sunday morning target dodgers - the final edition

one of the first things one notices about the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set is that there is no order to the sheets. the card numbers are seemingly randomly assigned to them, and so there is no first or last sheet to the set.  fittingly, i've been scanning and posting the cards in a unorganized manner, so there is really no rhyme or reason as to why this is the last sheet to be posted. there are no big names that i've been saving, just 15 men who wore the uniform of the franchise at some point during their first 100 years in the national league.  let's have a look.

joe bradshaw

bradshaw played in two games for the 1929 brooklyn robins.  that was it as far as his big league career went. two games, four innings pitched, two runs allowed.  i do not know why he is wearing what seems to be a new york giants uniform in the picture on his card, nor do i even know whether that photo is indeed bradshaw or not.

larry burright

burright shared time with jim gilliam as the dodgers' second baseman in his rookie season of 1962.  he appeared in 115 games and hit .205.  after the season, burright was traded to the mets for travelin' bob miller.

george crable

crable was a pitcher for the 1910 brooklyn superbas who, like bradshaw up top, saw action in only two big league ball games.  according to baseball reference, he started (and completed) one, and then relieved in the other, but somehow pitched only 7.1 innings and earned no decisions.  i'll venture a guess that his complete game was a rain shortened tie.

pea ridge day

henry clyde was his given name, but day grew up in pea ridge, arkansas, and so was dubbed pea ridge. true to his arkansas roots, day would apparently give a hog call following a strikeout of an opposing batter.  he brought his arm to the brooklyn robins in 1931 following a couple of seasons with the cardinals and one with the reds in the 1920's.  he was 2-2 for the robins in 22 appearances, but his career was ended due to arm problems and day turned to the bottle.  in 1934, day took his life by slashing his own throat.

bert delmus

baseball reference spells his last name 'delmas', but either way, this guy was a member of the 1933 brooklyn dodgers and he hit .250 in 12 games.  he played nothing but second base, so i don't know why his position is listed on the card as the generic 'inf' for infielder.  he didn't field particularly well - 3 errors in 34 chances - and all 7 of his hits were singles.

alex ferguson

ferguson finished off his 10-year major league career by pitching in 3 games for the 1929 brooklyn robins.  he was 0-1 with a 22.50 era in two innings pitched over those three games, and so it was likely easy to see the end of the line.  ferguson had previously pitched for the yankees (in two separate stints), red sox, senators, and phillies. he started two games for the senators in the 1925 world series, and in doing so, he became the pitcher with the highest regular season era (6.18) to start a postseason game.  this record has since been surpassed by oliver perez in 2006 (6.55).  this is a bit misleading, as ferguson began the 1925 season with poor performances for the red sox and the yankees before joining washington and amassing a nice 3.25 era in his seven appearances for the senators down the stretch.

tom fitzsimmons

in four games for the 1919 brooklyn robins, fitzsimmons was 0 for 4 with a walk and a run scored.  that is the sum total of his major league career.

john grim

grim was a member of the brooklyn grooms/bridegrooms/superbas from 1895 through 1899.  he caught a total of 310 games over that span, while also playing some first base and outfield.

bob hall

hall played for the phillies in 1904 and then began the 1905 season with the new york giants. after playing in one game for them, the giants loaned him to the brooklyn superbas for the remainder of the season. while the giants went on to win the world series, hall appeared in 56 games for the 8th place superbas, hitting .236 along the way.

joe klugman

klugman hit .165 for the 1924 robins, appearing in 31 games and playing mostly second base.  the following year, he hit .329 in 38 games for the indians. go figure.

tom lovett

lovett was an original brooklyn national leaguer, playing for the club in 1889 during their final season in the american association, and staying on in 1890 as they joined the senior circuit.  he won 30 games in 1890, and had a nice 2.78 era to boot.  the following season, lovett was 23-19 with a 3.69 era.  after sitting out the 1892 season, lovett returned to brooklyn for the 1893 campaign, but was only 3-5 in 14 games with an era over six.

gene mccann

mccann was a pitcher on the 1901 and 1902 superbas.  he went 3-5 in 9 appearances over those two seasons, which were the only two of his big league career.  mccann later managed in the minor leagues for several years and then became a scout for the yankees.

