sunday morning dodgers - tommy used to work on the docks

today's sheet of 15 brooklyn/los angeles ballplayers is not a bad one.  some big names and some good stories.  here goes another installment of cards from the 1990 target dodgers set that celebrated the franchise's 100 years of membership in the national league.

tommy brown

if brown looks young on his card, that's because he is young on his card. after quitting school at the age of 12 to work on the docks with his uncle, brown was signed by the dodgers at an open tryout, and he debuted as a major leaguer in 1944 at the ripe old age of 16.  i believe that he is the youngest position player to appear in the major leagues (reds' pitcher joe nuxhall was younger), and he is certainly the youngest to ever hit a home run in the big leagues, having connected in 1945 at the age of 17.  over the course of 7 seasons with the dodgers, brown appeared in 272 games and hit .237.  it appeared that he might finally realize his potential when, in 1952, he hit .320 for the cubs, but he regressed in 1953 and his 9-year major league career came to an end at brown's ripe old age of 25.  he continued to play in the minors, and set a record by reaching base safely in 20 consecutive plate appearances.

sid bream

bream, who debuted as a dodger in 1983, was never really a threat to greg brock as the dodgers' first baseman in their post-steve garvey days. he played in a total of 66 games for the dodgers from '83 to '85, hitting .159, before he was traded to the pirates in the bill madlock deal.  bream had some solid years as the pirates' first baseman, but he is best remembered as a brave - the brave who scored on francisco cabrera's pinch-hit single in game 7 of the 1992 nlcs against the pirates to send atlanta to the world series.

lindsay brown

this brown played in 48 games for the 1937 dodgers, hitting .270 and playing shortstop in 45 of those games. his cap suggests that he was also affiliated with the cleveland indians or more likely the cincinnati reds, for whom he played some minor league ball following his lone year in the majors.

tom drake

like ted williams, tom drake hit .400 in 1941.  drake, however, was just 2 for 5 at the plate that year, as he pitched in just 10 games for the dodgers. drake was 1-1 in those appearances with a 4.38 era which marked the sum total of his experience as a member of the dodgers.

don drysdale

big d! drysdale never hit .400 in a season, although he did hit .300 in 1965 along with 7 homers.  drysdale led the league in wins and strikeouts in 1962 en route to the cy young award, and famously threw 8 shutouts in 1968 (his final full season in the majors) while setting a record of 58 and 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.  drysdale was elected to the hall of fame in 1984 and sadly passed away in 1993 while serving as a dodger broadcaster on a road trip in montreal.

leo durocher

leo the lip, like tommy lasorda (and bill russell and glenn hoffman), both played for and managed the dodgers, but his card in the set is clearly about his managerial stint(s).  as a player, durocher joined the franchise in 1938, and became the team's manager the following season, even as he continued to play.  overall, durocher appeared in 345 games as a dodger between '38 and 1945, and he represented them in two all-star games.  he led the team to the pennant in 1941, but following a second place finish in 1946, the league suspended durocher for associating with known gamblers. durocher returned in 1948 as the dodgers' manager, but was allowed by branch rickey to be lured away by the giants, for whom he won his only world series as a manager in 1954. durocher did return to the dodgers as a coach in the early 1960's while in between other managerial assignments.  he was posthumously inducted into the hall of fame as a manager in 1994.

jack graham

graham was the son of peaches graham, a major leaguer from the early 1900's.  while a minor leaguer in 1940, this graham was traded to the dodgers by the yankees, and he eventually made his big league debut for the brooklyn club in 1946.  he was 1 for 5 in his two games as a dodger before the new york giants purchased his contract. after finishing the season with the giants, graham spent two seasons in the minors before finishing his major league career with the browns in 1949.  he did play for more seasons in the minors, racking up a career total of over 350 minor league homers.

joe kelley

hall of famer kelley, known as a good hitter with speed, was one of the players that ned hanlon brought with him from baltimore to brooklyn when he became a stockholder in the club prior to the 1899 season.  hanlon's arrival, by the way, was the reason for the name change from bridegrooms to the superbas in 1899 - apparently there was a popular vaudeville act known as "hanlon's superbas", and if the name fits…  as for kelley, he brought his .342 lifetime average and wound up hitting .317 as a superba in his three seasons in brooklyn.  he returned to baltimore for the 1902 season, but was pilfered by the reds during the season when the orioles' owner had to sell during the season to pay other debts.  the story of the 1902 orioles is pretty interesting, as this was the club that sort of became the new york yankees.

dennis lewallyn

i've told lewallyn's tale before. as a double dipping member of the 1977 and 1978 dodgers, he's good by me.  even if he's wearing bobby welch's number in the photo used for his 1990 target dodgers card.

