sunday morning target dodgers - the barber, steady eddie, and a hitless wonder

you know the drill.

we begin with a hall of famer - dave bancroft

bancroft was the shortstop for the 1928 and 1929 robins.  he had previously spent five-plus years with the phillies, three-plus with the giants, and four with the braves before signing with brooklyn in october of 1927.  considered one of the finest fielding shortstops of all-time, bancroft was near the top of the defensive categories for shortstops in 1928 when he played in 149 games at short - the most in the league.  he appeared in 102 games for the 1929 robins before returning to the giants to close out his career in 1930.

bill bergen

bergen averaged about 90 games per season for the 8 campaigns in which he was a catcher on the brooklyn roster, yet he never hit above .190 in any season.  in fact, he hit above that mark only once in his career, and it was in 1903 in his last of three seasons with the reds. following that career year, bergen joined the superbas and was able to stay in the league thanks to his defensive abilities.  bergen holds the record for longest hitless streak by a position player at 0 for 44 (tied recently by craig counsell, himself a former dodger), and has the lowest career batting average (.170) of any player with more than 2000 plate appearances.

tony brewer

brewer began his career on an 0 for 10 skid in august of 1984 before getting an rbi double in a game against the phillies.  he then went 0 for 20 before collecting his next hit - a pinch-hit single against the astros on september 24.  following an 0 for 3 game after that, he went 2 for 3 with a home run in the last game of the season, which also turned out to be the last game of brewer's big league career.

ron fairly

fairly spent the first 11-plus seasons of his 21-year big league career with the dodgers; playing not too far from where he had played his college ball under former dodger rod dedeaux at usc. debuting in 1958, he played in 1,306 games as a dodger, spending time at every outfield position and first base.  he hit an even .300 in the four world series in which he appeared, although his 1965 series performance was the best of his career - he hit 2 home runs, 6 rbi, and a .364 average against the twins as the dodger right fielder in that fall classic.  fairly was traded to the expos during the 1969 season in the deal that brought maury wills and manny mota to the dodgers (back to the dodgers, in wills' case), and he went on to play for the cardinals, a's, blue jays, and angels as well.

tim harkness

harkness was 4 for 8 with 3 walks and two doubles in his first 11 plate appearances in the major leagues.  those appearances came as a member of the 1961 dodgers during a september call-up.  back with the dodgers in 1962, harkness hit .258 with a couple of doubles and home runs over 92 games. after the season ended, the dodgers traded him to the mets for bob miller.

cleo james

james began his big league career in 1968 with the dodgers, appearing in 10 games and going 2 for 10, primarily as a pinch-hitter. the cubs picked james in the 1969 rule v draft, and he went on to play for them into the 1970's.

ray lucas

lucas had pitched in 10 games over three seasons with the new york giants prior to pitching for the dodgers in 1933 and 1934.  he appeared in two games in '33, and then 10 in '34. he earned the only decisions of his career in 1934 - a win and a loss - while making his only two starts as well.

sal maglie

maglie was known as 'the barber' thanks to his tendency to pitch high and tight (and thus deliver a close shave) to batters who crowded home plate. he began his career with the new york giants, and was part of their 1954 world championship team prior to joining the dodgers during the 1956 season. he went 13-5 for the dodgers, even pitching a no-hitter against the phillies, as the team won the national league pennant by one game over the milwaukee braves. in the world series, maglie was on the losing end of don larsen's perfect game.  maglie remained with the dodgers and pitched well for them in 1957, but he was claimed on waivers by the yankees in september, and thus ended his dodger tenure.

ralph miller

miller pitched for the bridegrooms in 1898. he was 4-14 in 23 games. he completed 16 of his 21 starts, and walked (86) twice as many men as he struck out (43). he moved to the baltimore orioles in 1899, and that was the end of his big league career.  miller was the first major leaguer to live to be 100 years old, and so it was thought that he was the last surviving ballplayer from the 1800's when he died in 1973. however, charlie emig, himself a centenarian, lived into 1975.

