sunday morning target dodgers - mr. ebbets would like a word with you

another sunday, another sheet of 15 cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set.  this one features a wide range of folks, including one of their owners, who gets a card because he also managed the team for part of a season.

charlie ebbets

an architect by trade, ebbets was also a member of brooklyn's city council who went to work for the brooklyn baseball franchise when they were still a member of the american association.  by the time the bridegrooms joined the national league in 1890, ebbets was a shareholder of the team.  he took over the operations of the club in the 1890's and installed himself as the team's manager for the latter part of the 1898 season.  the team finished 10th, and ned hanlon, who had purchased an interest in the club, took over managerial duties in an attempt to turn things around.  hanlon did just that, and brooklyn won the pennant in 1899 and 1900.  ebbets bought hanlon out in 1902 in an effort to keep the team in brooklyn, and in 1912, ebbets went a step further by selling shares in the team to help finance what would become ebbets field.  he continued to own the team with the mckeever brothers until his death in 1925.

jack banta

banta spent four seasons at the big league level, all with the dodgers.  he pitched in a total of 69 games from 1947-1950, posting a record of 14-12 with a 3.78 era.  banta appeared in 3 games during the 1949 world series, unfortunately they were all games that the dodgers lost.

lu blue

beginning with his debut with the tigers in 1921 through his release by the white sox prior to the 1933 season (he also played for the browns), blue had been his team's primary first baseman - averaging 134 games each season and hitting at a clip near .300 most years while drawing a lot of walks.  the dodgers signed him for the 1933 campaign following his release from chicago, but something happened and he had only one plate appearance for the club.  after making an out in that lone at bat, the dodgers released blue and his big league career came to an end.

alta cohen

cohen went 2 for 3 in his big league debut as a robin in 1931, so he entered the 1932 season with a .667 career batting average.  however, he hit just .156 in 9 games for the dodgers that year, and he found himself with the phillies for the 1933 season as a result.

nick cullop

cullop's nickname (according to baseball-reference) was 'tomato face'.  based on the photo that target used for his card, i suppose i could see the nickname making sense - he's looking a bit ruddy.  anyway, cullop played for the robins in 1929, one season of his five spent in the majors.  cullop had debuted for the 1926 yankees, but there was no room for him on murderer's row, so he was sent to the senators.  cullop also played for cleveland prior to joining brooklyn, where he hit .195.  following the 1929 season, cullop played for the reds as he finished out his big league career in cincinnati in 1931.

eddie dent

dent pitched for the superbas in 1909, and then was back with the dodgers in 1911 and 1912.  he was 4-5 with a 4.46 era in 12 appearances for the franchise, which is 6 times the number of appearances the next guy in the post had.

john duffie

duffie could be a poster boy for hard luck pitchers.  he made two appearances in the big leagues - both as a starting pitcher for the 1967 dodgers - and he has a career 0-2 record.  his career era is a nice 2.79, but the dodgers scored only two runs in his debut and just one in his final game.  in duffie's first game, he was facing the mets' rookie sensation tom seaver, and he allowed the first run to score thanks to his own error.  however, the mets scored two more unearned runs and beat duffie and the dodgers 7-2.  duffie's second and final start was at home against the phillies, and he allowed a lead-off home run to cookie rojas and a second run in the fifth inning, and the 1967 dodgers weren't going to come back from that kind of deficit.

jeff fischer

i do not recall fischer as a dodger, largely because he only pitched in two games for them at the tail end of the forgettable 1989 season after being acquired in a trade with the expos in which the dodgers gave up gilberto reyes.  fischer's first appearance for the blue was a disaster - five earned runs allowed in 1.1 innings of work against the astros - but his second (and last) was almost perfect.  after allowing a leadoff double to the padres' roberto alomar on september 23, 1989, fischer retired the next 6 padres he faced, including a couple by strikeout.  it would turn out to be his final big league appearance.

sid gautreaux

with a name like that, you know that gautreaux was from louisiana, and sure enough, he hailed from schriever, la.  gautreaux played for the dodgers in 1936 and 1937, appearing in a total of 86 games and putting up a .247 average.  other than that, all of gautreaux's time was spent in the minor leagues where he played until he was 40 and then spent a few seasons as a manager.

