the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman, part one

it is well known that jackie robinson began his major league career as the dodgers' first baseman in 1947.  unfortunately, i do not own a 1947 bond bread card of jackie's, nor do i own a 1948 leaf card to show in this space.  with that being the case, i'll start the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman with the guy who replaced jackie at first in 1948, gil hodges. this is not a departure from the norm, using a fantastic 1952 bowman card to kick off an evolution post (this is a baseball card blog and i don't have many pre-1950's cards in my collection), but it sure would have been nice to see that leaf card of jackie up top.  maybe someday.

gil hodges (1948-1959)

yes, hodges' 1952 bowman card is fantastic.  i enjoy having it in my collection.  the dodgers enjoyed having hodges' bat in their lineup following his conversion from catcher to first baseman in 1948.  he hit a total of 361 home runs for the dodgers, including 344 during the 12-year span in which he was the team's primary first baseman.  the club also won two world championships (and 6 pennants) with him at first.

norm larker (1960-1961)

norm!  larker (shown on his 1961 topps card) took over for hodges in 1960 and promptly went out and finished second in the national league batting race, .002 behind dick groat and .004 ahead of willie mays.  he was an all-star that year, but came back to earth in 1961, hitting .270 in just 95 games.  he was drafted by the colt .45's in the expansion draft prior to the 1962 season, and he became the very first first baseman in houston's history.  if there were an astros blogger out there doing this same sort of post, larker would be at the very start.

ron fairly (1962-1964)

with larker gone, fairly moved to first from the outfield.  yes, i am showing his 1965 topps card even though he was back in the outfield when the 1965 season rolled around.  before that, however, he enjoyed three solid seasons as the dodger first baseman, averaging 12 homers and 74 rbi.  he was playing more outfield by the end of the '63 season, making way for bill skowron.  as a result, he made only late-inning appearances during the 1963 world series.

wes parker (1965-1972)

skowron left the dodgers after one season, and fairly moved back to the outfield with wes parker taking over at first.  he became part of the team's all switch hitting infield (with jim lefebvre, jim gilliam, and maury wills) and helped the dodgers win the world series against the twins.  parker also won gold gloves in 6 of his 8 seasons spent playing primarily at first (including 1971 - the year of the topps card shown above).  in 1970, he led the national league with 47 doubles, but he was always better known for his skill with the leather, compiling a career .996 fielding percentage as a first baseman.  he retired following the 1972 season at the age of 32.  parker is the only non-hall of famer on rawlings' all-time gold glove team.

bill buckner (1973)

buckner's 1974 topps card lists him as a first baseman because he played in 93 games (83 starts) at the position in 1973.  he hit .275 and played in 140 games overall that year, and was moved back to the outfield in 1974, where he was seen climbing the wall in atlanta trying to get to hank aaron's 715th career home run.

steve garvey (1974-1982)

there aren't a lot of steve garvey cards from his playing days that i haven't shown on the blog yet, but that 1980 kellogg's card is one of them.  the garv took over the first baseman's job and wound up winning the all-star game and national league mvp awards in 1974.  he held on to the job until he left the club as a free agent following the 1982 season, amassing 8 consecutive all-star starts, 4 gold gloves, 4 pennants, and a world series championship during that 9-year span.

greg brock (1983-1986)

brock, shown on his 1986 o-pee-chee card, was a triple-a phenom who had the misfortune of being asked to replace garvey in the dodgers' lineup and maybe even continue the dodgers' string of rookies of the year (they had owned the award since rick sutcliffe won it in 1979, with steve howe winning in 1980, fernando valenzuela in 1981, and steve sax in 1982).  unfortunately, brock hit just .224 with 20 homers in 146 games in his rookie year, finishing 7th in the 1983 nl rookie of the year balloting.  the dodgers still won the west, however, and brock was 0 for 9 in his first taste of postseason play.  the following season, he hit .225 while playing in only 88 games, but still spent more time at first than anybody else.  in 1985, he helped the dodgers return to the postseason with what may have been his best season with the dodgers - he hit .251 with 21 homers and 66 rbi in 129 games.  he got his only postseason hit of his career that year, a home run in game 2 of the nlcs.  he was hitless in his other 11 at bats of the series.  following another lackluster season, brock was traded to the brewers for a couple of tims - crews and leary.

