sunday morning target dodgers - release the loudenslager!

this week's sheet from the 1990 target dodger set features 15 guys who were pretty much unknown to me.  let's learn about them together!

ben chapman

chapman was the one guy on this sheet that i knew about, but i can't say that i knew he suited up for the brooklyn dodgers in 1944 and 1945.  nor was it because he was an outfielder for the yankees in the 1930's, playing alongside babe ruth and lou gehrig as a part of the 1932 world championship team.  he moved on to the senators, red sox, and indians later in the decade, and then split the 1941 season between the senators and white sox.  after that, chapman managed in the minor leagues for a couple of years, but reinvented himself as a pitcher and returned to the majors with the dodgers in 1944 and part of 1945.  chapman was 8-6 with a 4.26 era for brooklyn, who traded him to the phillies in june of 1945.  the next season, chapman became the manager of the phillies, and in 1947 exposed himself as one of the most vocal opponents of jackie robinson and integration of the major leagues with a vicious heckling display when the dodgers visited philadelphia early in the season.  unfortunately for chapman, this is the only reason i knew of him.  quite a poor thing to be known for.

chuck corgan

corgan suited up for the robins in 1925 and again in 1927 for a total of 33 games, hitting .221 as a major leaguer.  he also played professional football, and was a member of the new york giants in 1927. shortly after the football season ended that year, corgan was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1928 at the age of 25.

jud daley

daley hit .250 in 80 games as an outfielder with the 1911 and 1912 dodgers.

rowdy elliot

elliot finished his 5-year major league career (which spanned 11 seasons) with 41 games as a member of the 1920 brooklyn robins.  although he was a member of that pennant winning team, elliot did not appear in the world series against the indians, but he did catch the majority of the 26 innings that the robins and braves played on may 1, 1920.

pete gilbert

gilbert played in 6 games for the 1894 brooklyn grooms, going 2 for 25 before he was released by the club.

chris haughey

i don't really remember how i celebrated my 18th birthday. i was in college, so i can probably guess, but it was nothing like the way chris haughey spent his 18th.  on october 3, 1943, haughey turned 18 and made his major league debut as a member of the brooklyn dodgers.  he pitched 7 innings in relief against the reds on that final day of the 1943 season, taking the loss while allowing 3 earned runs.  haughey was soon serving in the military, and never did return to the majors after that birthday debut.

al hollingsworth

hollingsworth, whose surname matches that of todd hollandsworth in number of letters and the most in team history as far as i can tell, was very nearly a dodger double dipper.  he was acquired by the dodgers during the 1939 season and pitched in 8 games for them, with another appearance as a pinch-runner.  near the start of the 1940 season, his contract was purchased by the senators, for whom he appeared in 3 games. the senators returned hollingsworth to the dodgers, but he was sent to triple-a, and didn't make it back to the majors until 1942 as a member of the saint louis browns.

bert inks

i suppose inks' name joins the likes of rick waits, dave sells, and davey lopes as a name that doubles as a complete sentence, if you accept 'inks' as a verb.  he joined the grooms in 1891, fresh out of the university of notre dame, and went 3-10 in his 13 games (all of which he started). he was back with brooklyn in 1892, appearing in 9 games before joining the washington senators for the remainder of the season.

tom kinslow

what a wonderful mustache this grooms' catcher sported! kinslow appeared in about 65 games a year during his run with the grooms which lasted from 1891 through 1894.  he hit .271 during that time, with his 1892 season (66 games, .305 average, 11 triples) being his best.  kinslow was traded to the pirates in 1895.

charlie loudenslager

loudenslager played in one major league game. it occurred on april 15, 1904 with the brooklyn superbas.  loudenslager struck out in both of his plate appearances that day, but was perfect in the field (he had one assist in his lone chance at second base).  loudenslager played in the minors for several seasons (i'm thinking this photo comes from his days with the rochester bronchos of the eastern league) and later served in world war i.

bill mccabe

mccabe broke in with the chicago cubs in 1918, and remained with the team until the robins purchased his contract during the 1920 season.  his 41 regular season games with brooklyn that year would be his last in the majors, but he did get to appear in the 1920 world series as a pinch-runner in game 6.

terry mcdermott

mcdermott was the dodgers' first round pick in the 1969 draft. he worked his way up to double-a in 1972, and earned a late season call-up with the dodgers. in 9 september games with the club, mcdermott  hit .130 as a pinch-hitter and first baseman. he returned to the minors the following season, and spent the next few years in triple-a, unable to crack the big league roster.

