a boxscore from the team of my youth and other cards from hsca

there were plenty of cards to like in the package that brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary sent my way as part of his group trade break, even before getting to the trade break bounty.  i've shown some of them already, but there are more.  like this card, which comes from the 2004 topps world series highlights insert set

that's dusty baker pounding a home run in game one of the 1978 world series against the yankees.   the back is even better, as it shows the box score from the game.

it's great to see that lineup on the card.  it's a bit different than the batting order i remember from my youth because of the designated hitter, but the starting lineup of lopes, russell, smith, garvey, cey, monday, baker, and yeager is the lineup that i consider to be the definitive lineup of the team of my youth.  as an aside, davey lopes should have been featured thanks to his two home runs in this game.  it's still hard to believe that the dodgers won this game and game 2 (thanks bobby welch), but then lost four in a row to lose the series.

on to the group trade break stuff - 1996 pinnacle tim wallach

and ramon martinez

i like ramon's card a lot.

here's his brother, pedro, on a 2002 topps gallery heritage insert

plus a couple of base cards of shawn green

and hideo nomo

from the set.  the nomo card makes it look like he's a giant standing in a farmer's field near the coast.

paul loduca is definitely in dodger stadium on his 2003 topps stadium club card

while franklin gutierrez is in vero beach's holman stadium on his

that's a gold parallel, by the way, as is this sean pierce card

pierce never made it out of the minors, but gutierrez went on to win a gold glove and set a record for errorless chances in the outfield for the mariners in 2010.  after missing the 2014 season due to illness, gutierrez is currently in triple-a for the m's trying to work his way back to the bigs.

here are a couple more cards that weren't part of the trade break, but they are shiny so they get some time on the blog.

2015 topps heritage clayton kershaw holofoil

and 1992 upper deck denny's grand slam kal daniels

daniels hit four of his five grand slams as a dodger, and was only 28 when his career ended. if only he had good knees!

thanks brian!

sunday morning target dodgers featuring one of the greatest catchers of all-time and one of the greatest dodger franchise players ever

and no, i'm not referring to roy campanella even though he fits the bill on both counts.  this particular sheet of cards from the 1990 target set recognizing the 100th anniversary of the dodger franchise's national league membership happens to contain some notable and interesting folks.

deacon mcguire

mcguire was acquired by the superbas in a trade with the senators during the 1899 season.  he was then a 35-year old catcher with 14+ seasons under his belt.  still, he hit .298 in 202 games for brooklyn, and then left them to play for the tigers in 1902, successfully challenging the reserve clause along the way.  following his two-plus years with the superbas, mcguire played in 9 more seasons, setting a record of 26 seasons that was not tied until tommy john came along in 1989.  it was later broken by nolan ryan who played in his 27th season in 1993.  mcguire also held the record for most teams played for in a career (11) until matt stairs played for his 12th team in 2010.  he still holds records, however, for runners caught stealing (and for stolen bases allowed) in a career, assists by a catcher, and was the all-time leader in games caught until ray schalk broke that record in 1925.  mcguire is also credited with being the player who added padding to the catcher's glove in the late 1890's, no doubt out of necessity. still, his hands bore the brunt of his occupation - google his xray and see for yourself.

zack wheat

wheat broke in with the superbas in 1909 and by the time he finished his run with the franchise as a robin in 1926, he had claimed a whole bunch of franchise records.  for the record, wheat finished out his big league career by playing the 1927 season with the philadelphia a's, but for 18 of his 19 years in the majors, he belonged to brooklyn.  as a superba/dodger/robin, wheat amassed over 2800 hits and a .317 lifetime average.  he led the league with a .335 average in 1918, and led the robins to the pennant in 1916 and 1920.  no one has played in more games, had more plate appearances, had more total bases, had more hits, more triples, more doubles, or more singles for the franchise than zack wheat.  and, when he left the club following the 1926 season, he was also the franchise leader in runs scored and walks.  wheat was enshrined in the hall of fame by the veterans committee in 1959.  

