pedro guerrero mail-in autograph success!

yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the major league debut of pedro guerrero.  also debuting in the september 22, 1978 dodger game were rudy law, brad gulden, and dave stewart.  unfortunately, i still haven't received my triple threads stewart redemption so this post will just be a petey post.

a couple of years ago, i sent two cards to hall of fame sports for guerrero to sign.  the first was my custom 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been

and the second was his official rookie card - the 1979 topps dodgers prospects card

that also featured law and joe simpson.  i also have versions of this card signed by law and by simpson, but not on the same card.

as a steve garvey fan, i was nervous about any dodger prospect whose position was listed as first base.  guerrero, however, was quickly moved to the outfield for the following seasons so i didn't need to worry about the garv being replaced.  not until 1983, anyway.

as for his debut that occurred 35 years ago yesterday, guerrero pinch-hit for rick sutcliffe in the 5th inning and singled against randy jones.  he eventually came around to score on a reggie smith sacrifice fly, and his career was officially under way.  and, for the record, law and gulden were both 0 for 1 that day, and dave stewart threw 2 innings, allowing a hit but no runs. he also struck out one while facing the minimum six batters (the single he allowed was erased by a double play).  35 years ago! i am old.

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.

d'oh!

i got a pretty cool ttm return today - former dodger and current braves announcer joe simpson signed and returned my stuff in just about two weeks or so.  here's his 1979 topps card, which also features pedro guerrero and rudy law

that's his only card that features him as a dodger, a fact that i lamented when i made his 1978 topps dodgers burger king/update card that should have been.

i sent a copy of that card along as well, hoping that he would sign it.  he chose not too, but unlike al downing who simply wrote back that it was not a real card, simpson made sure that i knew the card was not real

in my letter, i tried to explain that i was a big fan of the 1977 and 1978 teams, and that i created these cards as a way to complete my team set.  it is certainly their prerogative as to whether they want to sign these (or any) cards, so i don't mind at all.  in fact, i greatly appreciate the fact that simpson took the time to sign the 1979 card.

it's not like the old days where i could watch tbs and listen to simpson, don sutton, and skip caray almost every night, which is probably a good thing since simpson is paired with chip caray these days.

thanks for signing my card, joe simpson!

let's play the 1981 donruss memory game!

hey kids! do you 'remember' what time it is?  that's right! it's time to play the 1981 donruss memory game!  brought to you by 1981 donruss - the 'first edition collector series'!

now, here's your host, tommy lasorda!

hi everybody! and welcome to the game. let's find out who bleeds dodger blue and who is most likely a giants fan.  player number 1 and player number 2 are here to reveal the cards one at a time, looking for a match.  the matches will have the same (pretty much) background.  ok? we're looking for backgrounds that match.  speaking of matches, i like to match a red wine with my pasta.  ready? let's go.

player number 1, which card should we turn over first?

third card, second row? ok let's see what we get.

nice. steve yeager sitting in the dugout.  now remember, somewhere else on the board, there's a card with the same background.  probably has one of those outlet cover thingys in the picture.  pick another card.  last card, last row?  ok...

nope.  that's steve howe with a blue background.  no match.  we'll reset the board and give player 2 a shot.

player 2 wants the first card turned over.

hey - there's dave lopes.  did you know that his fleer card in 1981 called him 'davy'?  what the heck is a 'davy'?  pick another card.  first card, third row?

joe ferguson for the match!  see that bearded redheaded guy? he's in both photos! that's not a coincidence.  so, one match for player 2.  let's see if player 1 can make a match.  first row, third card coming up.

don stanhouse with a blue background!  i was blue when i realized that stanhouse wasn't going to deliver in the bullpen, i'll tell you that!  i'm also blue when the pizza guy won't deliver.  anyway, player 1, you should get a match here if you can remember where we saw the other blue background.

that's right, it was the last card.  steve howe and don stanhouse make a match.  we're tied at one apiece.

player 1 wants second row, last card.

that's bobby castillo.  fleer called him 'robert' in 1981.  i don't think anyone called him robert.  second row, second card?

hey, it's rick sutcliffe.  he's the guy that totally destroyed my office that one time.  that's not a match, by the way.  close, though.  castillo's background shows the slope of the bleachers, while sutcliffe's background has that triangular piece of the building across the street in right field.  player 2, whaddaya say?  top row, last card coming up.

well, if it isn't jerry reuss. and he's got that triangle building thing in the background.  i think i smell a match...

good for you.  you remembered where rick sutcliffe was.  not too impressive, given that we just saw him in the last round.  player 2 leads 2-1.  pick a card player 1.  bottom row, card number 2 on its way.

rudy law.  get back in my doghouse.  note the background is not in wrigley field!  i thought those donruss photographers never left wrigley.  it's actually dodger stadium's first base side railing.  next card is row 3, card 2.

 nope, that' wrigley behind derrel thomas.  player 2, back to you.  bottom row, card three it is.

hey - look at happy hooton!  he looks disinterested at best.  his pose matches sutcliffe's, but it's the background we're matching.  where have we seen the slope of the bleachers before? what? bottom row, first card?  what's the matter with your memory, player 2?

 that's steve garvey, sitting in the dugout.  player 1, how's your memory?

 yeah, that's still the garv at bottom row, first card.  how about the match?

ding ding! steve yeager for the match.  and we are tied at 2 matches apiece.  we were tied at 2 games apiece against the yankees back in 1978.  of course, we were also ahead 2 games to none at one point.  let's move on - player 2?  oh, you've got your memory back.  second row, last card

that's bobby castillo.  that means  you want...bottom row, third card.  yes.

 burt hooton for the match.  good job.  3-2 in favor of player 2.  player 1?  top row, second card is...

rick monday.  mo! saved that flag back in 1976.  good guy.  now find a match.  just wish he would give the score once in awhile during his broadcasts.  second row, first card?

nope, that's garvey's second card in the set.  he actually has three cards in the set if you count the error on the back of the card with the dugout photo.  some mistake in the number of home runs he hit or something.  anyway, player 2, do you remember where the other card with the dodger stadium railing was?

 right. first things first.  there's garvey's card again.  where's the match?

you got it! rudy law for the match.  player 2 is up 4-2.  player 1, you need to make something happen.  pick a card.  third row, third card? as you wish.

reggie smith.  he didn't have a candy bar, but he was the mvp of the team - just ask don sutton.  ok, where's his match?

you got it, player 1.  rick monday's card is so similar to reggie's, i thought they were doubles.  unfortunately,  that only leaves two cards unturned, so player 2 is going to win 5-3.  looks like he is going to the big dodger in the sky someday, and you, player 1, can kiss my cannoli.  now let's see the last two cards.

derrel thomas, we've seen him before.

and it's gary thomasson matching up with thomas.  if you look closely, you'll see the same guy in a white shirt sitting in the stands to the left of the railing.  he's behind thomas's back

 but just next to thomasson's left shoulder.

well, that's all the time we have for today.  come back next time when we play another round of the 1981 donruss memory game!