filling in the gilliams

this is jim gilliam's 1964 topps card

it's also his last topps card (as a player), and for good reason.  gilliam joined the dodger coaching staff following the 1964 season.  however, the team, and particularly the infielders (john kennedy and dick traczewski) that were supposed to replace gilliam faltered, and buzzie bavasi reactivated junior from the coaching squad.

gilliam played for two more years, helping the dodgers reach the world series in both of those seasons.  not that topps noticed.  so, here is a 1965 topps jim gilliam card that should have been

i used the photo from his 1962 topps card, which is a bit of a throwback, but topps has done that same sort of thing before.  the 1966 topps card that should have been

is very similar to one created by cards that never were.

i didn't do a back, but here is what would have been gilliam's final tribute - a 1967 topps card that should have been

it's not the best photo, but i liked the backdrop of dodger stadium.  it would have been nice to see dodger stadium in the background of some of those cards from the 1960's. topps did get the los angeles coliseum (the dodgers' home prior to moving to chavez ravine) on some 1959 cards, so why weren't they able to do the same for dodger stadium?

gilliam returned to coaching after the 1966 world series, and he appears on the manager/coaches cards in the 1973 and 1974 topps sets, but he should have had more cards as a player than he did.

remember when manny launched one 461 feet in houston?

it's been just over six years, so, no, i don't recall that particular home run.  however, thanks to bru at remember the astrodome who sent me this 2010 upper deck insert card

i can at least bluff my way through it and say "oh, yeah - that was the one he hit off of roy oswalt". while that particular manny home run didn't come in the astrodome, obviously, he did hit a couple there during his time with the indians during interleague play.  as an aside, wallet card and i agree that the astrodome is worth remembering.

back to the cards - here's another home run related card from the trade package, a 2015 topps mike piazza first home run insert

kudos to topps for using a photo of piazza from 1992 (note the uniform number is 25, not 31, and the presence of the 30th anniversary of dodger stadium commemorative patch).  piazza hit 7 homers in the astrodome during his career, by the way, but his first career big fly came at dodger stadium against the giants.

let's take a look at a few more cards from the package sent by marc. this is a 1978 tcma the 1960's card of jim gilliam

gilliam did not hit a home run in the astrodome, nor did he homer at colt stadium, the home of the colt .45's before they became the astros and moved into the astrodome when it opened in 1965.  gilliam did, however, hit .400 with 2 triples in his 8 games inside the 8th wonder of the world.

here's a 2014 topps hanley ramirez 1989 design die-cut mini

ramirez didn't debut in the majors until 2005, and by then, the 'stros were in enron/minute maid park.  so far, hanley has hit 3 homers in houston in his career.

like hanley, justin turner (seen here on his 2015 topps heritage card)

didn't make it to the big leagues until well after the astrodome was decommissioned. still, he hit the first of his (so far) 17 career major league home runs in houston during the 2011 season.  too bad he wasn't included in the 1st home run insert set.

here's another card from this year's heritage release - it's dodger manager don mattingly

i feel for the teams who don't get manager cards in heritage releases, and i would like topps to bring the skippers back to the flagship.  donnie baseball never played in houston since the astros were a national league team during his playing days, but as a manager, he's 9-6 against them overall, and i assume some of those wins have come in texas.

speaking of texas, here's a 2015 topps heritage league leader card featuring dallas' own clayton kershaw and a couple of other guys

kershaw's only career home run thus far was his opening day blast at home against the giants in 2013, but on the flip side, he's only allowed one homer at minute maid - to carlos lee in 2009.

i'll finish up this trade post with a card of a guy who hasn't pitched anywhere in the majors yet - julio urias and his 2014 bowman draft picks & prospects mini 'future of the franchise' refractor card

he's only 18, and his k/9 ratio so far as a professional pitcher is over 11.  i'll take that for this franchise's future for sure, just like i'll take great trades like these anytime.  thanks bru!

sunday morning target dodgers - with a misspelled (and a backwards?) name

i haven't run out of sheets yet from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  so, here are another 15 cards.  enjoy!

ed amelung

yes, amelung's last name is misspelled on his card, which is unfortunate because i believe that this is his only dodger card.  amelung had some good minor league stats, but in two brief major league stints totalling 42 games in 1984 and 1986, he hit a combined .193 with 4 rbi and 7 runs scored.

ferrell anderson

anderson appeared in 79 games for the 1946 brooklyn dodgers, giving him his first taste of the major leagues (although he wouldn't be back in the bigs until 1953 with the cardinals). just out of the armed services, ferrell hit .256 with a couple of home runs and 14 rbi.  more interesting, however, is that he caught ed head's no-hitter against the braves on april 23 - but we'll get into that later as ed head is also on this sheet of cards.

