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...

a beast of a sase

if you haven't sent a sase (or, as i did, a few sases) to wes at jaybarkerfan's junk yet, what are you waiting for?

the first of my self-addressed stamped plain white envelopes was returned to me last week.  it was a beast - literally and figuratively.  i have sent three cards by way of a single forever stamp before, but wes was able to turn my 46 cents into 8 cards (!) plus a dodger hologram.

first up is the guy who helped popularize 'beast mode', matt kemp

that is a very nice looking 2013 bowman chrome green parallel.

here's that hologram i mentioned - it's from 1989 upper deck.

as are the next few cards.

jose gonzalez is just hanging out in the dugout

while orel hershiser is out throwing shutouts

and kirk gibson is winning games and the mvp

now, that gibson card features a photo from the aftermath of his game 1 pinch-hit walk-off home run, but the card is really all about his winning the national league mvp (yes, he deserved it mets fans).  there is another card of gibson in the set that celebrates the famous home run, and it carries the mark of the beast

upper deck describes me as 'frantic' (i was in the right field pavilion that night).  nervous, anxious, hopeful, and then frenzied for sure.  anyway, you are all familiar with upper deck and it's obsession with assigning card number 666 to the dodgers, right?

but wait, there was another.  this 2003 upper deck sp legenday cuts card of leo durocher is numbered to 1299

which means that someone (meaning me) has to have the one numbered '666'.  or, in this case, '0666'.  that's ok - i don't mind.  to me, the number means simply 'garvey-garvey-garvey'.  or  maybe these days, 'garvey-puig'.

one more serial numbered card from the envelope, but it's 311.  it's a 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic don drysdale

the 8th card sent was this 2000 skybox autographics angel pena auto card

so that was it for the first sase.  however, wes had also sent me a couple of cards as part of a trade.

2008 topps stadium club blake dewitt  photographer's proof auto

and 2008 upper deck sp authentic chad billingsley by the numbers auto

thanks for all the cards wes!

a helping of leftovers - more ttm successes to be thankful for

well, i hope the turkey and football and pie and gelatinous cranberry from a can has served you well today.  i am taking another moment to be thankful for some through the mail successes.  these are way down the list of things i am truly thankful for, but they rate fairly high in terms of collecting related things to be thankful for.  hopefully that makes sense.

here's a 1961 topps jim golden card

not sure why i hadn't sent a request to golden before a couple of weeks ago.  he may be best remembered for being one of the guys that the dodgers got from philadelphia in exchange for sparky anderson.  he was also traded for nellie fox later in his career.

thanks jim!

another former dodger, chad kreuter, signed a couple of cards for me a couple of years ago.  here's his 2001 topps card

and his 2002 topps card

kreuter may be best remembered for being the first dodgers since (i believe) reggie smith to go into the stands after a fan.  in kreuter's case, a fan in chicago stole his hat, and chad wanted it back.  it was the incident that led to kevin malone being referred to as 'the sheriff', as i recall.

thanks chad!

now for a 2005 topps update & highlights blake dewitt card

dewitt signed that one for me shortly after he left la for chicago.

thanks blake!

from one blake to another, here are a couple of casey blake cards that the former dodger signed for me through the mail.

2009 topps allen & ginter

looks nice!

2010 topps

thanks casey!

the last few are of the non-dodger variety, and are mostly due to my desire for more signed 1978 topps cards. first, though, there is this 1973 topps don kessinger card

followed, of course, by his 1978 topps card

love the lapels, by the way.  kessinger was named player-manager of the white sox for the 1979 season, and so he got two cards in the 1979 set, which i thought was pretty cool.  topps had done the same for frank robinson in 1975, but for some reason only gave him the team card in 1976 and 1977.  silly topps.

thanks don!

here's kessinger's teammate and subordinate, eric soderholm

soderholm was the first overall pick of the 1968 draft (january secondary) when he was taken by the twins.  appropriately, he also signed a 1976 topps card from his tenure in minnesota.

off the top of my head, i think this brings the number of former number 1 overall picks in my ttm autograph collection to 7 - soderholm, rick monday, tim foli, floyd bannister, bill almon, tim belcher, and josh hamilton - although i think most don't consider the secondary draft to be a true number 1 overall pick.  i think of that particular draft to be the one wherein the dodgers picked davey lopes in the 2nd round.  but i digress.

thanks eric!

back on topic - here's a 1978 topps bill castro card

and a 1978 topps card of his teammate, lary sorensen

thanks bill and lary!

relics from deadlines past

seven years ago yesterday, the dodgers traded joel guzman to the devil rays for julio lugo.  i have only this 2005 bowman heritage relic card to remember him by.