billy grabarkewitz

poor grabarkewitz has the misfortune of getting his name spelled incorrectly by the folks at target.  billy g was a utility infielder for the dodgers from 1969 through 1972, although he was the team's primary third baseman in 1970.  that year, grabs played in 156 games (95 starts at third) and earned a spot on the national league all-star team thanks to a hefty .341 batting average at the break.  unfortunately, he hit just .232 in the second half, and finished the season with a .289 average.  grabarkewitz was traded to the angels in the frank robinson for andy messersmith deal prior to the 1973 season.

shawn hillegas

hillegas was still active when this set was released, although he was pitching for the white sox at the time.  he had the misfortune of being traded by the dodgers to the chisox at the end of august, 1988 for ricky horton. as such, hillegas missed the chance to be a part of the dodgers' world series run.  he had been the dodgers' first round pick in the 1984 secondary draft, and debuted for the club in 1987.  he pitched in 23 games for the dodgers, posting an era of 3.85 with the club.

fred kipp

kipp moved west with the dodgers in 1958. having appeared in one game for the 1957 brooklyn club, he pitched in 40 games for the 1958 los angeles dodgers.  he was 6-6 that year and wound up appearing in just two games the following season for the eventual world champs, although he did not appear in the world series.  kipp was traded to the yankees prior to the 1960 campaign, and he finished his big league career that year with the pennant winning bronx bombers, although he again missed the world series.

ernie koy

koy was one of those guys whose rookie year turned out to be his best year.  in 1938, as a 28 year old rookie outfielder for the dodgers, koy appeared in 142 games, hitting .299 with 11 homers and 76 rbi.  he also scored 78 runs, stole 15 bases, and had 156 hits, 13 of which were triples.  all of those numbers except the batting average (he hit .301 in 1940) turned out to be career highs for koy.  he played in 125 games for the 1939 dodgers, but was traded to the cardinals during the 1940 season in the deal that brought joe medwick to brooklyn.  koy also played for the reds and phillies, and he lived to be 97 years old, passing away on new year's day, 2007.

bill mccarren

mccarren's lone season of big league experience came as a member of the 1923 brooklyn robins.  playing mostly third base, mccarren appeared in 69 games that season, hitting .245.  mccarren later became a scout for the red sox. 

bob milliken

milliken spent two seasons pitching in the major leagues (1953 and 1954), but was in the dodger organization from 1947 through 1959 (excluding military service in 1951 and 1952).  he had a big league record of 13-6 with 4 saves (including an 8-4 record in 1953), and he appeared in the 1953 world series, throwing two scoreless innings against the yankees.

that's it for this week - there should be another 15 tales to tell next sunday. stay tuned.

motivated by minis

duane from democratic roadkill recently offered to send me some cards in exchange for some 2014 topps allen & ginter minis.  he really wants minis - so much so that he sent more cards than i expected, and i have been delinquent in completing the trade as i have tried to pick up a few more things to send in return.  here are some of the cards that duane sent.

he recently finished a 1960 topps set, so he sent some doubles my way.  fred kipp

danny mcdevitt

and john roseboro

it wasn't all vintage goodness (i'll show more of the vintage haul in a separate post) - there was some modern stuff, too.

i don't know that i've ever looked at the mike marshall and steve sax cards from 1989 score together at the same time, but they make for an interesting combination

as do these two cards from 2009 upper deck goudey - andre ethier, kirk gibson, clayton kershaw, and russell martin 4-in-1 red and green border

these cards remind me of sesame street.  russell martin is doing his own thing by wearing his headgear backwards.  and now the song is done.

minis are primarily what duane was after - he collects the a&g minis like nobody else - so of course he has plenty of extras.  here are a few from 2013 topps a&g that he sent - hanley ramirez, chad billingsley, ethier, and hyun-jin ryu

this stuff wasn't even the best part of the package duane sent, so stay tuned...

the topps dodgers autograph project - the early los angeles years

in case you missed the first installment, i am taking the lost collector's yankee project and putting my dodger spin on it.  so now we are into the los angeles years.  all of these autographs were obtained through the mail, and were free of charge. 