lefty o'doul

o'doul began his big league career in 1919 as a pitcher with the yankees.  arm troubles forced him to reinvent himself as a position player, and he began the second phase of his major league career in 1928 with the giants, but the robins acquired o'doul from the phillies following the 1930 season.  it was in 1929 that o'doul hit .398 for philadelphia to lead the league, and he had hit a robust .383 for them in 1930 (fourth best in the league) so brooklyn certainly had high hopes despite the fact that o'doul was 34 years old heading into the season.  o'doul did not disappoint - he hit .336 in 1931 for the robins and then led the league with a .368 batting average in 1932 for the dodgers.  he finished 3rd in the mvp voting that year, but was traded to the giants during the following season.  o'doul retired with a .349 batting average (4th all-time) but is not in the hall of fame due to having only seven seasons as a position player.

ray schmandt

schmandt played for the robins from 1918 through 1922.  he was 0 for 1 in the 1920 world series, but hit .270 overall for the robins during his five seasons with the club.

henry schmidt

schmidt is the only player in major league history to win at least 20 games in his only big league season.  coming from oakland of the california league where he won 35 games in 1902, schmidt joined the superbas for the 1903 campaign and went 22-13 in 40 appearances. of those 40 games, schmidt started 36 (completing 29 - 5 by shutout), and finished the other four as a reliever.  he also appeared in another game as an outfielder, logging an assist on his only fielding chance from that position.  following the season, schmidt decided that he preferred to pitch on the west coast, and he rejoined his oakland ballclub (who had moved to the pacific coast league) and promptly won 26 games in 1904.

it's fitting that this sheet of obscure brooklyn/los angeles ballplayers is the last in the set to be featured here.  these sorts of sheets were my favorite for the simple reason that i learned something new about my favorite franchise and its players.  i hope you did, too.

a dodger black armband for a teammate's wife and some cards that should have been

ken mcmullen, a dodger double dipper and third baseman, lost his 30-year old wife bobbie to breast cancer in april of 1974, just five months after she had given birth to their third child.  he laid his wife to rest on april 8 while most of his teammates (i believe don sutton attended the funeral) were in atlanta to take on the braves.  that night, the dodgers wore a black armband on their left sleeves in honor of mcmullen's wife.  that also happened to be the night that hank aaron hit career home run number 715 to break babe ruth's career home run record.  here's the 1994 topps card that celebrates the 20th anniversary of hammerin' hank's historic home run.

this card represents the mcmullen memorial in my collection because the black armband is visible on al downing's left arm in the background photo.  joe ferguson, the catcher, is wearing the armband, too, but it is obscured by the home plate umpire, satch davidson.

it's too bad that topps didn't find a way to incorporate photos from the game into the 1975 set.  while i appreciate the 1994 card, i decided to try my hand at making some cards that should have been.

here's the card that topps did include in the set - at number 1, in fact.

now here's my take on it

this card gives us the black armbands on both ferguson and dodger shortstop bill russell.  here's another version using a color photo

now we see the armband on downing again, along with one of the guys who chased aaron around the bases.

speaking of downing, even though he allowed the home run (which tied the game), there's no shame in being linked to that kind of history. so, why not use a photo from that night on his card in the set?

and look - there's steve garvey lurking in the background!

i like this card better than his actual card from the set

even though it does feature dodger stadium in the background.

downing walked the next two batters after allowing the home run to aaron, and was removed from the game by manager walt alston.  here's a card showing downing on his way back to the dugout with alston having just handed the ball over to mike marshall

here's the full mound scene, with marshall and garvey, and davidson, i believe.

mcmullen returned to the dodgers and resumed his pinch-hitter role later that week, which must have been difficult even though it seems to be what she would have wanted based on this article from the associated press.  as for the dodgers, they have not worn black armbands since this particular memorial.  fortunately, lots of evidence of the memorial worn for ken mcmullen's wife exists, just not much on cardboard.

[edit - topps included this fantastic card

in 2023 topps heritage, and with the armband being way more visible on davey lopes' sleeve than what the 1994 topps card affords, i've put the new card in my memorials binder]

i ran into the fuzz at the card shop

a new (yes, new!) card shop opened up in the twin cities about a year ago.  one of the owners is also one of the 'vintage bargain bin guys' from the local shows.  he's the one that sold me my 1955 topps sandy koufax card, in fact.

it took me a while to get over there, but i finally did a few weeks ago.  the store is packed with not just cards, but various pieces of memorabilia and pretty much every kind of sports collectible you could think of.  amid the bobbleheads and pennants, there was a shelf that had a bunch of smaller complete sets on it. boxed sets, like the fleer sets of the 80's and 90's, along with some mail-in sets and some stadium giveaway sets.  it was there that i found a 1993 dodgers police set for $3.