guzman was part of those jacksonville sun and las vegas 51s teams that featured the future - russell martin, james loney, chad billingsley, joel hanrahan, delwyn young, andy laroche, etc.  for me, guzman was the guy that, out of all of those others, was going to make it.  as a 20-year old in 2005, guzman hit 16/75/.287 in aa, and was hitting 11/55/.297 in 2006 at aaa las vegas when he was dealt away.  i believe guzman's stock dropped due in part to the emergence of matt kemp.  anyway, julio lugo played in 49 games for the dodgers, hit .219, and then left to become the primary shortstop on the team that won the world series in 2007.

guzman, meanwhile, had a short stay with tampa bay and then bounced around the minors.  he is currently playing in mexico, according to baseball reference.

more recently (three years ago to be precise), ned traded away blake dewitt at the deadline.  here's a 2008 topps heritage relic card

dewitt went to the cubs in exchange for ted lilly and ryan theriot.  lilly stuck around (although he was recently dfa'd), but theriot bolted after the 2010 season ended.  like lugo, he went on to play for the world series champions the following year.  then he did lugo one better and played for the champs in 2012 as well!

a small and handpicked sample, i know, but drew butera might find himself an in demand free agent this winter...

the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part four - where do we go from here?

we left off the evolutionary chain of dodger third basemen last time with tim wallach, who manned the hot corner for the dodgers from 1993-95, and for the last part of the 1996 season as well.  he was re-acquired by the dodgers after their newly acquired third baseman went down with an injury.  still, mike blowers started 90 games at third for the dodgers in 1996, so he gets some attention here.

mike blowers (1996)

blowers is wearing his seattle mariners uniform there on that 1996 upper deck collector's choice card.  he had three different stints in seattle, including 1997 - the year following his time in la.  the dodgers acquired blowers after the 1995 season in which he hit 23 homers and drove in 96 runs.  he was hitting .265 with 6 homers and 38 rbi after 92 games with the dodgers when his season ended thanks to an injury.  the dodgers replaced him with wallach, and blowers walked as a free agent after the season ended.

wallach was a stopgap, and he retired following the 1996 campaign.  so, the dodgers went out and got another third baseman to fill the void.

todd zeile (1997)

zeile's 1997 topps finest card tells the story, as he was a free agent acquisition prior to the 1997 season.  he played a whopping 160 games at third base for the dodgers, and hit 31 home runs with 90 rbi and a .268 batting average.  this was too good to be true, however, as he was traded away with mike piazza early in the 1998 season.

adrian beltre (1998-2004)

beltre was 19 when he took over the third base position for the dodgers.  bobby bonilla, who was acquired as part of the piazza/zeile trade bounty, was originally slotted at the hot corner, but beltre wound up making 74 appearances with 54 starts and 49 complete games compared to bonilla's 59, 57, and 34.  that's his 2000 fleer gamers card, by the way.  beltre provided some long lost stability at the position, playing a total of 957 games for the dodgers at third base from 1998 through 2004.  his tenure culminated with a 48 home run (to lead the league), 121 rbi, .334 batting average season that netted him a silver slugger and second place in the league mvp voting.  then it was off to seattle.

beltre's departure resulted in a rag-tag of players trying their hand at third base.  the dodgers signed a japanese player, norihiro nakamura, and gave him the keys, but he flamed out after just 14 games.  after that, there were many who tried.  i'll pick one.

oscar robles (2005)

mike edwards made 39 appearances at third for the dodgers in 2005, with 33 starts and 31 complete games for a total of 294.2 innings.  robles gets the nod from me here due to his 40 appearances at third, even though he started only 31 games there with 30 complete games and 292.1 innings.  that is partly due to the fact that i had a 2005 upper deck sweet spot card of robles already scanned as well as the idea that robles represents to me the fact that jim tracy lost his marbles in 2005.  maybe i should have used edwards, as robles played more short than third in 2005.  oh well, neither one factored into the equation for very long.

wilson betemit (2006-2007)

the dodgers acquired betemit near the 2006 trade deadline after the guy they intended to be their third baseman, bill mueller, was lost for the season due to injury.  betemit appeared as the dodgers' third baseman in 102 games over the 2006 and 2007 seasons.  he was traded at the 2007 deadline to the yankees for scott proctor, but he still made more appearances at third than any other dodger in '07.  nomar gets a nod here, though - he played third after betemit left.

blake dewitt (2008)

the dodgers gave 22-year old rookie dewitt the third baseman's job in 2008 (his '08 upper deck timeline card is appropriate here, don't you think)?  in all, he made 95 appearances and 77 starts there, but failed to convince the organization that he was the answer.  in fact, he found himself playing second base by the time the postseason rolled around as he started every playoff game at second for the dodgers in place of the injured jeff kent.

