sunday morning target dodgers - the spy who played baseball edition

here are 15 cards from a sheet in the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set.  some pretty interesting stories here, starting with this guy - moe berg

berg was an ivy-leaguer (he attended princeton and columbia) who spent his first year in the majors (1923) with the brooklyn robins.  he hit only .186 as a 21-year old infielder, but later found a niche in the big leagues with other teams as a backup catcher.  he also improved at the plate, and was able to carve out a 14-year major league career with four american league clubs following his one year in brooklyn.  the most interesting part of berg's story, however, is that he was a spy.  berg was fluent in several languages, and was added to the connie mack all-star team that was to make a tour of japan in 1934.  berg may have seemed out of place on such a team that featured babe ruth, lou gehrig, and others, but he was there to spend some time doing some recon for the us government.  other missions berg completed included a trip to switzerland to assess the germans' likelihood of developing the atomic bomb.

dolph camilli

i don't know that i've seen camilli's name spelled with an 'f' instead of the 'ph' before.  anyway, camilli (father of future dodger doug camilli) played for the dodgers from 1938 until july of 1943 when he was traded to the giants (in true rivalry fashion, he refused to report to the club).  during his dodger days, camilli was a two-time all-star and led the league in home runs and rbi in 1941, earning the national league's mvp award - the first dodger to win the award since dazzy vance in 1924.

chuck essegian

essegian had the good fortune to be traded to the dodgers during the 1959 season.  as a result, he was able to appear in the 1959 world series against the white sox, and he made the most of his appearances. after striking out as a pinch-hitter in the dodgers' game 1 loss, he hit a game-tying solo home run in the 7th inning of game 2 which the dodgers went on to win.  essegian pinch-hit again in game 5, drawing a walk in a losing effort, but came up big with his second pinch-hit home run of the series (hitting for duke snider of all people) in the 9th inning of the dodgers' 9-3 series clinching game 6 victory.

chico fernandez

fernandez was signed by the dodgers in 1951 and worked his way through the minors to the point where some thought the good fielding shortstop would eventually replace pee wee reese at the position for the dodgers.  fernandez was called up and debuted in july of 1956 and finished the season with a .227 batting average in 34 games.  the dodgers decided to deal fernandez following the season, and he became the phillies regular shortstop after they acquired him for elmer valo and a few other players.  he went on to play for the tigers, too, before they traded him to the braves on may 8, 1963.  later that same day, the braves dealt fernandez to the mets and he finished out his big league career that year with new york.

ned garvin

garvin joined the superbas late in the 1902 season, earning a win and a loss in his two starts for the club that year.  in 1903, he was 15-18 for brooklyn, and in 1904 he had a record of 5-15 (despite a 1.68 era) before he was picked up on waivers by the new york highlanders with whom he finished out the season.  bill james recognizes garvin as perhaps the "hard-luck pitcher of all-time" due to his consistently poor record and low era.

gail hopkins

local boy hopkins attended pepperdine and ucla in the 1960's but was signed by the white sox rather than the dodgers in 1965.  following a total of six seasons spent in the majors with the chisox and kansas city a's, hopkins joined the dodgers during the 1974 campaign.  he only appeared in 15 games for the 1974 national league champs, hitting .222 with 4 singles in 18 at bats.  he went on to play in japan for a couple of seasons and returned to the states to earn an m.d. and ph.d and practiced medicine in california and illinois for many years. his card features the left field pavilion of dodger stadium in the background, which is nice.

jim lindsey

lindsey had pitched for the indians, cardinals (in two different stints), and reds before joining the dodgers in 1937.  he pitched in 20 games for brooklyn, amassing a record of 0-1 with a 3.52 era.  that was the end of his big league career, although he continued to pitch in the minors for many more seasons.

jesse orosco

orosco had two stints with the dodgers, including that glorious 1988 season.  he is the all-time leader in games pitched with 1,252.  the only active pitcher with at least 1,000 games pitched is latroy hawkins who is right at the 1,000 mark.