eddie murray

the hall of fame first baseman finished his career with a short stint as a dodger in 1997.  before that, however, he had spent three years in los angeles with much success.  joining his hometown team in 1989 as a free agent, murray hit 20 home runs with 88 rbi. his batting average was just .247, but the following year, he hit .330 to lead the major leagues, although willie mcgee won the national league title thanks to his .335 average at the time he was traded from the cardinals to the a's.  murray left the dodgers after the 1991 season just two home runs shy of 400. he achieved that milestone in 1992 with the mets.

ed palmquist

back-to-back ed(die)s! palmquist gave up home run number 16 to roger maris as a twin in 1961, but before that, he pitched for the dodgers. making his debut in 1960, palmquist had an era of 2.54 in 22 games of relief for the dodgers. the following year, he appeared in five games as a dodger before he was traded to minnesota in may.

duke sims

duke sims had a hairy chest.  he also joined the dodgers by way of a trade with the indians prior to the 1971 season. after hitting .274 in 90 games for the dodgers that year, sims began the 1972 season by hitting .192 in 51 games and was picked up on waivers by the tigers in august.

tuck stainback

george tucker stainback came to the dodgers in 1938 via a midseason trade with the phillies. he had previously played for the cubs, and actually began the 1938 season with the cardinals.  over the next season and a half, stainback hit .289 in 103 games for brooklyn. they sent him down to the minors to start the 1940 season, however, and his contract was eventually purchased by detroit later that year.

elmer stricklett

sometimes referred to as the inventor of the spitball (there seems to be some conflicting information on that topic, so i don't know whether he was or not), stricklett appeared in one game for the 1904 chicago white sox before joining the brooklyn superbas for the 1905 season.  he was 9-18 that year, and 14-18 the next for brooklyn.  in 1907, his final big league season, stricklett went 12-14 despite a 2.27 era for the superbas. stricklett was eventually blacklisted from the major leagues after spurning an offer from the superbas to return from the 'outlaw' california league for the 1909 season, instead returning to the team for which he played during the 1907 and 1908 seasons. he attempted to return to brooklyn in 1912 after being reinstated, but did not make it back to the majors, thus finishing his career with a 35-51 record and a 2.84 era.

ed wheeler

wheeler had 12 hits (all singles) in 96 at bats for the 1902 brooklyn superbas. he also made 19 errors in 128 chances while playing third, short, and second base.  that was his only year in the major leagues.

more to come next week. i hope.

diamond dodgers

here's the second suit from the 2005 baseball hero deck set i picked up recently.  the diamonds represent (primarily) the early los angeles dodger teams that reached the world series four times in their first nine years on the west coast. there are, however, a couple of obvious exceptions. have a look

a battery of sandy koufax and john roseboro, plus an infield of wes parker, jim gilliam (in a brooklyn dodger cap), bill buckner (?), and maury wills.  the outfield of tommy and willie davis, along with ron fairly won a championships in 1963 and 1965, although not in that complete configuration. fairly was the dodgers' first baseman in 1963, and he moved to the outfield in '65 which was the year that tommy davis was injured early on and didn't make it back until the following season.  the bullpen consists of ron perranoski, johnny podres, and don drysdale, with 1960 rookie of the year frank howard on the bench.

so, the big mystery here is bill buckner's inclusion.  it's great to see him in the set, but putting him with this group (and at the third base slot) is a bit puzzling.  however, the dodgers didn't really have a consistent third baseman in this era other than jim gilliam who was already featured at his other primary position. maybe jim lefebvre would have been an option.

next up, the 1970's!

the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman, part one

it is well known that jackie robinson began his major league career as the dodgers' first baseman in 1947.  unfortunately, i do not own a 1947 bond bread card of jackie's, nor do i own a 1948 leaf card to show in this space.  with that being the case, i'll start the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman with the guy who replaced jackie at first in 1948, gil hodges. this is not a departure from the norm, using a fantastic 1952 bowman card to kick off an evolution post (this is a baseball card blog and i don't have many pre-1950's cards in my collection), but it sure would have been nice to see that leaf card of jackie up top.  maybe someday.

