sunday morning target dodgers - a sheet chock full of fantastic folks like dusty, forster, and the toy cannon

this is a heckuva sheet that i'm posting today - bookended by two guys traded for each other.  it comes from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary set, and features 15 players from the franchise's history as a national league team.  let's take a look.

dusty baker

johnnie b was the left fielder for the team of my youth.  he played for the dodgers from 1976 through 1983, helping them win four division titles, three pennants, and a world series championship.  he was the 1977 nlcs mvp and also one of four dodgers to hit 30 or more home runs in that same season.  so what if he eventually played for (and managed) the giants? dusty is one of my favorite dodgers.

mike davis

davis was part of the dodgers near-complete revamping of their outfield for the 1988 season.  he joined kirk gibson as a free agent signing, but hurt his ankle during spring training and slumped at the start of the season.  tommy lasorda never seemed to regain any confidence in davis, and he was relegated largely to a pinch-hitting/late inning replacement role.  i recall when the dodgers opened the second half of the season with a series in chicago, davis was seen holding a sign saying 'mike davis is alive and well in los angeles'.  anyway, davis got some redemption in the 1988 world series.  he drew the two-out walk off of dennis eckersley to make the impossible possible, and then homered in the decisive game 5.  he returned to the dodgers in 1989, his last year in the big leagues.

chick fewster

fewster had spent 9 seasons in the american league before he joined the robins prior to the 1926 season.  he was their primary second baseman that year, playing in a career high 105 games and hitting .243.  he played in only four games for the robins in 1927, however, and thus ended his major league career.  according to baseball reference, fewster was the first player to have an official at bat in yankee stadium.

terry forster

forster joined the dodgers prior to the 1978 season, taking over the closer duties from charlie hough.  like hough had in 1977, forster led the team with 22 saves in '78.  forster also posted an era of 1.93 and went 4 for 8 at the plate (he retired with a career batting average of .397, don't you know).  he battled injuries, but stuck with the dodgers through 1982, pitching in both the 1978 and 1981 postseasons.  his career postseason era is 0.00 in 8 appearances, although he did allow a couple of inherited runners to score during the 1978 world series, including the tying run in game 4.

pepe frias

frias, like many shortstops, hailed from san pedro de macoris in the dominican republic.  he joined the dodgers via trade with the rangers towards the end of the 1980 season (the dodgers sent denny lewallyn to texas), and he returned to the club for the 1981 season as well.  he even got a 1981 fleer card out of the deal.  even so, frias was released by the dodgers at the end of august, so he missed out on their championship postseason run.

jim j hughes

hughes was the first of two (so far) jim hughes to play for the dodgers.  the other came along in the 1950's, 50 years after this jim hughes pitched for the superbas.  one of the players that ned hanlon brought with him from baltimore, hughes won 28 games for brooklyn in 1899, his first year with the club, and that was good enough to lead the national league.  he didn't appear in the majors in 1900 (he went home to sacramento), but returned in '01 and '02, and won 17 and 15 games respectively.  with a 60-28 record and a 2.93 era in his three seasons with brooklyn, hughes decided to retire from the major leagues and return to the west coast where he played minor league ball for a few more seasons.

ira hutchinson

hutchinson was acquired by the dodgers from the boston bees following the 1938 season, and he pitched in 41 games for them in 1939.  he was 5-2 with an era over 4, and was returned to the minors for the 1940 season, during which he was claimed by the cardinals who promoted him to the major league club.

ernie krueger

krueger was a catcher for the robins from 1917 through 1921.  obviously, the photo of him used for his card (if in fact it is krueger - how would i know?) came well after his playing days were through.  krueger hit .267 in 258 games for the robins over the course of his 5 years in brooklyn, and was 1 for 6 in the 1920 world series against the indians.

andy messersmith

messersmith was the ace of the 1974 pennant winning staff (sorry, don sutton).  he led the league with 20 wins (tied with phil niekro and one more than sutton), but finished second in the cy young voting to teammate and reliever mike marshall.  messersmith started the all-star game in '74 and was on the squad again in 1975, won the gold glove both of those seasons, and then challenged the reserve clause and became a free agent.  he signed with the braves, but eventually returned to the dodgers for another stint, but i'll get into that in messersmith's very own dodger double dipper post.

ed reulbach

reulbach was a member of the 1907 and 1908 world champion chicago cubs, but was traded to brooklyn during the 1913 season.  he pitched well for the superbas, posting an era of 2.05 in 110 innings, although his record was just 7-6.  reulbach was still with the club, now called the robins as wilbert robinson took the managerial reins, in 1914, and was 11-18 with a 2.64 era for uncle robbie.  he jumped to the federal league in 1915, but returned to the majors in 1916 with the braves. that's the 1914 robins uniform he is sporting, by the way.  reulbach retired with a 2.28 era, which puts him just behind babe ruth at 18th all-time.