tim belcher

belcher was the first overall pick in the 1983 draft (by the twins), but didn't sign.  six months later, the yankees took him first overall in the 1984 january secondary draft, and he did sign with them.  unfortunately for yankee fans, the a's claimed belcher as their free agent compensation pick for losing tom underwood to the orioles in february of 1984.  so, the a's got a number 1 pick from the yankees because the orioles signed a free agent, just as the mets lost tom seaver to the white sox because dennis lamp signed with the blue jays.  you've got to love the concessions that came as a result of the 1981 player's strike.  anyway, belcher was eventually traded by the a's to the dodgers for rick honeycutt, and all he did in his first full season (1988) was go 12-6 with a 2.91 era, four complete games, a shutout, and 4 saves.  he also finished third in nl roy voting, and started games 1 and 4 of the world series after going 2-0 in the nlcs against the mets. belcher led the league in complete games (10) and shutouts (8) in 1989, and he wound up pitching for the dodgers through the 1991 season.  with a 50-38 record and 2.99 era over his dodger career, belcher was traded to the reds along with john wetteland for eric davis and kip gross.

pete browning

browning finished his 13-year big league career with 3 games in 1894.  the first two of those contests came as a member of the st. louis cardinals, but the last one featured browning as a member of the brooklyn grooms.  in that game, browning was 2 for 2 with a run scored, a walk, and 2 rbi.  not a bad way to go out, and not totally out of character for a man with a .341 career batting average (13th best all-time).

lave cross

cross spent the majority of the 1900 season with the brooklyn superbas, after starting the season with the st. louis cardinals.  in 117 games for brooklyn as their third baseman, he hit .293 with 73 runs scored and 67 driven in. he was regarded as a good fielder, and led the league among third basemen in that category while with the superbas.  for the 1901 season, cross went to play for the philadelphia a's in the american league, having previously played for them when they were in the american association as well as the player's league.  cross had also played for the phillies in the national league, so he had all of his bases covered when it came to playing in the city of brotherly love.

bobby darwin

it's not too often that you see a card of a player whose position is listed as both a pitcher and a fielder.  such was the case with bobby darwin. darwin is a native of los angeles (he celebrated his 72nd birthday this past monday, by the way) who was signed out of high school by the hometown angels.  he made his debut for them on the mound as the starter in the last game of the 1962 season and took the loss.  he didn't make it back to the majors until 1969 when he was pitching for the other hometown team, the dodgers.  they used darwin early in the '69 season in three games as a pitcher and three as a pinch-runner, with the results on the mound being unimpressive.  so, darwin went back to the minors and worked at converting to an outfielder.  now, the back of darwin's 1977 topps card gives the credit for the conversion to tommy lasorda (tommy was the manager at spokane, the dodger's triple-a affiliate at that time, and darwin did play one game in the outfield for spokane in 1969), but but darwin had played some outfield in the orioles' system in between his stints with the angels and dodgers, and he really cut his teeth out there with the class a bakersfield dodgers in 1969.  darwin was back playing for tommy in spokane in 1971, and he hit .293 as an outfielder that year.  he also earned a call-up back to the majors, playing in 11 midseason games, including 4 as the starting right fielder.  in those games, darwin hit his first big league home run - a 3-run pinch-hit job. following the season, the dodgers traded darwin to the twins, who used him as one of their everyday outfielders for the next three seasons.

hod ford

hod (short for horace) was a shortstop on the 1925 brooklyn robins. he played in 66 games and hit .273 and was then traded by the robins to the minneapolis millers of the american association.

greek george

now, i was sure that target got this name backwards.  george greek makes more sense, right?  well, yes, it does, but this guy really was known as greek george, although i was relieved to discover that greek was just a nickname - he was actually charles peter george.  he was also a backup catcher on the 1938 dodgers who appeared in 7 games and was 4 for 20 in those games.  he did hit his first career triple that year, which may or may not have involved a collision in the outfield if he ran like most catchers from that era.

jim gilliam

i've written about gilliam several times on the blog. he was the 1953 nl rookie of the year and a 4-time world series champion with the dodgers during his playing career - a career that overlapped with his tenure as a dodger coach.  gilliam was the first base and hitting coach for the team of my youth up until he suffered a stroke near the end of the 1978 season and later died the day after the dodgers claimed the pennant. his number 19 is the only numbered that the dodgers have retired for a person not in the hall of fame.

mike griffin

griffin was one of the regular outfielders for the grooms/bridegrooms from 1891 through 1898. in 988 games during that span, griffin hit .305.  he also stole 264 bases, after stealing 179 in just three seasons with the orioles earlier in his career.  griffin was highly regarded apparently, as his 1908 new york times obituary stated (according to baseball-reference) that he was "one of the best known baseball players in the country...the best centre (sp) fielder in the league."