franklin stubbs (1987-1988)

stubbs had been the dodgers' left fielder in 1986, but moved to first to replace brock in 1987.  he had a 'brock-ish' season, however, hitting .233 with 15 homers and 52 rbi in 129 games, 111 of which included some time at first.  in 1988, stubbs appeared in 84 games at first for the dodgers, 54 of which were starts, which was more than mike marshall (54 games, 51 starts) so he gets the nod here for the year that was so improbable.  that's his 1988 score card, by the way.  stubbs started all five games of the '88 world series, hitting .294 with a couple of rbi. interestingly enough, stubbs went to the astros in a trade prior to the 1990 season, but signed with the brewers as a free agent for the 1991 campaign wherein he replaced greg brock as the first baseman for the brew crew.

eddie murray (1989-1991)

the dodgers were likely tired of a lack of production from the first base position since garvey's departure, so they traded for hometown guy eddie murray following their world series triumph over the a's.  steady eddie showed up in 1989 (i was excited to see him in dodger blue on his 1989 upper deck card shown above) and played in 160 games (159 at first) but hit only .247.  he did drive in 88 runs, however, and in 1990 he led all of major league baseball with a .330 average.  too bad for murray that willie mcgee was hitting .335 when he was dealt from the cardinals to the a's (mcgee hit only .274 with oakland, dropping his composite average to .324 for the season).  murray left the dodgers after the 1991 season as a free agent, opening the door for a rookie named eric karros to win the job even though the team had traded for todd benzinger just in case.

more random cards from the scanned folder

i'm doing some spring cleaning (although it's still winter here) of my scanned folder.  enjoy the randomness.

1961 topps nl batting leaders

that's quite a collection of players - two hall of famers, plus dick groat and the dodgers' norm larker.  groat hit .300 or better a few other times, but 1960 was the only season that larker surpassed that mark, missing the league title by just one hit. still, to be featured on a card with willie mays and roberto clemente is a pretty good consolation.

1966 topps derrell griffith

a young robin williams makes an appearance.  or, if you prefer, glenn quamire.  giggity.  griffith played in parts of four seasons for the dodgers, who won the pennant in three of those years, but he did not appear in any postseason games.

1979 hostess burt hooton

hooton was coming off a 19-win season and a second place finish in the cy young voting when this card came out.  still, i was paying more attention to tommy john, don sutton, and bobby welch fan at the time.

1981 topps steve garvey (back)

i'm not sure why i scanned the back of this card, but look at that run of hit totals from 1974 through 1980!

1985 topps mike scioscia

bracing for impact, no doubt.

1995 score cory snyder

technically, this card is a final tribute, although the corndog did spend some time in the minors with the red sox and padre organizations after the strike ended in 1995.  1994 was the last time he saw big league action, however, and he did it as a dodger.  the highlight of his final season was easily his 3-home run/7 rbi game against the pirates in april.

2004 leaf certified materials don sutton 'k force'

i used to watch 'battle of the planets' which had g-force protecting us from the evil of zoltar and planet spectra. too bad this wasn't a 'g force' card - sutton is currently 7th all-time in k's, but 3rd all-time in g's (games started, that is).

2005 fleer ultra eric gagne

gagne broke the dodgers' cy young drought in 2003 - they hadn't had a winner since 1988, which was the longest drought in franchise history.  they had been the only team to have a cy young award winner in each decade until they were shut out in the 1990's.  just like they were shut out in world series appearances that decade for the first time since the 1930's.