casey blake (2009-2010)

the dodgers acquired blake during the 2008 season, and he really took over the position then.  he re-signed with them for the 2009 season and turned in 131 starts at third that year.  in 2010, he started 134 games as the dodger third baseman.  in 2011, however, he was able to make only 45 starts.

juan uribe (2011, 2013)

uribe made 53 starts at third for the dodgers in 2011, so he gets the nod here over blake and aaron miles.  also, he's got the sweet brooklyn baby blues on that 2011 topps update card.  he kinda sorta lost the job to

luis cruz (2012)

but he's got it back in 2013.  until yasiel puig pulls a pedro guerrero and gets moved over to third.  seriously, though, who knows what the future will hold for the dodgers' hot corner.  hopefully something stable.

more cards all the way from the backstop

new papa marcus found some time between changing diapers and not sleeping to send me some cards.  he's quite the overachiever.  take a looksie.

here's a 1977 tcma renata galasso card of don newcombe

i remember seeing the 1978 tcma set when i was first starting to collect cards, and i sort of shunned it.  i would have done the same had i been aware of this set from the previous year.  these days, i'm glad to have the few cards from the set that i do.

there were also a couple of minor league cards - this one is from 2000 just and features a guy named wynter phoenix

he spent the first few years of his minor league career in the dodgers organization, including a 1999 stint in aa san bernardino.  in 2000, he was playing in the marlins organization, and in 2001 he was in the orioles' minor league system.

this next guy was more recognizable - it's blake dewitt on a 2004 just rookies card

dewitt just signed a free agent deal with the braves a couple of weeks ago.  i thought that he would be the dodgers' second baseman for a few years, but ned traded him to the cubs in the ted lilly deal.  i like ted lilly, but i wish ned would find a second baseman already.

roberto alomar has quite a resume of double play cards, including this 1992 donruss triple play card.

walt weiss is another guy who has a lot of dp cards.  here's his 1993 donruss card, upon which he becomes a member of the florida marlins

marcus also sent weiss's 1991 upper deck card

as if to prove the point.

alan trammell has a couple of double play cards himself, and he appears on scott fletcher's 1993 upper deck card on the front end of a twin killing

the back of doug strange's 1994 upper deck collector's choice card  shows rickey henderson trying to break up two

and finally, we have a rather pedestrian dp turn on mike bordick's 1995 upper deck collector's choice card

thanks for the cards marcus!  i'll get a package out to you soon!

topps serves up more dodger variations - a side by side comparison of the 2010 dodgers

yes, it's time to compare the dodgers from the flagship set(s) to their team set counterparts.  2009 was a year with many variations.  how will 2010 fare?  let's find out.  as always, it's flagship/update card on the left, team set card on the right.

first up, lad1: manny ramirez

nice of manny to make an appearance in the team set in 2010.  topps left him out of the 2009 set, i suppose because he was unsigned after the '08 season.  the only variation i detect here is the topps logo, which is slightly displaced.

lad2 is james loney

from the home whites to the away grays.

ronald belisario is lad3

topps didn't issue a belisario card in series 1, 2 or the update set.  maybe they had visa problems.

lad4 is clayton kershaw

it's the same.

as is lad5, jonathan broxton

and lad6, casey blake

lad7, matt kemp

gets a tighter crop in the team set

andre ethier is lad8

with no variation.

lad9 is ronnie belliard

belliard had to wait until the update set to get his regular topps card, which is rotated and not airbrushed like his team set card.  at least i think that's airbrushed.  belliard came aboard at the end of august, 2009 so there is a slight chance he is pictured in an actual dodger uni.

lad10 is chad billingsley

and his card gives us a different angle on his delivery.

russell martin is lad11

and his cards are cropped slightly different.  a fairly weak variation.

lad12 is the departed rafael furcal

the team set photo is a tad racy, with furky standing between musial and slaughter.

lad13 is the also departed george sherrill

mega-crop variation!

hiroki kuroda is lad14

again with the cropping!

lad15 is mark loretta

who was shut out in the topps regular sets.  because he retired.  would have preferred a jamey carroll card instead.

lad16 is hong-chih kuo

whose update card is different from the team set card.  the team set card photo comes from san francisco, which seems to be a default locale for dodgers pitcher's cards

the final card, lad17, is blake dewitt

and thankfully, his topps base card is different from the team set card.  dewitt looks like a vampire on his team set card.  no joe torre in this set, although he is there in dewitt's card, lurking blurrily in the dugout.

final count: 1 logo variation, 6 photo variations, and 4 cropping variations.  plus two cards that had no comps in the base topps sets.  not a bad haul - definitely worth a pick up for the team collector.