gil hodges (1948-1959)

yes, hodges' 1952 bowman card is fantastic.  i enjoy having it in my collection.  the dodgers enjoyed having hodges' bat in their lineup following his conversion from catcher to first baseman in 1948.  he hit a total of 361 home runs for the dodgers, including 344 during the 12-year span in which he was the team's primary first baseman.  the club also won two world championships (and 6 pennants) with him at first.

norm larker (1960-1961)

norm!  larker (shown on his 1961 topps card) took over for hodges in 1960 and promptly went out and finished second in the national league batting race, .002 behind dick groat and .004 ahead of willie mays.  he was an all-star that year, but came back to earth in 1961, hitting .270 in just 95 games.  he was drafted by the colt .45's in the expansion draft prior to the 1962 season, and he became the very first first baseman in houston's history.  if there were an astros blogger out there doing this same sort of post, larker would be at the very start.

ron fairly (1962-1964)

with larker gone, fairly moved to first from the outfield.  yes, i am showing his 1965 topps card even though he was back in the outfield when the 1965 season rolled around.  before that, however, he enjoyed three solid seasons as the dodger first baseman, averaging 12 homers and 74 rbi.  he was playing more outfield by the end of the '63 season, making way for bill skowron.  as a result, he made only late-inning appearances during the 1963 world series.

wes parker (1965-1972)

skowron left the dodgers after one season, and fairly moved back to the outfield with wes parker taking over at first.  he became part of the team's all switch hitting infield (with jim lefebvre, jim gilliam, and maury wills) and helped the dodgers win the world series against the twins.  parker also won gold gloves in 6 of his 8 seasons spent playing primarily at first (including 1971 - the year of the topps card shown above).  in 1970, he led the national league with 47 doubles, but he was always better known for his skill with the leather, compiling a career .996 fielding percentage as a first baseman.  he retired following the 1972 season at the age of 32.  parker is the only non-hall of famer on rawlings' all-time gold glove team.

bill buckner (1973)

buckner's 1974 topps card lists him as a first baseman because he played in 93 games (83 starts) at the position in 1973.  he hit .275 and played in 140 games overall that year, and was moved back to the outfield in 1974, where he was seen climbing the wall in atlanta trying to get to hank aaron's 715th career home run.

steve garvey (1974-1982)

there aren't a lot of steve garvey cards from his playing days that i haven't shown on the blog yet, but that 1980 kellogg's card is one of them.  the garv took over the first baseman's job and wound up winning the all-star game and national league mvp awards in 1974.  he held on to the job until he left the club as a free agent following the 1982 season, amassing 8 consecutive all-star starts, 4 gold gloves, 4 pennants, and a world series championship during that 9-year span.

greg brock (1983-1986)

brock, shown on his 1986 o-pee-chee card, was a triple-a phenom who had the misfortune of being asked to replace garvey in the dodgers' lineup and maybe even continue the dodgers' string of rookies of the year (they had owned the award since rick sutcliffe won it in 1979, with steve howe winning in 1980, fernando valenzuela in 1981, and steve sax in 1982).  unfortunately, brock hit just .224 with 20 homers in 146 games in his rookie year, finishing 7th in the 1983 nl rookie of the year balloting.  the dodgers still won the west, however, and brock was 0 for 9 in his first taste of postseason play.  the following season, he hit .225 while playing in only 88 games, but still spent more time at first than anybody else.  in 1985, he helped the dodgers return to the postseason with what may have been his best season with the dodgers - he hit .251 with 21 homers and 66 rbi in 129 games.  he got his only postseason hit of his career that year, a home run in game 2 of the nlcs.  he was hitless in his other 11 at bats of the series.  following another lackluster season, brock was traded to the brewers for a couple of tims - crews and leary.

franklin stubbs (1987-1988)

stubbs had been the dodgers' left fielder in 1986, but moved to first to replace brock in 1987.  he had a 'brock-ish' season, however, hitting .233 with 15 homers and 52 rbi in 129 games, 111 of which included some time at first.  in 1988, stubbs appeared in 84 games at first for the dodgers, 54 of which were starts, which was more than mike marshall (54 games, 51 starts) so he gets the nod here for the year that was so improbable.  that's his 1988 score card, by the way.  stubbs started all five games of the '88 world series, hitting .294 with a couple of rbi. interestingly enough, stubbs went to the astros in a trade prior to the 1990 season, but signed with the brewers as a free agent for the 1991 campaign wherein he replaced greg brock as the first baseman for the brew crew.

