an abbreviated run through the 1997 mother's cookies dodger set

1997 was all about the 50th anniversary of jackie robinson's major league debut, and the mother's cookies dodger set that year included a special card with the anniversary logo.

that's the logo that the dodgers wore - remember, while all teams wore a similar patch, the dodgers, marlins, and expos put their own twist on it.

here are a few more cards from the 1997 mother's cookies dodger set

bill russell

the manager!

and his coaches!

plus, the five straight rookies of the year - eric karros

mike piazza

raul mondesi

hideo nomo

and todd hollandsworth

here's the current diamondbacks manager, chip hale

in what may well be his only dodger card

darren hall

has a couple of dodger cards, but not many.

does anyone recall nelson liriano as a dodger?

he played in 76 games for the 1997 dodgers, and his lone home run in dodger blue was a 9th inning game winner against the cubs.

here's one more - scott radinsky

if it weren't for these mother's sets, i don't think i would have more than one card of the pulley lead singer and current dodger minor league pitching coach.

thanks again to mr. haverkamp for brokering the deal that netted me these sets.

sunday morning target dodgers - putting the 'l' in 'gcrl' and the last brooklyn dodger

another sunday, another sheet from the 1990 target giveaway set marking the dodger franchise's 100th anniversary of national league existence.

this sheet is a pretty good one - we'll start with the second baseman on the team of my youth, and the dodgers' current first base coach, davey lopes

lopes helped the dodgers to 4 pennants during his tenure as their second baseman.  he led the league in steals in 1975 and 1976 - the last dodger to do so.  maybe dee gordon will break that streak this year.

hank aguirre

nice dodger stadium background there!  aguirre spent the entire 1968 season with the dodgers and seemed to pitch well following a solid decade with the tigers.  for the blue, he had a 0.69 era in 25 appearances, including 39 innings of work, but was released by the team during the offseason.  he wound up signing with the cubs and pitched for a couple more seasons.

roy campanella

campy is one of a very small group of players to have won 3 mvp awards.  he won his over a 5-year span during his 10-year tenure as the dodgers' catcher that came to an end when he was paralyzed from injuries sustained in a car accident following the 1957 season.  he entered the hall of fame in 1969, and his number was retired by the dodgers right about 42 years ago at the same time that jackie robinson and sandy koufax had their numbers retired.

george dockins

the card says that dockins was an infielder, but he was actually a pitcher.  dockins pitched for the cardinals in 1945, but had his contract purchased by the dodgers in 1946.  he reached the big leagues with the club in 1947, appearing in four games.  he had no record with an era of 11.81.

dave foutz

not often you see a necktie on a baseball card.  foutz was with the brooklyn franchise starting in 1888,  two years before the bridegrooms joined the nl, and so was an original national league brooklyn-ite.  he stayed with the team as a player through 1896.  he also was a pitcher, but spent most of his time with brooklyn as a first baseman and outfielder.  oh, he was also the team's third manager, leading the team from 1893 though 1896 when both his playing and managing careers came to a simultaneous end, reportedly due to difficulties with asthma. sadly, he died at the age of 40 shortly thereafter.

john hale

that's a pretty good photo used on hale's card.  hale was an outfielder on the dodgers from 1974 until late in the 1977 season when the dodgers put him on waivers and he was claimed by the blue jays.  two weeks later, the mariners purchased his contract, and he spent 1978 and 79 with the m's.  as a dodger, he started out with a bang.  he was 4 for 4 in his first big league appearances in 1974 - his first big league at bat came against jr richard, and resulted in a double for hale.  hale was the team's fourth outfielder in 1975 behind bill buckner, jim wynn, and willie crawford, but wasn't able to crack the starting lineup even with the departure of those three because of the arrival of their replacements - dusty baker, reggie smith, and rick monday.

joe judge

judge had spent 18 seasons with the washington senators, including their two pennant winning teams, before joining the dodgers for the 1933 season.  as a dodger, judge played in 42 games and hit just .214.  he was released by the team and returned to the american league as a member of the boston red sox.

