattle following a decent few years playing for the giants and a couple of other clubs. with brooklyn, hatfield was a .292 hitter in his 34 games played. he returned to the minors in 1894, but finished his big league career in 1895 with the louisville colonels.
bob higgins
higgins was a backup catcher for the dodgers in 1911 and 1912. he appeared in four games in 1911, hitting .300 (3 for 10), and then made a singular appearance in 1912, finishing his career with an 0 for 2 day. he continued to play minor league ball into the 1920's and then managed for a couple of years as well.
george hunter
hunter was 4-10 with a 2.46 era in the 16 games in which he appeared as a pitcher for the 1909 superbas. he also played a few games in the outfield that year, and overall hit .228 in 44 total games played. he returned in 1910, but only appeared in one game (as a fielder) and did not have a plate appearance, although the timing of his short career was such that he was included in the 1909-11 t206 set.
fred merkle
boner.
all right, i won't let that be the only thing i say about merkle, especially since his famous baserunning mistake didn't occur during his short time with the brooklyn robins. merkle was traded to the robins by the giants during the 1916 season, and then the cubs purchased his contract from brooklyn early in the 1917 campaign. in between, merkle appeared in 25 games and hit .221 for uncle robbie's teams.
jimmy pattison
pattison pitched in 6 games for the 1929 brooklyn robins, and that was the sum of his major league career. he was 0-1 in those games, all featuring pattison in relief, and the team was winless in those contests as well.
ed pipgras
pipgras' major league career spanned a month at the end of the 1932 season. he first appeared in a game on august 25 against the cubs, pitching a third of an inning in relief while allowing a couple of runs to score. pipgras pitched in a total of five games for the dodgers that season, including his final appearance on september 25 against the braves. that appearance came with pipgras as the starting pitcher for the only time in his career, and he took the loss with a 5 inning, 8 run (3 earned) performance.
norman plitt
plitt's first taste of major league baseball action came on april 26, 1918 when he pitched the last two innings of a game for the robins against the new york giants. he allowed a run to score, but also got a hit and drove in a run in his lone at bat, so it wasn't necessarily a bad debut. unfortunately for plitt, he would have to wait until the 1927 season to get another chance in a big league game. in '27, the robins used him in 19 games (8 as a starter), and he posted a record of 2-6 with a complete game. the giants wound up picking him up on waivers, and he finished the season (and his major league career) with john mcgraw's squad.
ted power
power was a hard throwing reliever who began his career with a call-up for the dodgers in september of 1981. he threw three scoreless innings against the giants in his debut (he struck out jack clark in his last inning of work), and tommy lasorda used him in four other games down the stretch (including two starts). power was 1-3 in those games, losing both of his starts, and he did not appear in the postseason as the dodgers won the world series. he was back with the big club in 1982, however, and was 1-1 in 12 appearances, four of which were starts. after the season ended, power was traded to the reds, and he went on to be a closer for a few different teams over the course of his career.
hap smith
smith was apparently happy to have been acquired by the superbas early in the 1910 season in a trade with the cubs, because the brooklyn team brought him to the big leagues for the first time. he wound up playing in 35 games, hitting .237, and that was it for his major league career. it was enough, however, for smith to be immortalized like george hunter in the t206 card set.
tommy tucker
this tucker has a better mustache than
this tom tucker, let's get that straight at the start. this tucker also spent 13 seasons at the major league level in the late 1800's, including a stint with the brooklyn bridegrooms. tucker played for brooklyn for the first half of the 1898 season, batting .279 in 73 games, before joining the st. louis browns for the second half of the campaign. he was adept at being hit by the pitch, still sitting third all-time in that category behind hughie jennings and craig biggio, and ahead of don baylor, ron hunt, and everyone else who ever played.
tex wilson
wilson's major league career consists of 3.2 innings pitched in 2 games for the 1924 brooklyn robins. he allowed 6 earned runs, but did strike a guy out which is nice. he pitched in the minors for a few more seasons after his time in the majors was over, and i'll assume that's where this photo was taken, if in fact it really is wilson.
i'll look for a sheet with more modern players next week...