eddie murray (1989-1991)

the dodgers were likely tired of a lack of production from the first base position since garvey's departure, so they traded for hometown guy eddie murray following their world series triumph over the a's.  steady eddie showed up in 1989 (i was excited to see him in dodger blue on his 1989 upper deck card shown above) and played in 160 games (159 at first) but hit only .247.  he did drive in 88 runs, however, and in 1990 he led all of major league baseball with a .330 average.  too bad for murray that willie mcgee was hitting .335 when he was dealt from the cardinals to the a's (mcgee hit only .274 with oakland, dropping his composite average to .324 for the season).  murray left the dodgers after the 1991 season as a free agent, opening the door for a rookie named eric karros to win the job even though the team had traded for todd benzinger just in case.

an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of giants collectors

i believe economist adam smith would agree that a baseball card is only worth what someone is willing to give up to obtain it.  well, i was willing to send some giant cards to another smith - arpsmith - of arpsmith's sportscard obsession in order to obtain some random dodger cards.  smith also noted that individuals who own surplus stock would generally look to gain from the excess, and arpsmith clearly subscribes to that theory because he sent me some of his collection's excess - mainly these (and a few more) dodger cards.

1967 topps ron fairly

it's always nice to see some vintage in these blind trades.  even better when the dodger is wearing number 6 which means it's either a carl furillo, fairly, or steve garvey card.  those three were the only dodgers to wear the number from 1946 through 1982.

1988 topps traded alfredo griffin

when i saw this card i thought of baseball card vandals and wondered if they had changed this into a nate griffin card yet.

1993 score select henry rodriguez

outfielders that the dodgers kept instead of henry rodriguez (who hit 140 home runs over the five and a half seasons following his 1995 trade from the dodgers to the expos) included can't miss prospects billy ashley, roger cedeno, and karim garcia who between them had 33 home runs for the dodgers (although power admittedly was not cedeno's thing).

2001 pacific shawn green

and 2001 pacific jim leyritz

thank goodness for pacific.  i have plenty of shawn green dodger cards, but only a couple of leyritz in dodger blue - this one and a 2001 upper deck victory card.  i don't know if any others even exist.

2001 pacific private stock adrian beltre

beltre will be inducted into the hall of fame, i have no doubt.  he is 7 home runs shy of 400 and about 450 hits shy of 3000 (just 41 behind steve garvey) and is signed through next season with a vesting option for 2016.  it is likely that he would get his 3000th hit in 2017 at the age of 38 if things stay relatively the same.  if he does it as a ranger, that would mean that he would have played as many seasons in texas as he did in los angeles, and so i would guess that he would be inducted wearing a rangers' hat.  we will have to wait and see what happens.

2013 topps joe blanton gold parallel

smith was a critic of mercantilism which endorsed the keeping of gold reserves as part of a country's economic stability.  i guess i disagree in that i will hoard all gold parallels of dodger cards.  even those of joe blanton, who was 2-4 with a 4.99 era in his 10 games as a dodger.

2014 donruss matt kemp power plus insert

here's a card dealing with surplus - a surplus of talent, a player not one-dimensional, making dodger fans happy, while providing financial gain for the individual to the tune of a $160-million contract through 2019.  i actually already owned this card, so perhaps i will attempt to turn my surplus into gain by trading with a fellow dodger collector…

thanks for the trade adam!  i'll have some excess giant cards headed your way soon!