phil regan

regan pitched for the tigers, often as a starter, from 1960 through 1965 when he joined the dodgers via trade prior to the 1966 season.  walter alston moved regan to the bullpen, and the pitcher responded with a tremendous season.  regan pitched exclusively in relief, appearing in 65 games and earning a record of 14-1 with what would have been a league-leading 21 saves had that been an official statistic back then.  regan was an all-star that year, as well as the comeback player of the year and reliever of the year, and he wound up pitching in two games of the world series as well.  regan's 1967 season was not quite as spectacular, and he was traded to the cubs just a few games into the 1968 campaign.  he did return to the dodger organization following his retirement as a scout and later as manager of the triple-a dukes in 1996.

packy rogers

rogers hit .189 in 23 games for the 1938 dodgers which was the only time he appeared in the major leagues.  he returned to the minors and eventually managed there for a few seasons following his service during world war ii.

sherry smith

smith had a record of 69-70 over his 7 seasons with the brooklyn robins spanning from 1915 into the 1922 campaign (he did not pitch in 1918 for some reason), but his era as a robin was 2.91 and he twice won 14 games in a season.  he was a big part of the robins' pennant winning teams of 1916 and 1920, and he threw 13.1 innings in game 3 of the 1916 fall classic only to surrender the winning run and take the loss opposite the bosox starting pitcher, babe ruth.  smith was 1-1 in the 1920 series against cleveland, giving up just one earned run in 17 innings of work in the robins' losing effort.

mike strahler

i think of strahler as one of the other guys on charlie hough's 1972 rookie card.  he pitched in parts of three seasons for the dodgers - 1970 through 1972.  in total, he appeared in 31 games as a dodger, earning a record of 2-3 with a save and an era of 2.76.  he made 2 starts for los angeles (both in 1972), one of which turned out to be a complete game victory for strahler in his final dodger appearance.  after  the '72 season ended, strahler was traded to the angels in the frank robinson for andy messersmith deal, and the halos traded him soon after that to the tigers.

dick stuart

stuart could hit. he hit .272 with 192 home runs in his first seven seasons, which were spent with the pirates and red sox between 1958 and 1964.  in fact, stuart led the american league in rbi in 1963 while with the red sox, and drove in 114 the following year.  unfortunately, he was not the best fielder.  in fact, stuart led his league in errors by a first baseman in each of those same seven seasons mentioned above.  after a down year with the phillies in 1965 (in which he finished second with 17 errors and hit just .234), stuart joined the mets for the start of the 1966 season, which is where the photo used on his card above comes from.  he was ultimately released by the mets during the season and was signed by the dodgers.  stuart hit .264 with 3 homers in 38 at bats for the dodgers, and even managed a couple of plate appearances for them in the 1966 world series.

lee walls

walls joined the dodgers following the 1961 season in a deal that sent charlie neal to the expansion mets.  he spent three non-descript seasons with the dodgers as a utility player/pinch-hitter, although i found his final big league appearance to be fairly interesting.  on the final day of the 1964 season, walter alston replaced his starting catcher (john roseboro) following the first inning with rookie jeff torborg.  roseboro had reached base, stolen third, and scored on a wild pitch prior to being removed from the game, but i don't know if his removal had to do with an injury or if it was just because it was the last game of the year and the dodgers were leading the colt .45's 5-0 after one inning of play.  anyway, torborg played through the eighth inning, but was replaced at catcher by walls for the 9th.  it was the first (and only) time walls had caught in a big league game, and it was also the last time he wore a big league uniform - the dodgers released him 10 days later.

robert wilson

wilson joined the dodger organization in 1950, but spent only two days in 1958 on the field in the big leagues.  he may have been up with the dodgers for longer than that, but his actual playing career consists of 3 games over 2 days in saint louis in may of 1958.  on saturday, may 17, wilson made his debut when he pinch-hit for stan williams against the cardinals' larry jackson and stroked a single.  he was replaced at the start of the following inning in the lineup by don drysdale.  the next day, in the first game of a doubleheader, wilson again pinch-hit (this time for clem labine), but struck out against the cards' billy muffett.  in the nightcap, wilson got the start in right field, but was replaced late in the game by gino cimoli following an 0 for 3 performance at the plate.  and that was that for wilson's big league career.