2005 fleer ultra milton bradley gold medal edition

that's one heckuva rounded corner!

sunday morning target dodgers

more cards culled from the monstrous 1990 target dodgers set that was given away at dodger stadium over the course of a few different games back in 1990.  the set features a card for just about every player and manager to don the uniform in a big league game during the first 100 years of the franchise's existence (they joined the national league in 1890).

elias sosa

sosa is one of my guys - a member of the 1977 nl champs and the 1978 topps dodgers.  he is best remembered for surrendering the second of reggie jackson's three home runs in game 6 of the 1977 world series.

ad gumbert

gumbert takes us way back to 1895 and 1896.  he appeared in games for brooklyn in each of those seasons - they were known as the grooms in 1895 but switched back to bridegrooms in 1896, according to baseball reference.  gumbert was 11-20 on the mound for brooklyn, but hit .343 at the plate during his tenure.

norm larker

larker's best season came in 1960 when he finished second to dick groat in batting average among national leaguers.  he was lost to the colt .45's in the expansion draft prior to the 1962 season, and was the first first baseman in houston franchise history.

johnny miljus

miljus pitched for the robins in 1917, 1920, and 1921, compiling a record of 7-4 over that time.  he later pitched for the pirates in the 1927 world series against the yankees.  after pitching 4 scoreless innings of relief in game 1, he uncorked two wild pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 4, one of which allowed the series winning run to score as the yankees swept.

manny mota

another member of the team of my youth and the 1978 topps dodgers.  mota has worn the dodger uniform longer than anyone else - as a player from 1969 through 1979 (plus two more late season appearances in 1980 and 1982), and as a coach from 1980 through 2012 and into the first few weeks of the 2013 season.  i am guessing that the team will retire number 11 at some point in the future, even though mota is not in the hall of fame.

bud podbielan

bud's real name was clarence, and he was 7-7 for the dodgers during his time in brooklyn which lasted from his debut in 1949 until he was traded to the reds during the 1952 season.

reggie williams

both reggie williams that have played major league ball have suited up for the dodgers, but this is reginald dewayne williams.  reginald bernard williams didn't appear as a dodger until 1995.  this reggie williams was actually the team's primary center fielder in 1986, appearing in 128 games.

i'll probably be back with more of these next week.  stay tuned.

thoughtful cards from thoughts and sox

it is always a pleasure to open the mailbox and see unexpected padded envelopes.  especially when they hold treasures such as those sent to me recently by adam at thoughts and sox!  behold the unforeseen greatness with nary a bipping in sight!  (first let me applaud adam on his $2 ($2!!!!) purchase of a 1954 bowman preacher roe!  we should all be so lucky).

1960 topps norm larker

larker had the season of his life in 1960, batting .323 to finish 2nd in the nl batting average race (dick groat hit .325).  he essentially took over first base from gil hodges, and then yielded it to ron fairly as he was selected by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft after the 1961 season.

2009 upper deck danny ardoin

ardoin has bounced around a bit since signing with the a's in 1995.  he debuted with the twins in 2000, then went to kansas city (but didn't make it to the bigs), signed with the rangers (appeared in 6 games), signed with the rockies (115 games over 2 seasons), picked up on waivers by the orioles (5 games), signed by the nationals (no big league appearances), traded to the astros (ditto), traded to the cardinals (no dice), and finally signed by the dodgers ( 24 games in 2008, although none in 2009).  that is quite a ride around professional baseball.

2009 topps ticket to stardom matt kemp

i believe matt kemp's ticket has been cashed.

2009 ud goudey 4 in 1 matt kemp, russell martin, andre ethier, rafael furcal

i like the 4 in 1 cards, although there are too many variations.  i might have to do one of these for the infield.

2008 donruss threads duke snider (century legends)

always nice to get a new card of the duke, although the photos are rarely new.  i think i've seen this image on several cards now.

2008 donruss sports legends paul molitor

adam also hit on one of my favorite non-dodgers (more expansive post coming soon).  i was a big molly fan for quite a while.

thanks adam!  i am compiling some red sox to send you as i type!