mike kekich

another dodger stadium backdrop!  kekich is best known by me as one of three 'other' dodgers featured on jim lefebvre's 1965 topps rookie card.  truth is, he spent 9 years in the majors, mostly as a yankee.  he debuted for the dodgers in 1965 as a 20-year old and was 0-1 in 5 appearances.  he returned to the big leagues in 1968 and went 2-10 in 25 games.  following the season, he was dealt to the yankees for andy kosco.

bob kennedy

bob kennedy ended his big league playing career with 19 appearances for the brooklyn dodgers in 1957.  in fact, he made the final out in the dodgers' last game as the brooklyn dodgers, a fly out to end the 1957 season.  like kekich, i remember kennedy more for a 1965 topps card - the one that shows him as 'head coach' because the cubs used a group of coaches rather than a manager for a season or two.

rudy law

law debuted with the dodgers as a september call-up in 1978.  he returned to the majors in 1980 as the club's primary center fielder and stole 40 bases.  unfortunately, the dodgers went out and traded for ken landreaux and so law spent the team's 1981 championship season in the minors.  law was traded to the white sox prior to the 1982 season, and made the postseason that year with chicago.

ramon martinez

martinez debuted during the dodgers' memorable 1988 season, but didn't appear in the postseason.  he soon became the team's ace, winning 20 games in 1990.  his 1314 strikeouts as a dodger are good for 8th all-time in franchise history, but he should be passed by clayton kershaw here in the next few weeks.

chappie mcfarland

mcfarland earned this card by making one start for the brooklyn superbas in 1906.  he pitched a complete game, but unfortunately it was a loss in which he allowed 8 earned runs.  that game was not only the sum of his brooklyn career, it was the end of his big league career that had begun in 1902.

johnny mitchell

mitchell spent the 1924 and 1925 seasons with the brooklyn robins.  he hit .256 as one of the team's shortstops, playing in a total of 161 games as a robin.

howie schultz

schultz broke in with the dodgers in 1943, playing first base.  he played in over 300 games for the dodgers at that position until he was replaced by jackie robinson in 1947.  the dodgers dealt him to the phillies early on in the 1947 season.  after retiring from baseball following the 1948 season, schultz went on to play in the nba with his hometown minneapolis lakers.

tracy woodson

woodson played for the dodgers from 1987 into 1989.  he was a member of the 1988 world champions, getting into four of the five world series games that year against the a's.  in fact, woodson drove in what wound up being the game winning run of the dodgers' game 4 4-3 victory that put them up 3 games to 1.

sportscaster goodness - keeping score with vin scully in the dodger stadium dugout seats

vin scully started his 63rd year behind the microphone for the dodgers yesterday.  although he is more commonly referred to as an announcer, he is a sportscaster and in his honor i will be posting some fantastic 1977-79 sportscaster cards over the next few days or so.  the first one is a generically themed baseball card with a tie to scully himself, although i am sure that was unintentional.  i am thankful that the good folks in italy decided to illustrate their 'keeping score' card with a fantastic shot of dodger stadium.

the photo was taken from the old 'dugout seats'  that ran in a semi-circle from dugout to dugout at true field level before frank mccourt came along and replaced them in 2005 or so.  yours truly never had the opportunity or the good fortune to sit in these seats, unfortunately.  i did, however, keep score at dodger stadium countless times, using a scorecard similar to the one the smartly dressed lady is using.

i never used a pen (kudos to the lady for her confidence in scoring), and the last inning would sometimes get forgotten as the game ended and we began our trek to the parking lot, but i don't think there was a game i attended without keeping score until i was in college.

there are lots of other things that i appreciate about the picture.  certainly, the view of dodger stadium from that level is fantastic.  the fact that i can tell the dodgers are hosting the padres (thanks to those great brown and yellow uniforms) is great.  and, the fact that there is a lurking john hale on deck just makes the card that much better.  i wish i could read her scorecard better and see if hale is pinch-hitting for someone or if it were one of his rare starts.  there's really no way to know which game this is from (he appeared in 7 games against the padres at dodger stadium in 1977 alone, and surprisingly, 5 of them were starts and at least two were day games!

