sunday morning target dodgers

for the second day in a row, i am leading off a post with a card of jim lefebvre! it's lefebvrepalooza time, apparently.  yes, jim lefebvre's card was on this week's sheet of 1990 target cards.  let's have a look (at 14 of the 15 from that sheet, anyway).

jim lefebvre

he's turning two!  i actually put this card in my double play binder - i bought a single online so that i could keep the sheets intact.  i think the only other target single i have is steve garvey.  anyway, lefebvre was the 1965 nl rookie of the year and he was also a henchman of the riddler on the batman tv show.  top that justin turner or dee gordon!

hal janvrin

janvrin was on the red sox team (along with babe ruth) that beat the brooklyn robins in the 1916 world series (he hit .217 in the series as the second baseman for the sox).  he joined the robins in 1921 following a midseason trade from the cardinals, and remained with the club through the 1922 season.

roy jarvis

jarvis may well be the shortest tenured of all the dodgers.  as an 18-year old in 1944, he had one solitary plate appearance and struck out (he also caught a few innings that day).  it was his only appearance as a dodger, although he did resurface in the major leagues with pittsburgh in 1946 and 1947.

tim jordan

jordan is the only member of the brooklyn/los angeles franchise to have led the league in home runs more than once - his 12 home runs led the national league in both 1906 and 1908.  jordan spent 4+ seasons with the superbas before his big league career ended in 1910.  he continued to play minor league ball until the age of 41.

frank kellert

kellert spent only one season with the brooklyn dodgers, but it was a good one.  he was acquired via trade from the orioles in march of 1955 in exchange for erv palica, and he went on to appear in the only world series that the brooklyn dodgers won.  kellert hit .325 in 39 games during the regular season, with many of his appearances coming as a pinch hitter.  in the world series, he was 1 for 3 (all appearances were as a pinch hitter) although each game he appeared in were games the dodgers lost.  after the series, kellert was claimed on waivers by the cubs which was unfortunate because topps then had time to put him in a cubs hat on his 1956 topps card.  kellert did get a dodger card in the 1995 topps brooklyn dodger archives set, though.

clyde king

this card would have been killer in color - it would be great in the 1957 topps set.  anyway, king is a dodger double dipper and a former yankee gm.

tony lazzeri

speaking of yankees, lazzeri is best known as the second baseman for the yankees (including the 1927 club), as he spent 12 seasons in new york and won 6 world series between 1926 and 1937.  lazzeri joined the cubs in 1938 and took them to the world series, where they lost to the cubs thanks to a called shot and a billy goat, supposedly.  in 1939, he returned to the east coast as a member of the brooklyn dodgers.  he hit .282 in 14 games for the dodgers and was released.

bill marriot

marriot played for the robins in 1926 and 1927.  he was the team's primary third baseman in 1926, hitting .267 in 109 games.

len matuszek

a modern era dodger!  matuszek came to the dodgers in 1985 in the al oliver trade with toronto.  he stuck with the team as a pinch hitter through the 1987 season, and was 1 for 1 in the 1985 nlcs.

fred mitchell

mitchell's contract was purchased by the superbas during the 1904 season.  he made 8 starts for them that year, and had a record of 2-5.  he returned for the 1905 season, and was 2-7 in 12 pitching appearances, although he also played in the field in more than a dozen other games.  he spent the next few seasons in the minors, but returned to the major leagues in 1910 with the new york highlanders (yankees) as catcher.  mitchell later turned to managing and led the 1918 chicago cubs to the world series in that role.

eddie morgan

morgan hit .188 in 31 games for the 1937 brooklyn dodgers following a cup of coffee with the 1936 saint louis cardinals.  morgan has the distinction of being one of the few players to hit a home run in his first major league at bat, and it was the only home run of his career.

val picinich

valentine here was a catcher who joined the robins in 1929 and stayed with the franchise until he was released during the 1933 season.  he appeared in a total of 187 games during that span, and hit .255 with 6 homers.

bill schardt

schardt's major league career consists of 46 games spread over the 1911 and 1912 seasons, all as a dodger.  he posted a record of 5-16 in those appearances and completed 10 of 22 starts.

nick tremark

tremark also spent his entire big league career with the dodgers.  he played in 35 games over the course of three seasons - 1934 through 1936.  he hit .247 and at 5'-5", he was the freddie patek of his day.

thanks as always to baseball reference for shedding light on these guys.  it makes the set much more enjoyable the more you know about the players.

some beauties of a bowman

not too long ago, i posted about dodger double dipper clyde king.  i used a 1952 bowman card of his in the post - a card that i had purchased but not yet received.  i figured i might as well show the card again once it was in my possession, and i will, but first let's see this 1952 bowman cal abrams card that accompanied king on his journey.

abrams' card is superior to king's

but any 1950's bowman card is a fantastic add to my collection.  here are some other ones that i have picked up over the past few months.