11 more wins

october starts today for the dodgers.  i, like all other dodger fans, am hoping that the team has 11 more wins in them this year.  i had a couple of cards from octobers past scanned and figured today was a good day to show them.  here's a 1964 topps world series card featuring ron fairly and the yankee bullpen.

back in 1963, the dodgers only had to win four games in the postseason to claim the title.

here's a 1989 woolworth card of mike davis

davis earned some redemption of sorts with his home run in game 5 of the 1988 world series.  after spraining his ankle in spring training, he had a pretty rough season with the dodgers, but his game 5 home run gave the dodgers some cushion and made me feel better about davis.  the dodgers won 8 games in the 1988 postseason - the most they have ever won in october.

this is a history of the game insert from 2010 topps that (if it is in any way accurate visually) shows the dodgers and yankees playing in the 1947 world series.

unfortunately, the dodgers only won 3 games that postseason.  this year, i'm looking for 11.

a fairly nice return

before last week, i had sent cards to ron fairly on two different occasions.  both times, there was no response.  no problem - they were shots in the dark.  one set of cards (a 1978 topps and a 1967 topps) were sent to his home address.  the other set (another 1978 topps and a 1968 topps) was sent to him c/o the mariners where he used to broadcast games. 

fast forward to last week when i noticed that he had signed and returned a few ttm requests according to  sportscardforum.  i quickly pulled a couple of fairly dupes - a 1962 topps and a 1978 o-pee-chee - and mailed them off.  i was pleased to find them in my mailbox just a few days later.

fairly was the last dodger to wear number 6 before steve garvey.  fairly was traded to the expos in june of 1969, and the garv made his debut in september of that year.  i actually knew him better as a broadcaster for the angels.

as much as i love the o-pee-chee variation (i recall pulling that very card from a pack in southern saskatchewan as a youngster), i only wish i had had a dupe of his 1978 topps card to add to  my partially signed set.  at any rate, it's great to finally have some signed fairly cards.

thanks ron!

i've got friends with vintage bargain bins

it's been a while since i've been to a card show.  the last time might actually have been when i met up with carl crawford cards at what was a pretty weak show.  now that i think about it, it was the show that i grabbed the 1955 topps sandy koufax card.  either way, just because i haven't been to a show for while doesn't mean i don't have cards to show from previous visits to one of the monthly gatherings of like minded dealers and collectors.

i've posted a few times about the two vendors with the vintage bargain bins.  they both are at the point where they recognize me and will sometimes hand me a vintage dodger card from behind the counter when i approach.  case in point, my 1956 topps gil hodges card

one of the dealers knows that condition is not always my biggest concern, and he greeted me at a show last year by telling me he had something that he was sure i would be interested in

why yes, i was very interested in a cheap version of a 1956 topps dodger team card.  sharp corners aren't going to make me appreciate the card any more than i do already.  world champs!

there are some less heralded cards that i have picked up over the last couple of years that i also appreciate, as they helped me finish off my 1960's dodger team sets.  here's a 1961 topps john roseboro

and a 1961 topps roger craig

craig's card is a high number, which meant it wasn't in the bargain bin.  no, it was in the 'half priced' bin which had cards priced well below book further reduced by half.

joe moeller's 1964 topps card is also a high number

but it was in the bargain bin.

that's also where i found ron fairly's 1964 topps card

i thought about passing on it since it is miscut, but it was only a buck if i recall correctly.

here's one more card i picked up on the cheap - a 1962 topps don drysdale all-star card

with that card, i have all of the drysdale's issued by topps - from 1957 through 1969, plus his 1963 fleer.  but that's a card for another post.

a yankee for my collection

a while back, i picked up a yankee for one of my few player collections.  it was a 1992 wiz yankees jimmie hall card

this is the only card that i know of to feature hall as a yankee, at least with a photo of him wearing the pinstripes.  that is largely because he played for the bronx bombers for only part of the 1969 season, and he neither started nor finished the season with the team.  hall began the year in cleveland, but was traded to new york after appearing in four games for the indians.  he appeared in 80 games for the yankees, hitting .236 with 3 homers and was traded again, this time to the cubs.  he finished the season in chicago by appearing in 11 games for the northsiders.  topps got him in a cubs uniform for their 1970 set, so there wasn't even any airbrushing required.

i also picked up a 1966 topps ruboff of hall's

which featured him as a more recognizable minnesota twin.  remember, hall set the rookie home run record for the american league in 1963, and wasn't surpassed until mark mcgwire came along.

there were two other topps ruboffs that came into my collection along with hall; specifically, ron fairly

and john roseboro

i figured i needed to show a couple of dodgers to balance out that yankee card up at the top.