sammy bohne

bohne finished up his big league career by playing the second half of the 1926 season with the robins.  he had previously played for the cardinals and reds.  he hit an even .200 in 47 games for the robins in '26

kiki cuyler

like bohne, cuyler finished his major league career with a short stop in brooklyn.  unlike bohne, cuyler's career was later determined to have been worthy of the hall of fame.  cuyler spent the 1938 season with the dodgers, following 17 seasons with the pirates, cubs, and reds.  he hit .273 in 82 games for the dodgers, falling just one hit short of reaching 2300 for his career.  the black armband he is wearing, by the way, is for the club's president stephen mckeever, but i'll cover that in a different post.

kal daniels

man, was i excited when kalvoski daniels joined the dodgers in a trade with the reds during the 1989 season.  sure, the dodgers gave up mariano duncan and tim leary, but they had alfredo griffin and rookie ramon martinez, and they needed someone to replace the injured and/or ineffective kirk gibson and john shelby in the outfield.  daniels did just that for about two weeks, hitting .342 in 11 games for the dodgers before he was injured and lost for the season just like gibby, who had shifted to center to replace shelby.  daniels returned in 1990 to hit .296 with 27 homers and 94 rbi, but the 26-year old had ancient knees and was not the same in 1991 or 1992 when he was traded to the cubs.

wild bill donovan

donovan hurled for the superbas from 1899 to 1902.  the first two seasons were not impressive - he had a record of 2-4 and an era of 5.63 in that span - but in 1901 he led the league with 25 victories.  he completed all but 2 of his 38 starts that year, and appeared in 10 other games as a reliever.  in 1902, donovan went 17-15 and then bolted for the detroit tigers.  with the tigers, he appeared in three straight world series from 1907-1909, although ty cobb and the boys lost all three times.  he retired in 1912 and managed in the international league, including a team in 1913 that had a first-year player named babe ruth.  donovan eventually managed in the majors, leading the yankees from 1915-17 and the phillies in 1921.  he died in the december, 1923 wreck of the 20th century limited train ("the most famous train in the world") on his way to the baseball winter meetings where he was expected to be named the manager of the washington senators.

solly drake

i'm not sure if there was a transaction involved, but drake played for the dodgers' affiliate in saint paul in 1956 according to baseball reference, even though he appeared in the majors with the cubs at different times throughout that season.  no matter, the dodgers did bring drake into the fold officially in 1958, and he reached the majors with the club in 1959.  drake appeared in only 9 games as a dodger, however, batting .250 in 8 at bats.  his contract was purchased by the phillies in june of 1959, just in time for him to take the field against the dodgers - drake's first at bat as a phillie was as a pinch hitter for sparky anderson against the dodgers' stan williams.

alfredo griffin

griffin joined the dodgers in that big 3-team trade prior to the 1988 season that involved three of the four teams that would make the postseason in '88 (the mets, a's, and dodgers).  although he hit only .199 in his first season with the dodgers, they beat the mets in the nlcs and the a's in the world series with griffin on the field.  he was re-signed following the season, and hit better in 1989.  griffin left the dodgers after the 1991 season, returning to toronto where he was part of their back-to-back championship teams in 1992 and 1993.  he's currently the angels' first base coach.

charlie hargreaves

hargreaves was a robin from 1923 into 1928 when he was dealt to the pirates.  he hit .407 for the robins in 1924, but he only played in 15 games so it doesn't really count. overall he hit .267 in 231 games for brooklyn.

cookie lavagetto

lavagetto was acquired from the pirates in the late 1930's and he quickly took up residence for the dodgers at third base.  lavagetto was an all-star for the dodgers in each of the four seasons from 1938 through 1941, but he missed the four subsequent seasons as he was serving in the military during world war ii.  lavagetto returned to the dodgers for the 1946 and 1947 seasons, and returned to the hot corner although he eventually gave way to spider jorgensen in 1947.  lavagetto's last appearance in the majors came in the 1947 world series.  even though the dodgers lost that series to the yankees, lavagetto is remembered for his game 4 two-out 9th inning walk-off pinch-hit double that not only won the game for the dodgers, but broke up bill bevens' no-hit bid.

gene mauch

mauch, better known as a big league manager than player, was a dodger double dipper who missed out on the 1947 world series and lavagetto's heroics because he spent the last half of that season in pittsburgh following an early season trade.  he returned to the dodgers shortly after the world series as part of the infamous dixie walker deal.

