sunday morning target dodgers - an mvp and - hey, isn't that the cartoon rooster?

this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set features a good mix of players from throughout the franchise's history.  have a look.

don bessent

the dodgers took bessent from the yankees in the early 1950's, and he made his big league debut for brooklyn in 1955.  he was 8-1 with a 2.70 era in 24 games (22 of which were relief appearances) for the dodgers that year, and then pitched in 3 world series games against the yankees, and sported a perfect era while doing so.  in 1956, bessent lowered his regular season era to 2.50 over 38 games, all as a reliever.  he again pitched in the fall classic against the yankees, and was the winning pitcher in game 2.  bessent moved to los angeles with the team, but 1958 was his final season in the big leagues due to a shoulder injury.

bruce caldwell

caldwell played in 18 games for the 1928 cleveland indians (he's a member of the indians in the photo used for his card), and next appeared in the majors for the 1932 brooklyn dodgers.  he played in only 7 games for the dodgers, and had just one hit in 13 plate appearances for the club.

jake daubert

daubert played for the superbas/dodgers/robins from 1910 through 1918, and was the team's first baseman in each of those seasons.  in 1913, daubert led the national league with a .350 average, and was voted the league's most valuable player as a result. he led the league with a .329 average the following year, and his .316 average in 1916 was the second highest in the league. that year, daubert helped the robins win the pennant, although he hit only .176 in the world series against babe ruth and the red sox (he was 0 for 5 against ruth in game 2).  daubert left brooklyn for cincinnati in 1919, and won a world series ring with the reds that year thanks in part to the black sox scandal.

tim flood

flood spent two seasons with the superbas - 1902 and 1903 - during which he hit .231 over 221 games. i do not believe that he played ball in his suit and tie.

mike garman

garman was a reliever on the team of my youth. acquired in the rick monday trade, garman pitched for the dodgers in 1977 and part of 1978 (before he was traded to montreal).  he had a 2.73 era with 12 saves during the 1977 regular season, and then threw 5.1 scoreless innings over four games in the 1977 postseason, earning a save in the nlcs game 3 'black friday' game against the phillies.

tim leary

in 1987, leary's first season with the dodgers, he posted a record of 3-11. in 1988, leary again had 11 losses, but this time, he also had 17 wins. used almost exclusively as a starter in '88, leary responded with a 2.91 era, 9 complete games, and 6 shutouts.  it was enough for him to be named the sporting news' comeback player of the year in the national league.  leary also won the silver slugger award that year, due in part to his .269 batting average, as well as his key 11th-inning walk-off pinch-hit single against the giants on august 13, 1988.  leary was bumped from the starting rotation once the world series rolled around due in large part to orel hershiser pitching on short rest, but he did relieve in two fall classic games, including a stellar scoreless three innings in game 1.

danny mcdevitt

mcdevitt pitched for the dodgers from 1957 through 1960.  he was originally used primarily as a starter, but the team eventually came to use him more in relief towards the end of his tenure with them. in 1959, mcdevitt won 10 games, but he did not pitch in the world series against the white sox that year.

bernie neis

neis was a rookie with the robins in 1920 when they won the pennant.  he had hit .253 during the regular season, but was 0 for 5 in the world series.  neis remained with the robins through the 1924 season before going on to play for the braves, indians, and white sox.

ivy olson

olson was the robins' shortstop on both of their pennant winning teams - 1916 and 1920. he was acquired by the club late in the 1915 season, and he remained with them through the 1924 campaign. in between, he played in 1053 games for brooklyn, and had 1100 hits as well. his 164 hits in 1919, in fact, led the league. olson hit .250 in the 1916 world series (he was 1 for 2 with a walk, a strikeout, and two sacrifices against babe ruth) and .320 in the 1920 fall classic.

claude osteen

what a great shot of osteen in dodger stadium, with the left field pavilion and old (pre-diamond vision) scoreboard.  osteen came to the dodgers from the senators in the frank howard trade, and he remained until he was dealt to houston for jimmy wynn after the 1973 season. during those 9 seasons with the dodgers, osteen posted a record of 147-126 during the regular season, with three all-star selections and two 20-win seasons.  he threw a shutout in the 1965 world series against the twins, and took a hard luck loss in the 1966 world series against the orioles, allowing just a solo home run to paul blair that allowed the o's to win the game 1-0.

