sunday morning target dodgers - dude looks like a brooklyn groom

here we go with another sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger stadium giveaway set.  i remember seeing this set offered in the la times classifieds in 1990 (i usually looked at the sunday classifieds for collectibles, although i don't recall ever buying anything).  i wound up getting my set on ebay (in a couple different transactions) about 8 years later.  on to the cards.

dude esterbrook

dude! sweet! dude! sweet! i could go on for awhile.  esterbrook (given name thomas john) hit .375 in 3 games for the 1891 brooklyn grooms.  that was his last hurrah in the majors, as he finished his career that began in 1880 with the buffalo bisons.  still, esterbrook played in the minors until 1894 and, according to his obituary, fancied himself able to return to the majors at the time of his death in 1901.  the cause of his death was injuries sustained following a jump from a moving train while trying to escape a trip to a mental hospital.

mickey doolan

doolan (his name is spelled 'doolin' on baseball-reference) spent the first 9 years of his career (beginning in 1905) as the phillies' primary shortstop.  in 1914, he jumped to the federal league, but returned to the national league in 1916 with the cubs and later, the giants.  he did not appear in the majors in 1917, but signed with brooklyn for 1918.  in what would be the final season of his career, doolan hit .179 in 92 games as the robins' second baseman.

lou fette

fette pitched in 109 games during his big league career, 107 of which came with the boston bees/braves in two separate stints.  in 1940, after posting an 0-5 record for the bees, the dodgers claimed him on waivers and sent fette to the mound twice.  fette pitched a total of 3 innings in a dodger uniform, allowing 3 hits and issuing 2 walks, but no runs crossed the plate against him.  fette later returned to boston in 1945, where he pitched for his former franchise (having reverted to their previous name, the braves) and finished his big league career.

darrin fletcher

fletcher was a backup catcher who had a couple of cups of coffee with the dodgers in 1989 and 1990.  he was traded to the phillies for dennis cook during the 1990 season, but found success after the phils traded him to montreal following the 1991 campaign.  fletcher was a member of the 1994 expos, even representing them in the all-star game, and was their regular catcher from 1993 through 1996.  it's worth noting that fletcher was the catcher for tommy greene's no-hitter against the expos in 1991.

dave goltz

i first learned about goltz from his appearance on a 1978 topps league leader card.  there he was, in a minnesota twins hat along with dennis leonard, jim palmer, and steve carlton thanks to the fact that he, leonard, and palmer all had 20 wins in 1977.  a couple years later, goltz signed with the dodgers as a free agent.  the move didn't work out so well for the minnesota native although he was part of the 1981 world champions (he relieved bob welch in game 4 of the series - a game the dodgers came back to win by scoring two late runs off of old friend tommy john.  goltz pitched for the angels in 1982 after leaving the dodgers, but he never regained the touch he had during his time in minnesota.

harvey hendrick

hendrick played for the robins from 1927 into the 1931 season.  he hit .354 in 1929, which was only good enough for 9th in the national league (lefty o'doul hit .398) and second on the robins (babe herman hit .381).  hendrick, who was a member of the world champion yankees in his rookie season of 1923, hit .318 for brooklyn during his tenure which ended after one appearance in 1931 after which he was traded to the reds.

ricky horton

horton had the good fortune to join the dodgers in august of 1988.  last week i noted that shawn hillegas was the guy with the bad luck who was traded away by the dodgers to the white sox on august 30, 1988, and now here's the guy who the dodgers received in return showing up on this week's sheet.  horton appeared in 12 games for the dodgers down the stretch, going 1-1 with a 5.00 era.  he also appeaered in 4 games of the nlcs and didn't allow any runs, but he didn't pitch in the world series.  horton returned to the team for the 1989 season, but was released in july of that year.

tom mccreery

mccreery suited up for the superbas in 1901, '02, and part of '03 towards the end of his 9-year career.  he hit .264 during that time, which was below his career average of .289.

lemmie miller

lemmie's big league career consisted of 8 games for the dodgers in 1984.  he was 2 for 12 with a walk and a run scored in those games, the last of which occurred on his 24th birthday.

eddie moore

moore played for the robins in 1929 and 1930, hitting .291 for brooklyn during that time.  he had been the second baseman on the pirates' 1925 world championship team, although he led the league in errors at that position that season.

van lingle mungo

mungo was often referred to by his full name for some reason, so as not to be confused with all of the other van mungos out there perhaps.  or maybe i am just thinking that because of the song 'van lingle mungo'.  mungo pitched for the robins/dodgers from 1931 through 1941, and was a 3-time all-star.  in 1936, he led the league in strikeouts (and walks), and he also led the league in fip and k/9ip although he had an 18-19 record to show for it.