doc newton

newton pitched for the superbas in 1901 and 1902, amassing a record of 21-19 in 44 games.  he also pitched for the reds and highlanders (later known as the yankees).  i find it interesting that he left the majors after pitching for the superbas in 1902 in order to join the los angeles angels of the pacific coast league.  he won 39 games for the angels in 1904, which must have caught the attention of the highlanders who brought newton back to the majors.

jose vizcaino

vizcaino had 7 games as a dodger to his name when this set was produced.  he appeared in only 37 more before he was traded to the cubs following the 1990 season.  he eventually returned to the dodgers in the late 1990's, but was dealt away again during the 2000 season.  he was a dodger double dipper.

tommy warren

warren spent one year in the big leagues, and it was with the 1944 dodgers.  he was 1-4 in 22 games with a 4.98 era.  he had allowed only one earned run in his first 8 innings of work in the majors, spanning his first four appearances, when he was used in relief in the first game of a doubleheader against the giants on april 30.  he came out to start the fourth inning, already the fifth dodger pitcher of the day, and was likely told by manager leo durocher that there would be no reliever following him.  he allowed 15 runs (11 earned) in his five innings of work that day as the dodgers lost 26-8.  on the bright side, they won the nightcap.

tom winsett

winsett had a lifetime average of .218 over 78 games when the dodgers traded three players for him in 1936.  he had put up big numbers in the minor leagues the previous few seasons, so the dodgers sent frenchy bordagaray, dutch leonard, and jimmy jordan to the cardinals.  winsett gave them a .241 average in 152 games spanning the 1936 through 1938 seasons, and he was left to be picked up on waivers by the new york giants.

the topps dodger autograph project - 1990 through 1994

it's been a while since i last posted an entry in the topps dodger autograph project.  that's where i am highlighting one card from each topps flagship (and traded set, if i have one) that i have been able to get signed through the mail free of charge.  i had to purchase a couple of 1950's cards, but otherwise, these were all signed by the player gratis.

on with the show - 1990 topps, kal daniels

if only kal had better knees.  i was so excited when he joined the dodgers.  i have also had ttm successes with 1990 topps cards from dave anderson, rick dempsey, jay howell, mike marshall, and fernando valenzuela.  i've also picked up signed copies along the way from alejandro pena and lenny harris.

1990 topps traded, juan samuel

samuel was part of the revolving door at second base after steve sax left.  he replaced willie randolph, who had replaced sax.  i also have a hubie brooks 1990 topps traded card that was signed through the mail.

1991 topps, tim belcher

as you can see, belcher signed this card for me in august of 2009.  it only took me three years to post it. i have had a few successes with former dodgers and their 1991 topps cards, including chris gwynn, hubie brooks, kal daniels, rick dempsey, jim gott, jay howell, juan samuel, fernando valenzuela, and dave walsh.

i don't have a 1991 topps traded card signed.  of the five dodgers that are included in the set, brett butler is probably my only possibility. the others are john candelaria, bob ojeda, darryl strawberry, and the late gary carter.

1992 topps, roger mcdowell

i went with a nice card when i sent to mcdowell, rather than one of his goofy cards.  i've also had 1992 topps success with tim belcher, brett butler, chris gwynn, lenny harris, kal daniels, jim gott, alfredo griffin, kevin gross, jay howell, juan samuel, and steve wilson.

i tried to get carlos hernandez and todd benzinger to sign copies of their 1992 topps traded cards without success.  the other two dodgers in the set are tom candiotti and eric davis.

1993 topps, dave hansen

hansen is on his way to seattle, but he signed for me shortly after he became the dodgers' hitting coach.  i also have 1993 topps cards that were signed through the mail by brett butler, eric karros, billy ashley, tom goodwin, jim gott, kevin gross, jay howell, and steve wilson.  plus, charlie hough!

1993 topps traded, tim wallach

this card of the dodgers' third base coach is the only one from the set that i have received signed, and the only other dodger in the set is mike piazza.