the topps dodgers autograph project - the early los angeles years

in case you missed the first installment, i am taking the lost collector's yankee project and putting my dodger spin on it.  so now we are into the los angeles years.  all of these autographs were obtained through the mail, and were free of charge. 

joe pignatano, 1958 topps

i've posted this one before.  pignatano was a brooklyn native who played in a handful of games as a hometown boy done good before moving to the west coast with the team.  he stayed with the dodgers until his contract was purchased by the a's prior to the 1961 season.  other players who have signed their 1958 topps cards for me include don zimmer.  that's it.

fred kipp, 1959 topps

kipp also went west with the club, having made an appearance with the team in 1957.  1958 was his big year in the majors, as he went 6-6 in 40 appearances.  he pitched in 2 games in 1959, and then was traded to the yankees prior to the 1960 season.  i have a few other 1959 topps cards that were signed through the mail - carl erskine, dick gray, and bob lillis.

chuck essegian, 1960 topps

essegian joined the dodgers for the latter part of the 1959 season.  he came from saint louis in exchange for dick gray, the man who had hit the first home run in los angeles dodger history.  essegian hit some home runs, too, as it turned out.  in the 1959 world series against the white sox, he had not one, but two pinch hit home runs.  the first one came in game 2 of the series with the dodgers down a game and trailing by a run in the 7th inning.  essegian''s blast tied the game, and a couple of batters later, charlie neal put them ahead to stay with his second home run of the game.  some other former dodgers who have signed their 1960 cards for me through the mail include roger craig (with fee), don demeter, and bob lillis.

bob aspromonte, 1961 topps

i posted this one not too long ago - it's the most recent 1961 topps card i have had signed through the mail.  others in my collection include don demeter, don newcombe (with fee), and joe pignatano.

norm sherry, 1962 topps

sherry debuted in the big leagues with a bang.  on april 12, 1959, he was the dodgers' starting catcher against the cubs.  on the mound that day was sandy koufax, the pitcher whom sherry suggested should just relax and take something off of his fastball to be more effective.  while koufax only lasted three innings that day, sherry played the whole game.  he was hit by a pitch in his first big league at bat, and then hit a two-run single his next time up.  sherry didn't appear in another game until september, but he was back in la each season from 1960 through 1962.  he even occasionally caught his brother larry.  i chose to feature sherry's card simply because i had not yet posted it on the blog.  other 1962 topps cards that i have received signed through the mail include tommy davis (with fee), willie davis (with fee), frank howard (with fee), wally moon (with fee), ron perranoski, pete richert, and daryl spencer.

ed roebuck, 1963 topps

same goes here for roebuck.  i've had his 1963 card  sitting in my scanned folder for a while now, but have never gotten around to showing it off.  roebuck was a member of the world champion brooklyn dodgers in 1955 (his rookie season) and he threw a couple of scoreless innings in the fall classic that year.  he also pitched in the 1956 world series.  unfortunately, roebuck did not pitch in the majors in 1959 due to injury, and so he missed out on another opportunity to pitch in the world series.  roebuck had a big year in 1962, winning 10 games and saving another 9.  he was traded to the senators in july of 1963, however, and eventually finished his career in philadelphia three years later.  the other 1963 cards i have signed through the mail include joe moeller, wally moon (with fee), and don zimmer.

ken mcmullen, 1964 topps

this is another card that i was saving for a different post - most likely mcmullen's double dipper post - but it fits here as part of the topps dodgers autograph project.  mcmullen first appeared in the big leagues in 1962, and he played in a total of 109 games for the dodgers between then and 1964.  after the 1964 season, he was traded to the senators in the claude osteen/frank howard deal.  he had his best years in washington and then in california with the angels before returning to the dodgers in a reserve role.  mcmullen gets the nod to represent 1964 over the other signed ttm cards in my collection, including willie davis (with fee), pete richert, and dick tracewski.

here's a running list of the cards and players in my topps dodgers autograph project.  only a few that were not free, and a different player for each year.