johnny peacock

peacock was acquired by the dodgers during the 1945 season from the phillies in exchange for ben chapman (who would later manage the phillies and berate jackie robinson during the 1947 season). peacock was needed due to mickey owen having joined the navy in may of '45.  peacock played in 48 games for the dodgers that year, hitting .255.  it was the last big league action of peacock's career.

goody rosen

goody rosen played for the dodgers for 5-plus seasons, garnering some mvp votes in 1945 (he finished 10th).  there's a little more to rosen's story, but i'll save that for a future post.

john shelby

t-bone was traded to the dodgers early in the 1987 season as the team needed a center fielder. kenny landreaux had moved to one of the corner spots, and mike ramsey, who had started the season in center, was hitting just .232 after 38 games.  shelby showed up and hit .277 with 21 home runs in 120 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the season. in 1988, he cooled off a bit, hitting .263 with 10 home runs, but he solidified the position enough to help the club win the world series, and the second ring of his career.

gordon windhorn

this guy makes me think of the looney toons cartoon rooster, but the rooster's name is foghorn leghorn, not gordon windhorn.  besides, i know about windhorn because he's got a card in the 1962 topps set that lists him as a member of the kansas city a's while showing him in dodger duds.  those duds, by the way, are more suited to a baseball card than the shirt he's wearing above.  and what exactly is he doing in that photo - talking into his dick tracy wristwatch communicator?  it's curious that this was the best photo available considering that windhorn spent the majority of the 1960 and 1961 seasons in the dodger minor league system, as well as 34 games at the big league level with the dodgers in 1961.  during that time, windhorn hit .242 and slugged his only two career home runs - the first of which was an 11th-inning walk-off pinch-hit job against the phillies.

pete wojey

wojey pitched in 14 games for the 1954 dodgers. he was 1-1 with a save in those appearances, with a decent 3.25 era.  he spent all of 1955, however, in the minors and was traded to detroit after the season ended.  he had been 34 when he finally made his big league debut with the dodgers, and he was 37 in 1957 when he pitched in his fourth and final game for the tigers.

catching up on some cards that should have been - 1977 topps style

i hadn't produced any cards that should have been for quite a while, and i felt like i was falling behind.  my hope had been to keep up with the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers series and fill in cards from the respective years shortly after posting the actual topps cards.  however, i hadn't posted any cards that should have been since 1975, and the most recent evolutionary post was for the 1979 cards.  i sat down last week and whipped a few cards up. i feel better now.

i decided to skip 1976, having previously made a 1976 topps traded reggie smith card, and went to 1977.  the biggest miss as far as i am concerned regarding the 1977 topps set is boog powell.  maybe the miss goes to o-pee-chee instead, since boog didn't sign with the dodgers until april 5 so topps can be forgiven for featuring him as an indian.  anyway, here's the 1977 topps card that should have been for john 'boog' powell.

if i had owned this image sooner, it would have been used for his 1978 topps card that should have been that i created as part of my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set.  what i like the best about it is that it has the facsimile auto that fits perfectly with the 1977 set.
i pulled the image from the dodgers' 1977 photo album

that features reggie smith on the cover with the third base umpire doing some adjusting.  this album was a treasure trove for images of players missed in the 1977 set, like al downing

downing was left out of the set completely having appeared in only 17 games during the 1976 season.  he wound up earning the final win of his career that year although he did return to the club for the 1977 season.  this is another image that i likely would have used for the 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update project since it is more 'of the period' than the picture i wound up using for downing's card.
here's mike garman, who was featured as a cub in the 1977 topps set

as he was part of the rick monday deal.
here's utility infielder ted martinez

who, like downing, didn't get a card in the 1977 topps set.  martinez had spent the entire 1976 season in the reds' minor league system and was selected by the dodgers in the december 1976 rule v draft.  he appeared in 67 games and hit .299 for the dodgers in 1977.

rick monday is a special case, because he does have a 1977 o-pee-chee card that features him as a dodger.  sort of.  it's up there in the header at oh my o-pee-chee! although i haven't yet featured it on that site.  it's really bad, so i was happy to get this card done

yes, that's much better.
johnny oates was a phillie in the 1977 topps set. here he is as a dodger

oates joined the club in december of 1976, so there was time for o-pee-chee to make the change, but oates didn't make their checklist and the opportunity was lost.