1994 topps, jody reed

yes, jody reed.  i also have 1994 topps cards signed ttm by former dodgers billy ashley, jim gott, kevin gross, cory snyder, rick trlicek, tim wallach, and steve wilson.  the only dodgers in the 1994 topps traded set were chan ho park and paul konerko, and while i have sent to both of them, i have only had a ttm success with park, and it wasn't with his 1994 traded card.

thanks to all these players for signing my cards!  here's a running list of the topps dodger autograph project:

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimeer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen

1965 topps - dick tracewski

1966 topps - john kennedy

1967 topps - phil regan

1968 topps - jim campanis

1969 topps - jeff torborg

1970 topps - al mcbean

1971 topps - sandy vance

1972 topps - manny mota

1973 topps - wes parker

1974 topps - claude osteen

1974 topps traded - jim wynn

1975 topps - ron cey

1975 topps mini - joe ferguson

1976 topps - bill russell

1976 topps traded - dusty baker

1977 topps - steve garvey

1978 topps - dave lopes

1979 topps - charlie hough

1980 topps - jerry reuss

1981 topps - doug rau

1981 topps traded - ken landreaux

1982 topps - dave goltz

1982 topps traded - jose morales

1983 topps - ron roenicke

1983 topps traded - rafael landestoy

1984 topps - fernando valenzuela

1984 topps traded - mike vail

1985 topps - burt hooton

1986 topps - enos cabell

1987 topps - steve sax

1987 topps traded - matt young

1988 topps - len matuszek

1989 topps - mickey hatcher

1990 topps - kal daniels

1990 topps traded - juan samuel

1991 topps - tim belcher

1992 topps - roger mcdowell

1993 topps - dave hansen

1993 topps traded - tim wallach

1994 topps - jody reed

the evolution of the left fielder, part 2

here's part 1 if you missed it.  and, as promised, here are bill buckner's wooly eyebrows.

bill buckner (1974-1976)

billy buck was a part of the dodgers' historical 1968 draft, and he worked his way into the starting lineup as a left fielder after spending most of his time in la playing right field and first base.  as the dodgers' every day left fielder in 1974, buckner hit .314 and was the guy who climbed the left field fence at fulton county stadium when hank aaron hit number 715.  he finished 25th in the league mvp voting and hit a home run in the dodgers' world series loss against the a's.  in 1975, buckner was limited to 72 games in left and the dodgers used 10 other players in left during his absences.  buckner came back in 1976 to play in 154 games and hit over .300 in what would be his dodger swan song.  he was dealt to the cubs after the season with ivan dejesus for rick monday and mike garman.

dusty baker (1977-1983)
dusty baker had been acquired in a trade after the 1975 season, and spent the 1976 season playing center and right field for the dodgers.  after they acquired monday in the buckner trade, baker was shifted to left and stayed there for 7 seasons and all of my youthful years of fandom.  during those 7 campaigns, baker hit .285 with 140 home runs (30 in 1977), two top-ten mvp finishes, four monster nlcs performances, three world series appearances, a world championship, and a gold glove in 1981 for his play in left.  it was a sad day when he became a free agent and an even sadder one when he signed with the giants.

mike marshall (1984)

baker's departure opened up a spot in the lineup for candy maldonado, and mike marshall moved from right field to left field to accommodate candido.  in left for the dodgers in 1984, marshall played in 116 games and was named to the all-star team although he didn't appear in the midsummer classic.  in 1985, marshall moved back to right field, as the dodgers moved pedro guerrero out of the infield.

pedro guerrero (1985, 1987)

guerrero had a monster year in 1985.  he finished third in the league in the mvp voting (his third top-4 finish in 4 years) while leading the league with a .422 obp and .577 slugging percentage.  he was named to the all-star team for the third time (he did not appear in the game) and went 33/87/.320 while splitting time between third base and left field, along with a few stops in center, right and at first base.  still, his 70 starts in left were tops on the club in 1985.  after losing to the cardinals in the nlcs, all eyes were on guerrero heading into 1986.  unfortunately, guerrero forgot how to slide and tore up his knee in a spring training game.  he missed all but 31 games that year, but bounced back in 1987 to reclaim left field from franklin stubbs.  he started 108 games in left in 1987, and hit .338 with a .955 ops that year. named to the all-star team, guerrero lined out in his only at bat.

franklin stubbs (1986)

stubbs became the dodgers' primary left fielder in 1986 by way of guerrero's knee injury, and cesar cedeno's ineffectiveness.  he had played in only 10 games in 1985, but took to a bigger role fairly well.  he established a career high of 23 home runs (15 of which came with the bases empty), although he drove in just 58 and hit only .226 on the season.  some of the other players the dodgers trotted out to left in 1986 included enos cabell, ken landreaux, mike marshall, len matuszek, reggie williams, terry whitfield, and bill russell!