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (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

world series imposter!

i somehow acquired a few 1970 and 1971 fleer world series cards as a kid. while not licensed, fleer got away with using cartoons of some pretty recognizable faces. then,  a few months ago at the local card show, i found most of the dodger cards i was missing. or so i thought. 

here's the 1971 version of the 1916 world series

featuring brooklyn pitcher jack coombs.  coombs was the winning pitcher in the only game brooklyn won in the series.  he had previously won games in the 1910 and 1911 fall classics for the athletics, hence his 'terrific series record'.  speaking of series records, here's the 1970 take on 1916:

babe ruth.  he pitched a 14 inning complete game.  brooklyn's pitcher, sherry smith, also pitched a complete game, although his was only 13.1 innings.  ruth had only 5 at-bats all series and was held hitless.  he did drive in the first boston run in the 14 inning game with a ground out.  i should mention that the dodgers were actually the robins back then.

on to 1920, 1970 style 

and 1971

no dodger (or robin) love from fleer.  just spitballer stan coveleski and grand slammin' elmer smith.  curiously enough, this was one of the series that took 5 games to win.

we'll skip the dodgers' appearance in the 1941 series (previously posted here), and check out the 1970 homage to the equally depressing 1947 matchup against the yankees.

al gionfriddo, a mid-season acquisition, robbed joltin' joe dimaggio of a game 6 tying home run, forcing game 7. the dodgers lost, of course, but gionfriddo turned dimaggio into a dirt kicker, and that was tough to do.  according to fleer, kirk gibson's home run wasn't the only time 'the impossible has happened' for the dodgers in the world series.

the dodgers and yankees were back at it in 1949, with 1970 fleer giving us this

allie reynolds and preacher roe back to back 1-0 complete games.  don newcombe pitched game one for the dodgers and had matched reynolds until tommy henrich led off the bottom of the 9th with a home run to win the game.

here's the 1971 card:

in which roe's effort gets all the glory.

the dodgers were back for more yankee punishment in 1952 and 1953.  here's the 1971 card for the 1953 series

the yankees hit 9 home runs as a team (berra, collins, mantle 2, martin 2, mcdougald 2, woodling) and the dodgers hit 8 (campanella, cox, furillo, gilliam 2, hodges, shuba, snider).  the yankees also won 4 games to the dodgers' 2.

finally, 1955 arrived.  the 1970 card

shows johnny podres, who won game 7 with a 2-0 shutout, and the 1971 card shows a smiling duke snider

who hit 4 home runs in the series.  duke had also hit 4 in the 1952 series.

the dodgers lost to the yankees in 1956, but the silver fox was smiling again on the 1971 card for the 1959 series against the white sox

while the 1970 version chose to highlight chuck essegian

and his two pinch-hit home runs.  he was 2 for 3 in the series with a walk which means his ops for the series was 3.417!  he certainly made the most of his only career post season appearance!

the dodgers' winning way continued in 1963 as seen on the 1970 card

with moose skowron taking out some aggression against his former team.

two years later, the dodgers were back, this time against the twins, who get the cartoon on the 1971 card

that's ok though, the dodgers won the series.

they weren't as lucky in 1966, though when the orioles shut them out in 3 of the games.  here's the 1971 card comemmorating that series:

i guess a caricature of jim palmer or moe drabowsky would have been too difficult.

1966 was the last dodger appearance in the world series prior to 1974, so that's the end of the line for the 1970 and 1971 sets. 

then, as i was getting the cards set up to scan, i noticed this on the back of one of the cards

dangit.  and it wasn't even the 1966 series.  it was the back of the 1965 card.  so, i picked up a 1980 fleer world series card by mistake.  that year, fleer reprinted the card fronts, put stickers on the back, and added the years that were missing up to 1979.  nice of the dealer to mix it in with the vintage.

luckily, i was able to find a real 1971 card for the 1965 world series.  see?  here's the back:

much better than seeing that bird again!