preacher roe

roe was part of return the dodgers received from the pirates in one of the trades following jackie robinson's 1947 rookie season that attempted to purge the roster of players opposed to jackie's presence on the team.  pitching for the dodgers from 1948 through 1954, roe won 93 games against just 37 losses (including an incredible 22-3 record in 1951).  he pitched well in the world series, too, recording a shut out of the yankees in a start in 1949, and beating them again with a complete game in 1952.  he took a loss in another complete game start against new york in 1953, and didn't get a chance to exact revenge against the bronx bombers in 1955 as he was dealt to the orioles before the season began.

dick schofield

man, i can't even get a dick schofield card showing him in a dodger uniform in this dodger-centric set!  he's certainly not wearing a dodger uniform on his only other dodger card (1967 topps).  he is most likely wearing one on his 1968 topps card, but he's designated as a cardinal on that one.  he's shown as a cardinal here, and he spent just the latter part of 1966 and all of 1967 with the dodgers before rejoining st. louis, the team for which he played from 1953-1958.  as a dodger, schofield hit .225 in 104 games as the team struggled to replace maury wills.  schofield was the first of his line to play for the dodgers, but his son (dick schofield) and grandson (jayson werth) have both done so since.

karl spooner

the debut of karl spooner is the stuff of legend.  he made two starts in 1954 and pitched two shutouts.  in his major league debut, he failed to retire either of the first two giants he faced, but went on to strike out 15 of them (a record for a debut matched only by jr richard), including six consecutively at one point, while beating the dodgers' rivals 3-0 on a 3-hitter.  four days later, in the final game of the season, spooner threw a 4-hitter against the pirates, this time striking out 12.  expectations had to be high heading into the 1955 season, and despite injuring his arm during spring training, spooner responded by throwing one more shutout late in the season against pittsburgh, although overall he was just 8-6 with a 3.65 era.  he did get to pitch in the world series, however, shutting down the yankees in relief over 3 scoreless innings during game 2, but taking the loss in a game 6 start in which he recorded just one out and gave up all five yankee runs.  that appearance turned out to be the last of his big league career.

don thompson

thompson was an outfielder for the dodgers in the early 1950's.  he began his career with the braves in 1949, but was dealt to brooklyn that same year.  often used as a pinch-runner or hitter, he appeared in a total of 210 games as a dodger in 1951 and 1953-54, hitting .220 with a homer and 19 rbi.  he had been a pitcher in the minors, but was converted to a fielder because of his bat.  thompson recorded an outfield assist in game 4 of the 1953 world series, throwing billy martin out at home to end the game.

jimmy wynn

had i been more aware of the dodgers in 1974 (i was 3), jimmy wynn might well have become my favorite player.  he joined the club in a trade with the astros for claude osteen, and went on to hit 32 home runs and drive in a career high 108 rbi while helping the dodgers win the pennant.  he also started the all-star game for the national league in center field, and did so again in 1975.  that year, he hit just 18 homers with 58 rbi, but actually improved his on base percentage despite a 30-point drop in his batting average.  as fate would have it, wynn was traded to the braves for dusty baker after the 1975 season, and steve garvey caught my attention in 1977.

dodgers for indians

the dodgers have made a few trades with the indians that i can recall off the top of my head.  they acquired pedro guerrero from cleveland, sent rick sutcliffe and jack perconte to the tribe for jorge orta, traded franklin gutierrez for milton bradley, and shipped carlos santana off for casey blake.  well, several months ago, i made my first trade with indian fan baseball dad.  it's taken me a long time to get to this trade post, but i finally made it.

the most unusual card in the return package was this 1993 topps commanders of the hill tom candiotti card

the candy man pitched for the indians (twice), but signed with the dodgers as a free agent after a short stint in toronto.  according to baseballcardpedia, these cards were available on military bases and were sold with the purchase of a fountain drink.  that explains the coca-cola logo on the back.  very cool - i had not seen these before.

i had seen these before - 1982 donruss burt hooton

and 1983 donruss terry forster

but it is always nice to get cards featuring two pitchers from the team of my youth!

1995 fleer rudy seanez

not quite 6 years of blogging, and i had not shown a 1995 fleer card until just now.  not sure if that is good or bad.

1999 topps stars adrian beltre - one star

and two stars

good thing topps stopped at four stars, otherwise you'd be in beltre's nose

2002 upper deck prospect premieres james loney

the dodgers' first round pick in 2002 still hasn't turned those doubles into home runs (11 doubles/1 home run so far in 2014), but he hit a huge home run for the dodgers in the 2008 nlds.

2005 leaf steve finley

finley also hit a memorable grand slam for the dodgers - his walk-off job won the nl west title for the dodgers in 2004

2009 upper deck x manny ramirez x5 insert

2008 seems like so long ago, but manny absolutely destroyed the competition after joining the dodgers.