1951 bowman carl furillo

and a 1951 bowman charlie dressen

i picked up the dressen at the most recent card show i attended.  i like how the card is cropped.  it looks like dressen is poking at the boundary of his two-dimensional cage.  kind of a-ha-ish.

here's a 1954 bowman george shuba

according to baseball reference, george 'shotgun' shuba was earning $13k in 1954.  i wonder if that's why he made his s look like a dollar sign.

i prefer his 1954 bowman card to his 1955 bowman card, but i bought one anyway at the same show i found the dressen

it's somewhat distressed, but that's ok.  1955 was a magical year for the dodgers, and i am very close to completing this team set.  1955 was shuba's last year in the majors, so he went out on top - making his final big league appearance in game 4 of the world series.

chico fernandez's rookie card is in much better shape

fernandez didn't debut for the dodgers until 1956, and his dodger career included only 34 apperances. he was traded to the phillies in 1957.

walt moryn

was traded after the 1955 season to the cubs, but still didn't appear in the 1955 fall classic.

charlie neal

like fernandez, made his debut in 1956. he stayed with the dodgers until he was traded to the expansion mets in december of 1961.  he also missed the 1955 world series, but he did stay with the dodgers long enough to play in the 1959 world series.

ken lehman

didn't pitch for the dodgers in 1955 (he spent the year in the minors), and the orioles purchased his contract in 1957.  he debuted in 1952, however, and got to pitch two innings in that year's world series against the yankees.

i was somewhat dismissive of early bowman during my formative collecting years.  now i recognize that these cards are pretty f'n cool.

my pared down 1952 topps sampler set, a dodger double dipper, and a contest winner!

thanks to all who joined me in wishing steve garvey a happy birthday yesterday.  as promised, i will be giving away a 1952 topps card to one of you.

first, let's take a look at what my 1952 topps sampler set looks like now.  as you'll recall, i decided to pare down most of my pre-1970 collection (1957 topps and 1965 topps not included) to just dodgers and a few double plays, final tributes, and memorials.  here's what i am left with from 1952.

that's wayne terwilliger, the overly happy chris van cuyk, a forlorn johnny schmitz, and clyde king.  billy cox, rocky bridges, and ralph branca, too.  there is one spot left on the sheet, and darned if a high number wouldn't look nice there.  i'll have to do something about that.

i have posted about each of these guys in one way or another, except for van cuyk, a dodger pitcher from wisconsin.  van cuyk will have to wait, however, as clyde king is hijacking this post.  yes, king was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the fiftyfifth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, and ron perranoski.]

just for fun, here's another 1952 clyde king card - from bowman - that i just picked up.

it hasn't arrived yet, but i am posting it anyway.

king signed with the dodgers prior to the 1944 season, and a couple of months into that season, he was making his debut with the club.  he wound up going 13-12 for the dodgers from 1944 through may of 1948 before the team put him on waivers.  he was selected by the phillies, but never did appear in a game for them.  they wound up waiving him a few days later, and the dodgers decided to bring him back into the fold.  when he returned to the mound for brooklyn in 1951, king's status as a double dipper was completed.

he had his best season in 1951, going 14-7 with a complete game and 6 saves.  then, after one more season in brooklyn, king was traded to the reds for dixie howell.  he finished his big league playing career with the reds in 1953, but spent a couple more seasons in the minors.  after that, king began his managerial career in the braves' organization.  he managed in the pirates' organization, too, and was later an instructor/coach for the cardinals, reds, and back to the pirates during the 1960's.  late in the decade, he joined the giants' organization, and was named their manager in 1969.  from there, he moved on to managing the braves, and later the yankees.  he also took a turn as the yankees' general manager in the mid-1980's, and wound up trading for jay buhner and rickey henderson, among others, as well as signing bernie williams.