i also like the fact that the kid is holding the same small wax cup of pepsi that i used to clamor for at the stadium, although i regret that no one is eating a dodger dog in the photo.

lastly, i love love love that the lady is holding in her left hand her transistor radio.  those of you who never attended a game at dodger stadium in the late-1970's and early 1980's (and before that, too although i have no personal experience) do not realize just how prevalent the transistor radio was among the fans in the stands.  everybody was listening to vin scully.  he tells a couple of stories where he used this fact to lighten the mood, such as encouraging the fans to wish an umpire 'happy birthday' at a given moment.

[as luck would have it, dylan hernandez of the la times wrote a column the other day which touched on both the dugout seats and scully playfully taking advantage of his in-stadium radio audience.]

i am pretty happy to have this card.  i can imagine this lady taking pause from her scorecard as john hale waits to bat against dan spillner or some such friar, and vin scully is waxing poetic about some tow-headed kid in the stands who dropped their ice cream.

thank you, vin scully, for making it so easy to enjoy dodger baseball.

the kevin pasley 1978 topps burger king dodger/update card that should have been

when the 1977 season ended, kevin pasley had been a mariner for just a couple of weeks.  during that time, however, he played in twice as many games (4) than he had for the dodgers during the previous 5 months of the season.  of course, he wasn't called up to the big club in la until august.  anyway, with the mariners purchasing his contract, that meant that just like john hale, pasley (who got his first card in 1977 sharing space with dale murphy)

was destined to be featured in the 1978 set wearing the trident, if at all.  he did get a card in the 1978 set, once again sharing space with three other guys hoping to make a mark in the big leagues

there's the trident.  at least pasley made it to the top row on his second card.

as you know by now, that's not good enough for me.  every member of the 1977 and/or 1978 dodger team deserves to be recognized as a dodger, in my opinion, so here is the latest installment in the 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update project.  the kevin pasley card that should have been

with a back

due to the dearth of kevin pasley color images, i was reduced to using a 1980 tcma minor league card

i also used a mike scioscia card to get the jersey on pasley, and i am just now realizing that i forgot to change the number.  pasley wore duke snider's number 4 while with the dodgers, as it was not retired until the duke made the hall of fame in 1980.  i did eventually find a black and white photo of pasley wearing a dodger uniform, and took a shot at colorizing it.

at least the number is right.  as a dodger, pasley had mixed success.  his path to the big leagues was blocked by steve yeager and joe ferguson, and then by other veteran backups like ellie rodriguez, johnny oates, and jerry grote.  he did get to play in 23 games during the 1976 season when steve yeager was injured, and wound up hitting .231 with 2 rbi.  behind the dish, he threw out about one-third of the runners attempting to steal against him. he was 1 for 3 in the two games he played as a dodger in 1977, and then went 5 for 13 in seattle to post a .375 average for the season.

in 1978, pasley appeared in 25 games but hit just .241.  he did have 5 doubles and also hit his lone career home run - a two-run blast off of hall of famer fergie jenkins.  that long ball put pasley in the company of ted williams, ken mcmullen, and joe rudi as well as a few others i am sure.  that's because pasley hit his home run in his final big league at bat.

after the season, pasley joined the pirates' organization and then spent 1980 and '81 in the blue jays' system.  his last season in the minors was 1982, which he spent with the tigers' aa and aaa affiliates.

i mentioned john hale earlier in the post.  although i like the 'card that should have been' that i created - or more accurately restored - i did find a color photo of hale that worked well for an alternate 1978 card

here's to you kevin pasley, and your card that should have been!

another 1978 topps dodger auto received, but it's not ed goodson

it's been a while since i learned that john hale was included on the 1978 topps dodger team card (that's him seated at the right end of the front row).  i mentioned in my open letter to ed goodson that i had sent the card to hale in the hopes that he would sign it.  he did.

he also signed copies of his actual 1978 topps card

and his 1976 topps card

but sadly not his 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been.