2014 topps hanley ramirez target red parallel

believe it or not, this was the first 2014 topps card i owned.  that's how long it's been since this trade.  thanks baseball dad!

guess what's back?

today marks the long postponed return of the timeless teams blog.  i am embarrassed that i am two years into the thing and i still haven't finished posting the base set.

here are some non-base cards from my collection to mark the occasion.

this is a gold parallel of steve yeager

gold parallels, as you might recall, are numbered to 5 copies

now here's a dual autograph of steve garvey and davey lopes

this one is numbered to 150

the rest of the autos (except for the 1/1's) are unnumbered and have different print runs.

here's al downing's card

the certified autos have the certification statement on the back in place of the stats and text that appears on the unsigned versions

here's pedro guerrero

certified!

and mickey hatcher, too.

also certified

and we're back to steve yeager, basking in the glow of his co-mvp status in the 1981 world series

all the dodger cards have the same dodger stadium scene on the back

same goes for other teams - the stadium scene for each individual franchise doesn't change.  i believe these same images were used in the 2004 upper deck flagship set.

i haven't yet got to the 1988 dodger team on the blog, so we haven't seen the base version of this john shelby card yet

how many sets have certified john shelby autos in them anyway?

the post that re-kicks things off in a few hours focuses on the 1986 california angels.  this former dodger is featured

he pitched in the big a (seen below) during the 1986 season,

but could have (should have!) been featured in the set with the 1980 or 1981 dodgers, too.  be sure to stop by later today.  there are still a handful of teams that i need to post, but i hope to be done with them by opening day.

the 1978 topps dodgers in 1987 - the four final tributes

four of the 1978 topps dodgers played their final big league games in 1986, but were still featured by topps in the 1987 set.  for that, i am grateful, because it means that we get true final tributes of bill russell, dusty baker, terry forster, and steve yeager.

here's the dean of the dodgers, bill russell, who was released by the team in november of 1986

with his career stats on the back

there are only 38 shortstops in the history of the game who have played more games at that position than russell did, and when he retired, there were only 23.  of course, one was pee wee reese, so russell isn't even the franchise leader in games played at short.  still, he ranks pretty highly in a number of dodger franchise career categories, including games played (second only to zack wheat), defensive war (second only to pee wee), at bats (fourth behind wheat, reese, and willie davis), and hits (sixth behind wheat, reese, davis,   duke snider, and steve garvey).

fleer, but not donruss, also produced a card for russell in 1987

this is the first time since 1971 that the position designation on russell's card said 'outfield' only.

the fleer back includes most, but not all, of his minor league stats. topps still gets my vote for best final tribute, though.  russell immediately joined the dodger coaching staff, replacing monty basgall as the infield coach and eventually replacing tommy lasorda as manager.  unfortunately, since topps didn't make cards for managers in the late 1990's, 1987 was the last time russell appeared in the flagship (or traded) set.

now here's dusty baker

baker is likely best remembered now as a manager, but i think of him as a dodger even though he finished his career in the bay area.  he became a free agent after the 1986 season ended, but didn't sign on with any team.  was he a victim of the collusion between owners that offseason?  i don't know.  here are his career totals

he finished just shy of 2000 hits and 250 home runs, but that's not a bad career at all.  dusty didn't play for the dodgers long enough to crack their franchise leader boards for the most part, but he does rank 7th overall in sacrifice flies.

like russell, fleer (but not donruss) issued a card of baker as well 

and, like russell, not all of baker's minor league stats make the back

unlike russell, however, baker will return to this evolution series in a few 'years'

on to terry forster

forster finished his big league career with the al west champion angels in 1986, but continued to pitch in 1987 after signing a free agent deal with the twins in june of that year.  unfortunately, forster never got the call from aaa, and so the 1987 card serves as his final tribute.  here are his career totals

the biggest stat missing, of course, is his .397 career batting average.  forster holds the distinction of having the most career hits (31) among those players with a higher career batting average than ty cobb's .366.

like russell and baker, forster also got a card from fleer (but not donruss)

his stats on the back are only missing his minor league stints in 1986 and 1987 (obviously).

forster's 127 career saves currently has him 99th on the all-time list, but he might fall out of the top 100 in 2014 if jim johnson has a decent year and if carlos marmol lands a closing gig somewhere.  that second one is a pretty big if, i know.

the last of the four to bow out in true final tribute style in 1987 is steve yeager

how strange to see yeager in mariner gear, even after he first appeared that way in the 1986 topps traded set.  his one year with seattle seems to be a blemish on the otherwise orderly back of the card

yeager filed for free agency after the 1986 season ended, but was not signed by any team.  again, collusion?  or just the end of the road for a 38-year old catcher?

like the other three players in this post, fleer was the only other card company to issue a card for yeager in 1987

i think there is just one year of minor league stats (1967) missing from the back of yeager's fleer card.  yeager coached in the dodgers' minor league system in the 1990's and 2000's (and managed in the independent leagues as well) but never cracked the big league coaching staff until recently.  he is currently the catcher coach for the big league squad.  makes sense.

now for the evolutionary wrap up.  there were 13/27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured by topps in 1987. here's the tally of appearances to date:

baker 17 (1971-1987)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 17 (1971-1987)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 16 (1972-1987)
john 24 (1964-1987)
lacy 15 (1973-1987)
lasorda 13 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1987)
lopes 15 (1973-1987)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 10 (1972-1981)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 13 (1975-1987)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 22 (1966-1987)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 23 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners)

i can't think of any cards topps failed to make in 1987, so we will go right to 1988 in the next installment of the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers.  stay tuned....