but enough about king.  let's find out who gets a 1952 topps card.  there were 5 blogs which promoted the contest:

the junior junkie
it's like having my own card shop
mark's ephemera
the writer's journey
tenets of wilson

there were 24 blogs (other than mine) that wished steve a happy birthday and left a comment.  i wasn't too much of a stickler beyond that - it's the thought that counts, right?  here are the blogs:

the writer's journey
it's like having my own card shop
ptown tom
angels in order
1978 baseball
red cardboard
the chronicles of fuji
the diamond king
this way to the clubhouse
tenets of wilson
coot veal and the vealtones
mark's ephemera
the prowling cat
the junior junkie
the lost collector
baseball card breakdown
1978, the year it all began
dime boxes
chavez ravining
play at the plate
cards on cards
dodger penguin
night owl cards
playing with my cards

so, here's the list that goes into random.org:

the junior junkie
it's like having my own card shop
mark's ephemera
the writer's journey
tenets of wilson
the writer's journey
it's like having my own card shop
ptown tom
angels in order
1978 baseball
red cardboard
the chronicles of fuji
the diamond king
this way to the clubhouse
tenets of wilson
coot veal and the vealtones
mark's ephemera
the prowling cat
the junior junkie
the lost collector
baseball card breakdown
1978, the year it all began
dime boxes
chavez ravining
play at the plate
cards on cards
dodger penguin
night owl cards
playing with my cards

and, after randomizing 6 (the garv's jersey number) times, the winner is…

…play at the plate.

brian requested the senators (which are the twins' senators, not the rangers' senators), so he receives an eddie yost card.

yost wound up as an original angel, and not a twin, in 1961.  dude could get on base, too.

congrats brian, and thanks again to all who participated.

a money saving trade with dustin

a while back i completed a trade with reader dustin.  it was a good trade - he sent a bunch of cool dodgers.  in fact, he sent a card that i had been wanting for a while and was almost ready to 'bin' on ebay after watching a storefront listing for a couple of months.  it's this 2004 topps heritage duke snider insert

which commemorates his 4th home run of the 1955 world series (the second time he had hit 4 home runs in a single series).  it's even cooler because it has jackie robinson and gil hodges lurking with their hands extended in congratulations for the silver fox.  awesome card, and i didn't even know it was coming in advance.

speaking of jackie, here he is on one of his 1997 upper deck cards

nice and shiny!

staying with the brooklyn theme, here's a 1993 leaf studio eric karros heritage series insert

the back says that this is a 1911 uniform 'and bat from that era'.  1911 was the first year the team was called the dodgers, so that's cool.  i'm glad they ditched the pinstripes though.

2003 topps traded brennan king gold parallel

king made it to aa with the dodgers in 2002, and played in jacksonville through the 2004 season.  he then moved on to the royals and phillies systems, making it to aaa for the phils.  it looks like he peaked there, with 2008 being his final year in pro ball.

1993 leaf raul mondesi

i don't know what is going on here.  i had no idea mondesi was ever a switch hitter, but it's not a reversed negative so he clearly thought he could go lefty.  i suppose it's a good thing he gave it up, but who knows - maybe he raked?

1997 bowman joe lagarde

joe here has a unique look about him.  not quite sure what it is that strikes me as odd.  anyway, he pitched in the dodgers' system for 6 years, first as a starter and then as a reliever.  he made it to aaa in 1996 and 1998, which was his last year in pro ball.

1994 topps finest mike piazza

this card was tough to come across back in 1994.  i don't think i even tried.  it's nice to have now, though.

1987 tcma greatest teams ed roebuck and clem labine

roebuck and labine shared the 'closer' duties on the 1955 dodger team.  roebuck had 12 'saves' while labine had 11.  in the series, labine won game 4 and 'saved' game 5, while roebuck made one relief appearance and gave up no runs in two innings.  it's nice to see these guys on a card instead of the usual boys of summer.

thanks for the trade dustin! it is much appreciated!

twins fest, day two

it was 6 below when i got in line on saturday morning, about 2 hours before opening. mauer was signing at 9 and morneau at 11. i had decided to head straight for morneau (he wasn't signing on sunday) and come back for mauer on sunday. as it turned out, a couple of guys ahead of me were going to mauer and killebrew, and they suggested working together to 'divide and conquer'. as a result, we all wound up with mauer and morneau's autographs, saving me a trip back on sunday. plus, we were able to get rod carew's autograph, as his line had shortened considerably by the time we were through morneau's line. i passed on the additional $10 for hof authentication, though.

with that accomplished, i went back to the field to pick up a few more cards, starting with an impulse purchase of a 2005 bowman andy laroche jerseybefore hitting some of the 76's i had seen the night before, such as pops and some fast guys.after a few more 1970's (including a couple of pristine checklists and tom haller)my want lists are dwindling.

so, i dug through some vintage bargains. here's a 1952 clyde kingi also picked up a 1953 dick williams (yes, that dick williams - before he went all burl ives) and a 1954 billy herman.i found a decent looking 1967 drysdale and couldn't resist.and really, what's the point of having a drysdale if you don't get a koufax to go along with it? so, i picked up a 1964 world series sandy.

after starting out poorly, i would say twins fest was a success this year. i got the autographs my son wanted and some great cards that i wanted. here's hoping they let the twins use the metrodome again next year for this even though their lease will be up.