hale was a dodger through most of the 1977 season before being selected on waivers by the blue jays in september.  a week or so later, the mariners claimed him and put him in right field for the 1978 and 1979 seasons.  he later wound up in the cincinnati and baltimore organizations, but not the big leagues for either club. 

here's a tidbit in line with matt's 'everybody's got a record' - when hale went 4 for 4 in 1974, he became the player with the most hits to bat 1.000 in a season.  so there.

as far as my modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project goes, i'm still stuck on 97%.

here's the tally:

team card (red adams) - through the mail success!
team card (mark cresse) - through the mail success!
team card (john hale) - through the mail success!
team card (boog powell) - through the mail success!
dusty baker - through the mail success!
glenn burke - ebay success!
ron cey - through the mail success!
vic davalillo - ebay success!
terry forster - ebay success!
mike garman - through the mail success!
steve garvey - through the mail success!
ed goodson
jerry grote - through the mail success!
burt hooton - through the mail success!
charlie hough - through the mail success!
tommy john - in person/through the mail success!
lee lacy - through the mail success!
tom lasorda - ebay success!
dave lopes - through the mail success!
ted martinez - ebay success!
rick monday - in person/through the mail success!
manny mota - through the mail success!
johnny oates - ebay success!
doug rau - through the mail success!
lance rautzhan - through the mail success!
rick rhoden - through the mail success!
bill russell - through the mail success!
reggie smith - through the mail success!
elias sosa - through the mail success!
don sutton - through the mail success!
steve yeager - ebay success!
nlcs (davey lopes) - through the mail success!

28/29 = 97%

thanks john!

the 1978 topps john hale card that should have been!

yes, john hale did have a card in the 1978 topps set.  but it showed him as a mariner, not a dodger.  in my quest to create 1978 topps cards for every player who appeared for the dodgers in 1977 or 1978, i had to right that wrong.  and what a wrong it was, complete with airbrushed hat and jersey.

here's the 'official' 1978 topps card

now here's my dodger version

restoring it to it's original state, no doubt.

with a back

that was easy to do - i just had to change the team affiliation on the back of the original.

hale was waived by the dodgers in september of 1977, and was picked up by the blue jays.  a few days later, the mariners purchased him, although he made no appearances for either team in the majors that season.  i didn't know this as a kid (heck, i didn't even know it a year ago), i just wondered why he didn't get to make the set as a dodger.  i mean, that photo is very likely taken in vero beach as it is similar to the mike garman, steve garvey and tommy lasorda photos on their cards, and so would fit right in with the dodgers' team set.

hale played all three outfield positions in 1977, and made many appearances as a late inning replacement, pinch runner, or pinch hitter.  one of his 2 home runs in 1977 was a pinch hit shot against joe niekro and the astros.

here's to you, 1978 topps john hale card that should have been!

a bicentennial reader donation

reader mike contacted me a while back with an offer to assist with my want list. he has collected all of the dodger cards since 1952, and had some extras as a result of upgrading his collection. he was kind enough to send some 1976 topps for my set:

dodgers team card/walt alston walt's last appearance - he retired just before the end of the 76 season. this is one of the few dodger team cards that does not feature garvey in the front row. i guess they had some other short players in 1975.

john hale. here's a guy i really don't know much about. i started following the dodgers late in 1977, and i don't think hale made the postseason roster. i do know he also played for seattle because his 1978 topps card was an airbrush job. had they left him as a dodger for that set, i would be able to quote his stats verbatim. it is worth noting that he sports a very nice 'magnum pi' mustache on his 1977 card.

don sutton. i saw sutton pitch quite a bit, and we even ran into him at disneyland once. for two years, the don sutton celebrity golf tournament was held in my home town. i think sutton showed up once. anyway, i respect the talent but i sure didn't think he would be the only hall of famer from these teams.

steve yeager. another nice shot of his neck, although this picture was taken before his esophageal injury. perhaps the only player to ever appear on solid gold and in playgirl magazine. a true renaissance man.

thanks mike!