seeing that oates card, i am reminded of the other dodger catcher that joined the team in 1977 - jerry grote.  he wasn't featured in the 1977 photo album since he didn't join the team until late in the season.  instead, i used his 1978 sspc card and copied in his 1975 topps facsimile auto to make a 1977 card that should have been.

not too bad.  the image is almost certainly from 1978 during spring training, but that's ok.
i also picked up a couple of versions of the dodgers 1976  photo album

i am guessing one was from the stadium, and one was a promotional item at unocal station stores, hence the stylized '76.  one of them is incomplete with some of the photos removed, but it is also the one that denny lewallyn signed, so i'm keeping it.  anyway, i used one of the photos to make a card for danny walton

walton appeared in 18 games for the dodgers in 1976 - all as a pinch-hitter.  he had two hits and two rbi, and was traded to houston after the season ended.  he only played in 15 games for the astros in 1977, but topps still gave him a card in 1978.  why then, didn't 18 games warrant a card in 1977?  i blame the blue jays and mariners.  maybe i should have done a 1976 topps traded card  of walton instead, but hopefully these guys will get to that eventually.
finally, i just had to share a photo that was in the 1977 yearbook.  apparently the dodgers' opening day lineup had a photo shoot on the grounds of dodger stadium in their street clothes.  awesome.

between reggie's pants, sutton's glasses, and dusty's three-piece i almost didn't notice what appears to be a denim suit that bill russell is wearing.  

yep, this was the team of my youth.

one man down, four more to follow - the 1978 topps dodgers in 1979

we lost ed goodson before the 1979 topps set was released, as his 1978 topps card was a 'final tribute'.  in 1979, there are five more players who received their final hurrah from topps, one who received a final tribute of their own, one who almost did, and three who actually played during the season, but were not featured in the 1980 set.

first up is mike garman

garman had spent the latter part of the 1978 season with the expos thanks to a may trade that netted the dodgers gerry hannahs and another player.  garman returned to the expos for spring training in 1979, but was unfortunately released at the end of march.  that means that this card is a final tribute - here are his full career stats:

congrats on your career, mike.

now we have the curious case of jerry grote

after the 1978 postseason, grote retired. which is to say he became a free agent and didn't sign with anyone.  so, at the time i figured that the stats on the back of his 1979 card were his total career stats and that this was a final tribute.  i was wrong, as grote resurfaced with the royals (and later the dodgers) in 1981.

here's glenn burke

who, like garman, spent most of 1978 with a team other than the dodgers.  he was traded in may for bill north.  unlike garman, burke played in the big leagues in 1979.  he appeared in 23 games for the a's, hitting .213 with 4 runs scored, 4 rbi and 3 stolen bases.  the final hit of his career came off of jack morris, and his final big league appearance was a 14-inning affair on june 4th in which he played the entire game.  shortly after, burke walked out on the team and didn't return until 1980 when he spent a short time with their aaa team.  the remainder of burke's life is fairly well documented - hopefully you caught the documentary 'out' that was aired last year on most sports networks.

vic davalillo

was 42 in 1979, and made 29 appearances for the dodgers, and all but three came as a pinch-hitter.  davalillo was 6 for 25 in that role with a double and two rbi.  he even stole a couple of bases.  unfortunately, topps didn't think his role with the club warranted any more cards after this one.

lance rautzhan got a card of his own in 1979, and it looks a lot like davalillo's

he lasted 12 appearances before the brewers purchased his contract from the dodgers in may.  he was 0-2 with a save and a 7.45 era at the time of the deal.  in milwaukee, he pitched in 3 games, totaling 3 innings of work but walked 10 men.  somehow he gave up only 3 runs.  in his last appearance (which came on june 3), rautzhan's final two-thirds of an inning consisted of a strikeout (hal mcrae), a single (ul washington), two wild pitches, another strikeout (todd cruz), and a walk (willie wilson).  rautzhan spent the rest of the season in the minors, and never did get back to the big leagues.

another member of the 1978 topps dodgers who had jumped ship was featured out of dodger blue for the first time.  that was elias sosa, whose final pitch as a dodger had resulted in one of reggie jackson's three game 6 home runs in the 1977 world series.

by the time he was featured as a member of the a's in the 1979 topps set, sosa was a member of the expos.  he continued the success he had enjoyed during his one year in oakland, saving a career high 18 games for montreal while posting a 1.96 era in his 62 games. he also tallied his only career extra base hit in 1979 - an rbi double off of ron reed of the phillies.