started in 1980, the police sets were, like the later mother's and keebler sets, a good way to get some of the deeper roster players on a card.  and, there were coaches!  i know i have belabored that point recently, but i'm not sorry about it.  here's the coaches card from the 1993 dodger police set

that's manny mota, joey amalfitano, ron roenicke, ben hines, tommy lasorda, ron perranoski, joe ferguson, and mark cresse.

lasorda also got a card of his own

with the one of the outfield pavilions in the background.

ramon martinez was still king of the hill at dodger stadium in 1993

and his little brother pedro was there with him

boyhood friends eric davis

and darryl strawberry

roamed the outfield at chavez ravine, with disappointing results.

the 1993 set was the one that featured lance parrish, despite the fact that he never did suit up in a big league game for the dodgers.  i've shown the front of parrish's card before - i bought it as a single to document his dodgerdom - so here's the back

one reason that parrish never got the call from the dodger brass was the play of a rookie catcher named mike piazza

piazza went on to win the rookie of the year award and hold the dodgers' catching job for about 5 years before he was traded to the marlins.

i'm not sure which card in the set is more desirable - the pedro or the piazza - but i am sure that jody reed's card

is probably not in the running.

more coaches man, coaches

i've extolled the virtues of coaches cards in mother's cookies and the dodger police sets before, and now with the bounty of mother's dodger sets that mr. haverkamp procured for me, i can show more of these great cards.  they aren't anything special in way of design, but they document the guys who don't show up on cardboard very much at all.  let's have a look at tommy lasorda's coaching staff, shall we?  be sure to enjoy the dodger stadium backdrop while we do so.

1988

that's joe ferguson, ron perranoski, bill russell, mark cresse, joe amalfitano, manny mota, and ben hines.

1988 was ferguson's first year on the coaching staff, although he had been serving as their 'eye in the sky' for the previous few seasons.  starting in '88, he was tommy's bench coach.

perranoski took over the pitching coach duties under lasorda in 1981, replacing the retiring red adams who had been the pitching coach for the dodgers since 1969.

russell joined the staff in 1987 following his retirement as a player.  he replaced the retiring monty basgall as the team's infield coach which seemed appropriate as basgall was instrumental in russell's conversion from the outfield to shortstop.

cresse had been the bullpen coach under walt alston for a couple of seasons before lasorda took over the managerial reins, and continued in that role on tommy's staff.

amalfitano became lasorda's third base coach in 1983, taking over (i believe) for danny ozark.

mota began coaching first base for the dodgers in 1980, and aside from a couple of late season appearances as a player, remained on the coaching staff in a variety of roles for some 35 years.

hines had been on lasorda's staff in 1985 and 1986, but took a break in '87.  he was back in '88 as the dodgers' batting coach, taking the role back from mota who had filled in during the previous season.

1990

yes, i skipped a year, although there was no change in the staff.  however, ferguson had taken over the first base coaching duties from mota who became a sort of roving instructor, and russell moved into the bench coach spot.

1991

still no change in personnel, and the roles remained the same as well.

1992

same staff except for the guy on the far right.  that's current brewers manager ron roenicke.  bill russell was sent down to manage triple-a albuquerque, and so roenicke joined the staff in his place, taking over as lasorda's bench coach.

1993

tommy employed the same staff as the previous season.

1994

some new (and old) blood was added to the staff for 1994.  you will notice that reggie smith, the right fielder for the team of my youth, in the back row, and bill russell, the shortstop for the team of my youth is back in the front row.  gone are ron roenicke and ben hines. roenicke began his managerial career in the lower levels of the dodger organization, and russell returned from the high minors to take over roenicke's previous role as tommy's bench coach.  smith took over for hines as the batting coach and also replaced ferguson as the first base coach.  ferguson went back to his role as the 'eye in the sky' positioning defenders from the press box.