kirk gibson (1988-1989)

kirk gibson came to the dodgers as a free agent and immediately made his presence known in left field.  that's because he left the field of a spring training game after jesse orosco put eye black inside his hat.  gibby served notice that such nonsense was a unwanted distraction and the rest is history.  he may have had a statistically weak mvp season (25/76/.290) but there is no doubt that without him, the dodgers would have not achieved what they did in 1988.  gibson still played more games in left than any other dodger in 1989, but injuries limited him to just 62 games (51 starts) there.  10 other dodgers spent time in left that year, primarily mickey hatcher, who just might have been the mvp of the 1988 world series if not for the bulldog.

kal daniels (1990-1991)

gibson spent most of his playing time in 1990 in center field, while newcomer kal daniels took over in left. he had actually been acquired from the reds in july of 1989, but injuries limited him to just 11 games as a dodger.  in those games, however, he hit .342 and expectations ran high in 1990.  daniels didn't disappoint, hitting 27/94/.296 in 130 games.  in 1991, he played in 137 games, but hit just 17/73/.249 as his balky knees were getting the best of him.  he was eventually dealt to the cubs during the 1992 season, which turned out to be his last in the big leagues. 

eric davis (1992-1993)

davis was acquired by the dodgers in a trade after the 1991 season, and replaced another former red in daniels as the dodgers' everyday left fielder.  the plan to reunite him with friend and fellow hometown product darryl strawberry may have looked good on paper, but it didn't turn out so well in reality.  davis hit just .228 with 5 home runs in 76 games.  he did have 19 stolen bases in 20 attempts, but that was really the only bright spot to his season.  in 1993, he upped his stolen base total to 33 while raising his average a few points and hitting 14 home runs in his 108 games as a dodger.  still disappointed, the dodgers sent davis to the tigers at the end of august.  davis would eventually get healthy and return to his former self with the reds and orioles in the late 1990's.

henry rodriguez (1994)

with davis gone, henry rodriguez took over in left field for the rest of the 1993 season.  he returned in 1994, and played in 104 of the dodgers' 114 games during the strike-shortened season.  he hit 8 home runs, but didn't really show the power he would later provide for the expos. 

in the 11 seasons since dusty baker roamed left, the dodgers had 7 different 'primary' left fielders.  sadly, stability was nowhere in sight after rodriguez was traded early in the 1995 season, as we will see next time.

kal daniels, autograph series

a recent trade (i believe it was with the real dfg) brought this card into my collection - a 1991 jumbo california sunflower seeds autograph series 2 kal daniels!

i ate a lot of sunflower seeds while playing baseball growing up (and used a lot more as projectiles on the bench) but somehow missed the distribution of logo-less cards in packages of seeds.  that's ok, because over the past couple of years, i have accumulated a few kal daniels cards of a different autograph series.  that would, of course, be through the mail autos. what else am i supposed to do with the ridiculous number of 1990 cards that i have?

daniels is known to be a good signer - he does only one at a time - and i have troubled him four times over the past 2 years.  first up is his strangely faded 1990 topps card.

daniels was acquired by the dodgers in july of 1989 (with lenny harris) for tim leary and mariano duncan.  i was pleased as i was certain he would replicate his 1987 season (.334 ba, 1.046 ops) many times for the dodgers over the next decade.  sadly, due to knee problems, he did not.

here's his 1990 upper deck card

daniels played in only 11 games for the dodgers in 1989 (although he hit .342/.987 in those games), but bounced back to put together a solid 1990 season.  that year, he hit .296 and set career highs in homers (27) and rbi (94).  he also garnered some mvp votes, finishing 27th in the league while playing in 130 games.

here's his fantastic 1991 topps card: 

in 1991, kal was able to play in 137 games, but his numbers dropped.  his batting average fell almost 50 points, and his power numbers were down as well.

finally, his 1992 topps card:

with his injuries and brett butler/daryl strawberry/eric davis in the dodger outfield, daniels was made expendable and was dealt to the cubs in june of 1992.  he left the dodgers with exactly 100 career home runs, and added just 4 more during his time in chicago.  he retired after cubs released him following the 1992 season.

here's to you kal daniels - thanks for your time.