tom paciorek

paciorek was one of the players that the dodgers selected in their historically awesome 1968 draft class. he did his best to crack the big league roster, debuting in 1970 and appearing in 264 games between then and the end of the 1975 season, but wound up as a piece in the trade with the braves that netted the dodgers dusty baker.  funnily enough, paciorek and baker shared space on the same 1971 topps rookie card.

jesse petty

although we can't see it, there's a black armband on petty's left sleeve, don't you know.  1925, the year represented in petty's photo (we know this thanks to the national league 50th anniversary patch that teams wore that season), was the first of four seasons in which petty pitched for the robins.  overall, he was 54-59 with a 3.52 era.  his 17 losses in 1926 (when he had an era of 2.84) led the league, although he lost 18 games the following year (with a 2.98 era) without suffering the shame of leading the league again.

jim roberts

big jim roberts (no relation to big jim slade or just plain ol' big jim) pitched for the robins in 1924 and 1925. he was 0-3 in 1924, pitching in 11 games, 5 of which were starts.  roberts made it into only one game in 1925, giving up an unearned run in his lone inning of work.

johnny schmitz

schmitz spent parts of the 1951 and 1952 seasons with the dodgers.  he joined the club in '51 via the same trade that netted the dodgers andy pafko, and left the club in a trade with the yankees in august of '52 for wally hood, son of double dipper wally hood.  overall, schmitz was 2-5 in 26 games for the dodgers, but the best part of his tenure was that he was included as a dodger in the 1952 topps set.

ted sizemore

like lewallyn, sizemore was a dodger double dipper, so i've told his story before.  the 1969 rookie of the  year was traded by the club to the cardinals for dick allen, and then reacquired in a trade with the redbirds involving joe ferguson.  the dodgers later traded sizemore away as the player to be named later in the move that brought johnny oates on board from the phillies.

steve yeager

speaking of ferguson and oates, here's the guy who led that catcher quadfecta (jerry grote was the other dodger backstop) in 1978 (after the dodgers reacquired ferguson).  yeager was the catcher of the team of my youth, playing 14 of his 15 big league seasons for the dodgers.  he was a part of four pennant winning teams - 1974, 1977, 1978, and 1981 - and was a co-mvp of the 1981 world series with ron cey and pedro guerrero.  he is the player i think of when i think of the number 7 (sorry mickey mantle), and i recently posted about having just entered the 'yeager' year of this blog.

like i said up top, that was a pretty good sheet of cards.  we'll have to see what next week brings.

yeah, their backs are all yellow

continuing on from this morning's post, here are the rest of my 1971 o-pee-chee dodger cards.  they are easy to spot because the reverse side is all yellow...

maury wills

the 1962 nl mvp was in his second run with the dodgers in 1971

but he was definitely slowing down, as he stole only 15 bases in 1971

dodgers team card

the only year they took the team photo in the pavilion seats, as far as i know.

not too many updates to the franchise record holders other than the pennant winners list.  mike marshall's 106 games would be on there instead of bob miller's 74, and shawn green's 49 home runs eclipses duke snider's 43.  interesting that willie keeler was thought to have had 179 singles in 1900, as baseball reference credits him with 175.  even stranger is that he had 190 in 1899, but that is nowhere to be seen on the back of the card.

wes parker

parker made a run at johnny frederick's franchise doubles record of 52 in 1970, hitting 47

he also had a career best 111 rbi in '71

jim lefebvre

again with the black batting gloves

lefebvre replaced jim gilliam as the dodgers' first base coach late in the 1978 season after gilliam suffered what turned out to be a fatal brain hemhorrage.

jerry stephenson

stephenson was a member of the 1967 red sox and pitched for them in the world series that year against the cardinals

after retiring as a player, he spent almost 40 years as a scout for the dodgers and red sox.

willie crawford

with two black batting gloves!

this is the last of the 'sunburst' backs for the dodgers.

this is where the bill buckner card would be if i owned a copy.  it's listed on my nefarious 9 - help a blogger out!  you will be rewarded big time for this card.

jim brewer

brewer pitched in three world series games - one each in 1965, 1966, and 1974.  he struck out harmon killebrew in his 1965 appearance.

not only do the cards from these last series lack the sunburst photos, but we get no french text either.  at least the backs are still yellow!

walt alston

i found alston's card on ebay from a seller who labeled it as a topps card.  luckily they included an image of the back to let me know that it was the o-pee-chee version

it's a bit banged up, but i'll take it for only a couple of bucks as opposed to twenty or so.

willie davis

3 dog chokes up a bit on his bat

davis made the all-star team for the first time in 1971, and also won his first gold glove that year.