joe pignatano, 1958 topps

i've posted this one before.  pignatano was a brooklyn native who played in a handful of games as a hometown boy done good before moving to the west coast with the team.  he stayed with the dodgers until his contract was purchased by the a's prior to the 1961 season.  other players who have signed their 1958 topps cards for me include don zimmer.  that's it.

fred kipp, 1959 topps

kipp also went west with the club, having made an appearance with the team in 1957.  1958 was his big year in the majors, as he went 6-6 in 40 appearances.  he pitched in 2 games in 1959, and then was traded to the yankees prior to the 1960 season.  i have a few other 1959 topps cards that were signed through the mail - carl erskine, dick gray, and bob lillis.

chuck essegian, 1960 topps

essegian joined the dodgers for the latter part of the 1959 season.  he came from saint louis in exchange for dick gray, the man who had hit the first home run in los angeles dodger history.  essegian hit some home runs, too, as it turned out.  in the 1959 world series against the white sox, he had not one, but two pinch hit home runs.  the first one came in game 2 of the series with the dodgers down a game and trailing by a run in the 7th inning.  essegian''s blast tied the game, and a couple of batters later, charlie neal put them ahead to stay with his second home run of the game.  some other former dodgers who have signed their 1960 cards for me through the mail include roger craig (with fee), don demeter, and bob lillis.

bob aspromonte, 1961 topps

i posted this one not too long ago - it's the most recent 1961 topps card i have had signed through the mail.  others in my collection include don demeter, don newcombe (with fee), and joe pignatano.

norm sherry, 1962 topps

sherry debuted in the big leagues with a bang.  on april 12, 1959, he was the dodgers' starting catcher against the cubs.  on the mound that day was sandy koufax, the pitcher whom sherry suggested should just relax and take something off of his fastball to be more effective.  while koufax only lasted three innings that day, sherry played the whole game.  he was hit by a pitch in his first big league at bat, and then hit a two-run single his next time up.  sherry didn't appear in another game until september, but he was back in la each season from 1960 through 1962.  he even occasionally caught his brother larry.  i chose to feature sherry's card simply because i had not yet posted it on the blog.  other 1962 topps cards that i have received signed through the mail include tommy davis (with fee), willie davis (with fee), frank howard (with fee), wally moon (with fee), ron perranoski, pete richert, and daryl spencer.

ed roebuck, 1963 topps

same goes here for roebuck.  i've had his 1963 card  sitting in my scanned folder for a while now, but have never gotten around to showing it off.  roebuck was a member of the world champion brooklyn dodgers in 1955 (his rookie season) and he threw a couple of scoreless innings in the fall classic that year.  he also pitched in the 1956 world series.  unfortunately, roebuck did not pitch in the majors in 1959 due to injury, and so he missed out on another opportunity to pitch in the world series.  roebuck had a big year in 1962, winning 10 games and saving another 9.  he was traded to the senators in july of 1963, however, and eventually finished his career in philadelphia three years later.  the other 1963 cards i have signed through the mail include joe moeller, wally moon (with fee), and don zimmer.

ken mcmullen, 1964 topps

this is another card that i was saving for a different post - most likely mcmullen's double dipper post - but it fits here as part of the topps dodgers autograph project.  mcmullen first appeared in the big leagues in 1962, and he played in a total of 109 games for the dodgers between then and 1964.  after the 1964 season, he was traded to the senators in the claude osteen/frank howard deal.  he had his best years in washington and then in california with the angels before returning to the dodgers in a reserve role.  mcmullen gets the nod to represent 1964 over the other signed ttm cards in my collection, including willie davis (with fee), pete richert, and dick tracewski.

here's a running list of the cards and players in my topps dodgers autograph project.  only a few that were not free, and a different player for each year.

1951 topps - preacher roe (purchased)

1952 topps - rocky bridges

1953 topps - bobby morgan

1954 topps - billy herman (purchased)

1955 topps - don zimmer (purchased)

1956 topps - randy jackson

1957 topps - carl erskine

1958 topps - joe pignatano

1959 topps - fred kipp

1960 topps - chuck essegian

1961 topps - bob aspromonte

1962 topps - norm sherry

1963 topps - ed roebuck

1964 topps - ken mcmullen