george mohart

mohart pitched for the robins in 1920 and 1921. he was 0-1 in 15 games during that time, and did not appear in the 1920 world series.

gordon slade

slade began his career with the robins in 1930, and remained with the club through 1932 before being included in the trade that sent dazzy vance to the cardinals in 1933.  he played primarily shortstop, and hit .238 during his time in brooklyn.  slade finished his career with the reds in 1934 and 1935, which is where the photo used for his card comes from.

adonis terry

terry's days with the brooklyn club dated back to 1884 when the team was in the american association. he was still with the franchise when they joined the national league in 1890, which was the point of this 100th anniversary set.  terry won a career high 26 games for the national league champion grooms that year, but was just 6-16 the following season, and found himself released in 1892.

maybe i'll be back next sunday with some more recognizable names...

sunday morning target dodgers - the rifleman, a unibrow, and 12 others

only 14 cards from the 1990 target dodgers set today, because this particular sheet featured another dodger double dipper who gets his own post later on.

bobby bragan

bragan began his career as a shortstop with the phillies in 1940, but began catching as well, and after he was traded to the dodgers just prior to the 1943 season, catcher was his primary position.  he returned to shortstop for a bit in 1944, and then missed the 1945 and '46 seasons due to military service during world war ii.  when bragan returned to the dodgers in 1947, he signed the petition protesting the addition of jackie robinson to the major league roster, and even asked branch rickey for a trade.  bragan wasn't traded, and he soon changed his mind about being jackie's teammate.  in 1948, after appearing in just 9 games for the dodgers, bragan was offered a job managing in the organization's minor league system at fort worth.  bragan accepted, knowing that his roster spot had essentially been taken by roy campanella.  after several seasons in fort worth (where he made maury wills into a switch-hitter), bragan eventually managed in the major leagues for the pirates, indians, and braves.  he returned to fort worth, and became the oldest manager in professional baseball history when he managed a game for the independent cats at the age of 87 in 2005.

buster burrell

another catcher, burrell spent three seasons (1895-97) with the grooms/bridegrooms, although he never appeared in more than 62 games in a single season.  his best year was 1896 when he played in 62 games and hit .301.  burrell looks pretty intense, but he lived to be 95 before passing away in 1962.  so, in his lifetime, the entire history of professional baseball up until sandy koufax's 7th start of the 1962 season occurred.  crazy.

guy cantrell

cantrell's nickname was 'gunner', and as a pitcher for the brooklyn robins in 1925 and 1927, he was 1-0 with a 2.93 era over 20 appearances.  cantrell was acquired by the philadelphia a's during the 1927 season, and finished his major league career with the tigers in 1930.  now we go from one 'gunner' to another…

chuck connors

connors was a brooklyn native who signed with the local club as a teenager in 1940.  he soon after went to college at seton hall and was picked up by the yankees.  in 1946, he wrote to branch rickey asking the dodgers to re-acquire him, and they did so after the yankees waived him.  connors wound up playing in the minor leagues, but also spent some time on the roster of the boston celtics from 1946-48.  he finally made his baseball big league debut in may of 1949 as a pinch-hitter.  with one out in the bottom of the 9th in a game against the phillies, connors pinch-hit for carl furillo.  gil hodges was on first base, so connors represented the tying run, as the dodgers were down 4-2.  unfortunately, connors grounded into a game ending double play, 1-6-3.  that turned out to be his only appearance as a dodger, but he was traded to the cubs and played in 66 games for the southsiders in 1951.  after that, connors played in the pcl for the los angeles angels, and was discovered by hollywood.  he eventually decided to pursue acting as a career, and landed the title role in the abc program 'the rifleman'.

jumbo elliot

elliot first pitched for the robins in 1925 after throwing just one inning for the browns in 1923.  after taking the loss in 2 of the 3 games in which he pitched in '25, elliot spent 1926 in the minors, but was back in the majors to stay in 1927.  he pitched both as a starter and a reliever for the robins through the 1930 season, which happened to be the only time in his career up until that point that he earned a winning record.  with a 26-36 record overall, the robins traded elliot to the phillies, with whom he promptly led the league with 19 wins in 1931.