1995

here we are in 1995, and ron perranoski is no longer on the dodger staff.  he moved up north to join the giants' organization for some strange reason.  dave wallace took over for perranoski as lasorda's pitching coach and appears in the top row on the coaches card. this was the staff for lasorda's final full season as the dodger manager.

sunday morning target dodgers - featuring not the spanish armada, but rather mexico's almada

it's sunday. that means more cards from a sheet from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  15 cards to be exact.  no, actually 14 because one of these guys gets a double dipper post later today.

mel almada

almada, an outfielder from sonora, mexico (although he went to high school in la), joined the dodgers during the 1939 season and played in 39 games for them during that campaign.  one of those games was the 23-inning tie between the dodgers and the braves, in which almada was 0 for 9 while playing the entire game in centerfield.

stan andrews

andrews was a catcher for the braves who also appeared in the 1939 23-inning contest (he struck out as a pinch-hitter in the 7th inning).  he later joined the dodgers for four games in the 1944 season and returned for 21 more in 1945 before heading to the phillies to finish out that season and his career.

marv breeding

speaking of finishing careers, breeding's came to a close after he joined the dodgers during their 1963 championship season.  he was acquired from the senators in july of '63 for ed roebuck and hit .167 in 20 games as a dodger over the remainder of the season.  although he continued to play in the minors through 1968, breeding never made it back to the majors.

tom brennan

brennan was taken by the indians with the 4th overall pick in the first round of the 1974 draft. he debuted for the tribe in 1981 and pitched for them until joining the white sox in 1984.  for the 1985 season, he joined the dodgers and was 1-3 in 12 games.  he did get his only big league hit while wearing dodger blue that year, although he did not pitch in the postseason.

chuck dressen

dressen managed the reds for a few seasons in the 1930's and then didn't get another chance at managing until he took over the dodgers in 1951.  he led the team to the playoff with the giants, but finished second in the national league thanks to the shot heard 'round the world.  in 1952 and 1953, dressen led the team to the pennant, although the dodgers were not able to beat the yankees in the world series either year.  after that, dressen wanted a long-term contract, while walter o'malley only believed in one-year deals.  so, walter alston took over and dressen moved on.  he did serve as a coach on alston's squad later in the decade, but more importantly, managed the senators, braves, and tigers before passing away during the 1966 season.

joe ferguson

one of my favorite double dippers, ferguson broke in with the dodgers in 1970, and played catcher and outfield for them until he was traded to the cardinals for reggie smith during the 1976 season.  ferguson returned to the dodgers in 1978 when rafael landestoy was dealt to the astros.  perhaps ferguson's greatest play was when he, as a right fielder, cut in front of jimmy wynn in game 1 of the 1974 world series to catch reggie jackson's fly ball and then nailed sal bando at the plate to prevent the a's from taking a two-run lead.  of course, ferguson also struck out to end that game.

weldon henley

henley had been with the philadelphia a's for three seasons before the superbas took him in the 1906 rule v draft.  in 1907, henley appeared in 7 games for brooklyn, all as a starter, and went 1-5 with a 3.05 era and 5 complete games.

duster mails

mails pitched for the robins in 1915 and 1916, and went 0-1 each season.  he did not appear in the 1916 world series for the robins, but did pitch against them in the 1920 fall classic as a member of the indians.

al maul

maul pitched for the 1899 superbas as part of a 15-year major league career.  the 1895 era champion was 2-0 for brooklyn in just 4 games pitched.

bob mcgraw

mcgraw pitched for the robins in the 1925, 1926, and 1927 seasons, although he only pitched in one game for brooklyn in 1927 before being traded to the cardinals.  he was 9-16 in 34 games for the robins during his time in brooklyn.

gene michael

michael was one of the players (bob bailey being the other) that the dodgers received from the pirates in exchange for maury wills following the 1966 season.  he played for the dodgers for just one season, however, before his contract was purchased by the yankees.  in that season, michael hit just .202 in 98 games at shortstop.  michael spent 7 seasons with the yankees and one with the tigers before retiring as a player, and later became a manager and general manager for the yankees.

german rivera

interesting that rivera is listed as an infielder on his card when he played nothing but third base for the dodgers in 1983 and 1984, his two seasons with the club.  in that time, rivera hit .266 in 107 games.  he was dealt to the astros for enos cabell in 1985.

myron white

i told myron white's dodger story before, since he was a member of the 1978 club who had a 7 game big league career.  there's not much more to say than that.

dick williams

williams, the hall of fame manager, played for the dodgers from 1951 to 1956, except for their championship season of 1955 which he spent in the minors.  he was selected off of waivers during the 1956 season by the orioles and went on to play for the indians, red sox, and a's, along with some return trips to baltimore before retiring as a player and moving on to managing.  as a manager, williams won four pennants and two world series.