hal peck

the sum total of hal peck's dodger career is a single pinch-hit appearance in 1943.  peck flew out against rip sewell in his major league debut while pinch-hitting for bobo newsom.  two days later, peck's contract was purchased by the cubs and he never played for brooklyn again.  he did, however, play through 1949, and was a member of the indians' 1948 world championship team.

jack savage

savage pitched in 3 games for the 1987 dodgers, retiring 10 of 14 batters and allowing only one run in those 3.1 innings of work.  during the offseason, he found himself headed to the mets as part of the three-team trade that also involved bob welch, jay howell, jesse orosco, and others.  savage didn't pitch for the mets, however, and was eventually traded (with tapani) to the twins in the frank viola deal.

son of fletch - as far as you know.

i don't know if darrin fletcher's father's name was irwin m. fletcher, but i do know that i was happy to receive my cards back in the mail, signed by the former dodger backstop.  he signed his 1990 topps debut 89 card

and his strangely glorious 1990 score card

hold on a sec while i do the pick and roll

much better.  fletcher left los angeles in a trade with the phillies after having played in just a handful of games as a dodger.  he went on to play for the expos and blue jays in a fairly productive career.

still, all i can think of when i see his cards are gummy, fat sam, marvin and velma up in provo, gail stanwyck, and the underhills.  the underhills?  they are left senor.  yes, but they'll be back - he just went out for his urinalysis.

thanks fletch!

cards from padrographs

rod at padrographs struck again recently with some more great cards.  i'll start with a 1986 donruss diamond king orel hershiser

and his 1986 donruss base

i guess we know which photo dick perez used to paint the diamond king portrait, although the artist put him in the home whites instead of the windbreaker.

another 1986 donruss card, this one of gilberto reyes

reyes appeared in a game for the dodgers in 5 different seasons, but 1986 was not one of them.  in 1985, his third year with the club, he had just one official at bat and three total plate appearances.  he hit two of the three true outcomes in those appearances - striking out and walking in his first two, but then he was hit by a pitch before he could hit a homerun in his third plate appearance.  for some reason, donruss decided he was worthy of a card and here we are.

2009 topps unique matt kemp red parallel

not sure if i like the red better than the black base.  blue might have been a good color to go with, especially for the dodgers.

speaking of blue, here's a 1990 score darrin fletcher

you've got to love the landscape photo with the portrait card format.  strange that score was so rigid with the layout that they couldn't go horizontal yet they didn't bother using a different photo.

rod also sent a few cards from 2010 topps pro debut - a set i had not seen nor heard of until he featured it on his blog.  here's tony delmonico of the great lakes loons

this season, delmonico is with the high-a inland empire '66ers where he is catching and hitting around .300 under the watchful eye of franklin stubbs.

garrett gould of the ogden raptors

gould appeared in 3 games for the raptors last season.  he got hit around a bit, but that's ok.  the kid is only 18.

ehtan martin

now we're getting somewhere as this guy is highly touted, usually in the top 3 of dodger prospects.  like delmonico, he's currently with the '66ers with charlie hough as his pitching coach.  he turns 21 in a month and is currently striking out batters at a rate of over one per inning.

jon michael redding

here's another loon now pitching for the '66ers.  he's struggling a bit so far this season, but he went 16-3 last year with the loons.

blake smith

smith played in the arizona rookie league last year, and is with the loons so far this year.  he's a rightfielder hitting about .280 with 5 home runs and 20 rbi.

we'll finish with a current isotope, brent leach, shown here on a 2009 bowman draft picks and prospects card

leach went 2-0 in 38 games for the dodgers last year, but hasn't been called up yet.  with george sherrill struggling, there may be a need for a situational lefty sooner rather than later.

thanks for the cards rod!

cards from on card autos

chris at on card autos sent me some dodgers recently in exchange for some cubbies. he has already posted some of the stuff i sent, and i am just now getting to the bounty i received. such is my lot in life. anyway, here are some of the goodies.

2007 fleer ultra jeff kentfull extenson works best as a horizontal card.

2006 topps update & highlights elmer dessens

proof that a fifth starter is hard to find.

2004 fleer ultra brad penny

a really nice dodger stadium card. ultra had quite a few cards featuring chavez ravine. maybe that's why i liked ultra so much.

1990 topps debut '89 darrin fletcher

it must have been tough to be a catcher in the dodger organization. that had been one of the most stable positions they had, except from 1997 through 2001 or so. too bad fletch (6'-5" with the afro) came up when scioscia was still doing ok.

1992 score roger mcdowell

nice to see a card of roger where he is doing normal baseball stuff

2005 donruss shawn green

i feel as though i have been remiss in posting shawn green cards. i have a ton - he was my favorite non-dodger and then my favorite dodger. i also like that this card shows him out of position according to the position assigned to him on the card. listed as a firstbaseman, he is pictured in the outfield. usually it's catchers that you see out of position - they're shown playing first base (i am thinking of a gary carter card) but listed as a catcher. i'll have to look for more of those.

thanks chris!