dick farrell

farrell was better known as 'turk' during his playing days.  he spent the last few months of the 1961 season with the dodgers, but didn't ever get a complete card as a dodger from topps, so it is quite disappointing that this card fails to feature him in the correct uniform as well.  as a dodger, farrell was 6-6 with 10 saves in 50 appearances.  he was selected by the colt .45's in the expansion draft, and lost 20 games for them in 1962.

balvino galvez

galvez was once traded for billy beane, straight up.  i wonder if the a's general manager makes that deal today.  all of galvez's major league experience came as a dodger in 1986.  he pitched in 10 games and had a record of 0-1.  the first batter galvez faced as a big leaguer was none other than ron cey.  the penguin stroked a two-run, game-tying single off of galvez, and tommy lasorda removed the rookie pitcher from the game.  galvez was traded by the dodgers to the tigers during the 1987 season, and they sent him to the twins the following year for beane.

phil garner

garner doesn't look quite right without his bristle brush mustache, does he?  he joined the dodgers during the 1987 season following a trade with houston and wound up playing in 70 games for the club. he hit just .190 with two home runs (the last two of his career), and finished his major league career with 15 games for the giants in 1988.

jeff hamilton

hamilton was a backup third baseman who won the job during the 1988 season when pedro guerrero was moved to first base.  he wound up manning the hot corner for the dodgers during the world series, too, catching the final out of their pivotal game 4 win.  that was the game that, thanks in part to hamilton's presence in the lineup, caused bob costas to comment that the dodgers were fielding the weakest hitting lineup in world series history.  hamilton was the dodgers' primary third baseman in 1989, but was injured for most of 1990 and '91.  he attempted to convert to a pitcher, but was unsuccessful, meaning his only pitching appearance as a major leaguer remained his 1.2 innings of work in a 22-inning game against the astros in 1990 in which he struck out billy hatcher and ken caminiti, but was nonetheless saddled with the loss.

dale mitchell

mitchell's career started with a bang in cleveland - over his first 8 seasons with the indians, mitchell had 1201 hits, 60 triples (he led the league with 23 in 1949), and a .315 batting average.  beginning in 1954, however, he was relegated to part-time duty, and the indians eventually sold his contract to the dodgers during the 1956 season.  with brooklyn, mitchell hit .292 in 19 games down the stretch as the dodgers repeated as national league champions.  in the world series, mitchell was hitless four pinch-hit appearances against the yankees, the third of which resulted in the final out of don larsen's game 5 perfecto.

wally moon

all hail the unibrow!  moon was the 1954 national league rookie of the year for the cardinals, who traded him to the dodgers after the 1958 season for gino cimoli.  moon immediately made an impact for the dodgers in 1959, hitting .302 while leading the league in triples and launching his 'moon shot' home runs at the la coliseum as the dodgers won the pennant and the world series.  moon hit .299 in 1960, and then .328 in 1961 (his .434 obp led the league that year), but his performance tapered off after that.  his final appearance as a dodger came in the 1965 world series, where he was hitless in two pinch-hitting appearances.

bill posedel

posedel didn't reach the majors until the age of 31 when he debuted for the dodgers during the 1938 season.  he made 17 starts, finishing 6 of them (one was a shutout), and also relieved in 16 games.  he finished with a record of 8-9 and was traded to the braves during the offseason.  he was sometimes known as barnacle bill due to his two stints in the navy - one prior to the start of his big league career, and one during his career to serve in world war ii.

howie reed

the dodgers acquired reed from the kansas city a's in 1961, buy he didn't make it to the club's big league roster until 1964.  he was 3-3 as a starter with a no-decision, and 0-1 with a save as a reliever in 19 other appearances that year.  in 1965, reed pitched in 38 games (5 as a starter) and had an overall record of 7-5 plus a save.  he appeared in two games during the 1965 world series, but had just one appearance for the dodgers in the 1966 season before he was traded to the angels.

rj reynolds

robert james reynolds received a september call-up from the dodgers in 1983, but was with the team for most of 1984 and 1985 up until the time he was traded to the pirates for bill madlock.  he played for the pirates through the 1990 season, and then went to japan where he found some success.  as a dodger, reynolds is best remembered for his walk-off squeeze bunt on september 11, 1983 that beat the braves and put the dodgers 3 games up on atlanta in the nl west. that was a big two-game swing in the standings, and the dodgers held on to win the west.