ed head

as mentioned above, head threw a no-hitter for the dodgers in 1946 against the braves. it came in his first start of the season, and in the team's 7th game of the year.  head, who had also pitched for the dodgers in 1940 and every season from 1942 on, made 12 appearances for the dodgers in 1946 after his no-no, but did not pitch in the majors again after that.  he may have suffered an arm injury during the season, but did pitch in the minor leagues in 1947 before hanging up his spikes and taking over as a manager in the dodger minor league system for several years beginning in 1948.

kevin pasley

the dodger representative on dale murphy's 1977 topps rookie card, pasley was a catcher who played for the dodgers in 1974, 1976, and 1977.  he was the dodgers' regular catcher during the last month of the 1976 season with steve yeager injured and the other catchers on the roster at that time being sergio robles and ellie rodriguez.  after appearing in 3 games for the dodgers in 1977, pasley had his contract purchased by the mariners. those three games earned pasley a spot on the team of my youth, and in my 1978 topps burger king/update set.  the last time i posted some pasley cards, i got a lead on a ttm opportunity but sadly the cards have not been returned yet. i still have hope, however!

max west

west was an outfielder for the 1928 and 1929 robins who hit .276 in a total of 12 big league games for the franchise. not sure what the houston uniform is - west was from texas, but never played in the minors (or college) for a team that would be obviously known as 'houston'.  he did pass away in houston in 1971, so i am willing to give target the benefit of the doubt that the photo is, in fact, of max west the former brooklyn robin. i shouldn't have given target the benefit of the doubt - the photo is of the 'other' max west who played for the boston (not houston) bees during his major league career that spanned from 1938 through 1948.  thanks eric.

jim winford

winford was a cardinals' pitcher for five seasons in the 1930's before joining the dodgers in september of 1938. he had spent the entire season up to that point in the cardinals' minor league system, and made his first big league start of the season for the dodgers against his former team.  winford lasted just 4 innings, allowing 7 runs (4 earned), and took the loss.  he made just one more appearance for the dodgers, pitching poorly in relief, and spent the rest of his career in the minor leagues.

whit wyatt

wyatt pitched for the dodgers towards the end of his 16-year career. from 1939 through 1944, wyatt was a part of the dodger rotation, earning all-star berths in each of his first four seasons with the club.  during that stretch, wyatt led the league in wins (22 in 1941), shutouts twice (5 in 1940 and 7 in 1941), and whip (1.058 in 1941). and, although he wasn't an all-star in 1943, he led the league in winning percentage and whip that year, too. his cumulative era in those first five years with brooklyn was a tidy 2.71, but the wheels came off in 1944 when his era ballooned to 7.17 over 9 starts.  that was the end for wyatt in brooklyn, although he did pitch for the phillies in 1945.

that's all for this week!

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!

it's the end of the year as we know it, and i feel like showing some dodger double play turns

one last post in 2014, and it's all dodgers and all double play turns.  too bad there's no davey lopes or bill russell.  there is, however, their infield coach jim gilliam, turning two on his 1995 topps brooklyn archives 1956 reprint card

i dont think i knew that topps had listed gilliam as an outfielder on his 1956 card.  he's definitely not playing as an outfielder on the card.

here's a 2009 topps chrome orlando hudson xfractor

i'm working on updating my double play binders. there are a number of dodger dps, like the hudson above, that i only have one copy of.  i'm trying to get a handle on that so i can pursue duplicates appropriately.  i know i only have one of these - a 2011 topps ivan dejesus factory set limited edition card

but i might have two of his diamond anniversary parallel

conversely, i actually do have two copies of rafael furcal's 2011 topps factory set limited edition card

but maybe only one of the diamond anniversary parallel

furcal's 2011 topps card may be the best double play card of the set (remember - dee gordon's fantastic double play card came in 2011 topps update), and i had been lax in chasing the parallels.  so, here are the cognac,

gold,

and walmart black versions

the same photo was also used in 2011 topps chrome, thankfully, so here are the orange refractor

and xfractor parallels

gordon got his first taste of the topps flagship in 2012, when he was featured on a rookie cup card and another card that showed him turning two with larry 'chipper' jones sliding in.  this is the golden sparkle parallel

fast forward to 2014, and we had more parallels of dodgers turning two.  i found a yellow parallel of mark ellis from 2014 topps a while back

i definitely only have one of those.

same with this other retail parallel - a 2014 topps alex guerrero green border

it's a tatooine card, too, but i'm currently focused on two copies - the tatooine collection can wait.

i'm less certain about some of the other parallels of this card that i have, like his gold card,

red hot foil,

and 2014 topps chrome cards

pretty sure i have two copies of his 2014 topps chrome refractor

but i know i only have one 2014 topps chrome blue refractor

orange refractor,

and xfractor.

in fact, the duplicate xfractor is one of my nefarious 9 - my most wanted cards.

i'll finish the post, and year, with this - one of my 1953 bowman color pee wee reese cards

that i finally removed from its casing.  this is the one in my dodger binder - the one with the pinhole is in the double play binder.

happy new year everybody - if you can't tell, i'm resolving to work on my want/have lists.