three more members of the 1978 topps dodgers spent the 1979 season out of dodger blue.  the first of these three is tommy john

tj signed a free agent deal with the yankees, of all teams.  i guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  it didn't work out too well for john in terms of postseason success, but he did win 20 games for the second time in his career.  for the 1979 season, he was 21-9 in 36 starts (plus one relief appearance).  his era was 2.96 and he had 17 complete games and 3 shutouts.  the yankees won 89 games that year, but finished 4th in the nl east. john's highlight of the season was his two-hit shutout against the red sox and dennis eckersley on may 20.  he allowed a single to the first batter, jerry remy, but promptly picked him off of first base.  john then retired 26 of the remaining 27 batters he faced (fred lynn was stranded on second after his fourth inning double) to finish with the shutout win.

lee lacy went to the pirates as a free agent for the 1979 season

and rick rhoden joined him in pittsburgh thanks to an early season trade for jerry reuss.

lacy played mostly left field for the bucs, appearing in 84 games and batting .247.  as a pirate, lacy made it to the world series for the third year in a row, although this time he won a ring.  he appeared in 4 games during the 1979 fall classic, all as a pinch-hitter, and was 1 for 4 in those appearances.  rhoden, on the other hand, was supposed to be a fixture in the starting rotation for chuck tanner's team.  unfortunately, he made only one start for pittsburgh before being lost for the season due to injury.  he did go 1 for 1 at the plate in that start, so at least he had a 1.000 batting average that year.

for the rest of the team, it was business as usual.  dusty baker

played 151 games in left and hit 23 homers with 88 rbi.  his first homer of the season came off of joe niekro, and the last bomb he hit in 1979 came courtesy of joe's brother phil.

ron cey

was still at third, where he played in 150 games, swatting 28 homers and driving in 81 while batting .281.  the penguin made the all-star team for the sixth straight year and also for the last time in his career, going 0 for 1 with a walk after replacing starter mike schmidt.  this was the year that dave parker showed off his arm, nailing jim rice trying to stretch a 7th inning double into a triple with cey making the tag. parker threw brian downing out at the plate in the following inning, but that has nothing to do with ron cey.  cey hit the 150th home run of his career in 1979 - it came against hall of famer gaylord perry.  in fact, it was the second home run cey hit off of perry that day, and the third time he had taken him deep that season.

terry forster

looks like he was pitching at boise state on his 1979 topps card.  after his stellar 1978 season, forster had some arm troubles in 1979 and appeared in only 17 games.  he was 1-2 with 2 saves and had only one plate appearance on the year - just like rhoden.  and, like rhoden, his obp for the year was 1.000, although forster managed a walk rather than a base hit.

steve garvey had another 'garvey' season in 1979

he played in every game, got his 200 hits (204, actually), hit over .300 (.315), and was voted to start the all-star game for the sixth straight year.  he hit 28 homers and drove in 110 runs, but didn't walk much.  he also hit into a bunch of double plays - 25 to be exact; the most in the national league.  as an all-star, garvey was 0 for 2 with a run and a walk.  like his fellow infielder ron cey, garvey hit his 150th career homer in 1979, although his was just a solo shot off of john denny - nothing spectacular.

the rest of the 1978 topps dodgers in 1979 will be up tomorrow.

and for one brief moment, they were all together. the 1978 topps dodgers in 1978

although i am splitting them into two posts.  go figure.

two new players were featured for the first time in 1978 - glenn burke and lance rautzhan.  let's start with them.

glenn burke

burke debuted for the dodgers in 1976, but didn't show up on a card until 1978.  by that time, he had appeared in 108 games for the blue and was hitting about .250.  he also had greeted dusty baker at home plate after a home run with what many consider to be the first 'high-five'.  not too far into the 1978 season, burke found himself in tommy lasorda's doghouse (quite possibly due to a friendship that burke, a gay man, had formed with tommy's son, also gay (although tommy doesn't admit it)) and was traded to the a's for billy north.  in oakland, burke played in 78 games and had 15 stolen bases.  he finished the season hitting .233.
lance rautzhan

rautzhan had first appeared for the dodgers in the middle of the 1977 season.  he wound up winning 4 games and saving 2 others before the year was done, and then picked up a win in the nlcs against the phillies.  in 1978, rautzhan lowered his era to 2.93 and went 2-1 with 4 saves.  he made three appearances in the postseason, including two in the world series against the yankees, but did not figure in any decisions.
a few other players returned to the topps set after their absences - vic davalillo, jerry grote, and ted martinez.

vic davalillo

davalillo was plucked from the roster of the aquascaliente team in the mexican league late in the 1977 season.  the 40-year old wound up appearing in 24 games for the dodgers, hitting .313 overall and .286 (4 for 14) as a pinch-hitter.  his biggest hit of the season, of course, was his bunt against the phillies in the 'black friday' game.  down by two runs with two outs and nobody on base in the 9th inning of game 3, davalillo bunted for a hit to start the winning rally.  he then went 1 for 3 in the world series, appearing in three of the six games against the yankees.  in 1978, davalillo was back for the whole season.  he hit .312 overall and .255 (12 for 47) as a pinch-hitter.  his lone home run of the season, and the final one of his career, came as a pinch-hitter against the mets in august.  davalillo did not match his postseason highlights from the previous season, as he appeared in only two games of the world series, going 1 for 3.
jerry grote

grote had been acquired by the dodgers from the mets at the end of august in 1977.  he hit .259 in 18 games for the blue, and then was 0 for 1 with a walk in the postseason.  in 1978, grote hit .271 in 41 games and appeared in three postseason games, including two in the world series, but did not get an at bat.  i do recall that grote was on deck when bill russell singled in the run that clinched the pennant for the dodgers in game 4 of the nlcs.  grote became a free agent after the season ended, and essentially retired.  sort of.
ted martinez

martinez spent the entire 1976 season in the minors, after which he was selected by the dodgers in the rule 5 draft.  he then appeared in 67 games for the dodgers in 1977, batting .299 along the way.  he did not appear in the postseason, however, nor did he do so in 1978.  during the '78 regular season, martinez saw action again at third, short, and second, and hit .255.  he also hit the final home run of his career, a three-run shot off of mario soto in late september.

there were also some other veterans who appeared as dodgers for the first time in 1978 - terry forster, mike garman, rick monday, and johnny oates.

terry forster

this card of forster, with the horrific airbrushing, means that we were denied a terry forster pirates card by topps.  remember, forster was still shown as a member of the white sox in 1977.  forster joined the dodgers as a free agent after the 1977 season ended, and went on to have a great season in 1978.  he was 5-4 with 22 saves and a 1.93 era in 47 games for the dodgers.  he also went 4 for 8 at the plate, raising his lifetime batting average to .424 (24 for 59).  he pitched 5 scoreless innings in the postseason, including 4 (with 6 strikeouts) against the yankees in the world series, but he did not get an at bat in either the nlcs or the fall classic.

mike garman

garman was 0-1 in 10 appearances to start the 1978 season for the dodgers, and then was traded to the expos for gerry hannahs and another player.  in montreal, garman appeared in 47 games, and was 4-6 with 13 saves and a 4.40 era.  he made the final appearance of his career on september 29th against the phillies, when he blew a save opportunity by allowing an rbi single to dane iorg.  the final batter garman faced in his career was ted simmons, who followed iorg with a walk.  the expos released garman towards the end of spring training the following year.
rick monday

mo got some mustard from a dodger dog on his chin apparently.  man, how we laughed at this card when we first saw it after an afternoon 7-11 run back in the old neighborhood.  anyway, monday played in 119 games in 1978, one more than he had in 1977 and more than he would in any following season.  he hit 19 homers (including the 200th of his career off of atlanta's jim bouton) and was voted to start in the all-star game, even though bill north had kind of taken over in center field.  in the game, monday started in right field, with greg luzinski in left and george foster in center, and he went 0 for 2.  in the postseason, monday had two hits in each series, appearing in all but one game in each the nlcs and the world series.  
johnny oates

even with three other catchers on the roster, oates managed to get into 40 games (18 of which were starts behind the plate) for the dodgers in 1978.  he even threw out 32% of the runners who tried to steal against him. oates hit .307 with 6 rbi in 70 at bats, and then was 1 for 1 with a walk in the world series.
finally, one of the 1978 topps dodgers got a final tribute in 1978, having played his last game in 1977.  that would be ed goodson.

let's have a look at those career stats.

godspeed, mr. goodson.

i'll cover the rest of the team in the next post.