tom haller

1971 was haller's last season with the dodgers.  with duke sims, bill sudakis, and some kid named joe ferguson with the club, haller was expendable.

that's a haller back, yo.

rich allen

a fantastic dodger stadium shot with dead grass and the knee of the photographer.

allen was traded to the white sox after just one season with the dodgers for tommy john, and he went on to win the american league mvp in 1972.  the dodgers did ok with john, too.

jose pena

this card has some circular scuffs, but i don't need to spend a ton of money for an upgrade.

pena was effective in his first 12 outings of 1970 as the text notes, but in his other 23 outings that year, he gave up 26 earned runs.

tom paciorek

i thought for sure that this card would be the last one i would acquire, thanks to the rookie presence of  johnnie b. baker and don baylor.  paciorek was included in the trade that brought dusty to los angeles, much to my excitement.

there were just over 100 minor league home runs at the time between the three of them, but they combined to hit more than 650 big league home runs.  that's a powerful card.

i'll keep an eye out for the billy buckner rookie, but i will also turn my attention to the 1972 o-pee-chee dodgers.  thank goodness the o-pee-chee set from that year tops out at number 525 - no steve garvey, don sutton, hoyt wilhelm, or frank robinson cards to worry about!

through the mail thursday - chris potter and the autographed cards

a couple of days ago, i received a package from chris potter sports.  it contained the four cards that i had sent in for their february signing tour.  i had a credit left over from their last tour (matt keough had cancelled) so cashed in for a couple different 1978 topps autos.  i also sprung for a couple of dodger signatures.

1974 topps tom paciorek

i had made a couple of freebie attempts through the mail with paciorek, better known for his days as a white sox broadcaster, with no success.  i chose his 1974 card rather than, say, his 1978 topps card because dodger cards take priority over non-dodger 1978 topps cards in my autograph collection.

1978 o-pee-chee rick rhoden

rhoden had sent me a few bonus signed cards while fulfilling a request i sent with his 1978 topps card and a $10 donation a while back.  i was happy to spend another $10 to get this canadian issue signed.

here are the two cards that i got signed using the matt keough credit - 1978 topps sixto lezcano

and 1978 topps tom hume

i was pretty pleased to see sixto signing for cheap, because, well, his name is sixto.  as for hume, i remember him as one of the people that was rescued from the 1980 mgm fire in las vegas first and a reliever second.  i sent a different copy of this card to steve mccatty a couple of years ago, which he signed, but i figured i would let hume have a clean card to sign.

thanks again to chris potter sports and to the players for signing!

1968 draft dodgers

it's pretty well known that the draft completed by the dodgers in 1968 was a good one - lots of quality major leaguers were selected.  during the life span of that draft - from the time the first player selected made his debut until the time the last player retired, the dodgers had won 5 pennants and two world championships.  let's see exactly how that all went down.

here are the dodgers' picks in the 1968 mlb june amateur draft.  i know i'm jumping the gun, but we'll get to the january phases of the draft later.

1st round (5th overall) bobby valentine -

valentine was picked immediately after thurman munson went to the yankees.  he played in 225 games for the dodgers from 1969 through 1972 with a line of 4/57/.263.  bobby v was traded after the 1972 season in the deal that netted the dodgers ken mcmullen and andy messersmith from the angels.  messersmith was the ace of the dodgers' 1974 pennant winning team (the first of the post-koufax era), so while bobby v didn't win with the dodgers, he did make a significant contribution.  however, mcmullen was eventually released, and messersmith left the team as one of baseball's first free agents after the 1975 season.

2nd round (25th overall) bill buckner -

buckner signed and debuted for the dodgers on september 21, 1969. as a dodger, billy buck played in 773 games and went 38/277/.289.  he was traded to the cubs prior to the 1977 season in the deal that brought mike garman and rick monday to the dodgers, but not before he helped the blue win the pennant in 1974.  as for what the dodgers got in return for buckner, garman spent one-plus years (including the 1977 pennant winning season) with the dodgers before being traded to the expos for gerry hannahs and larry landreth.  hannahs then pitched for the dodgers in 1978 and 1979, but spent all of 1980 at aaa albuquerque. he finished his professional career with the twins' aaa team in 1981, while landreth went from the dodgers aaa team in 1978 to the brewers' aa team in 1979.  he never made it back to the majors after the garman trade, and there is no record that i could find of any players coming back to the dodgers for either hannahs or landreth.  of course, monday was the main piece of the trade, and in addition to helping the dodgers win pennants in 1977 and 1978, he, of course, hit a huge home run in the 1981 playoffs to help the team win its first world series championship since 1965.  monday was eventually released by the dodgers after the 1984 season, so the buckner trail ends there.

3rd round (45th overall) sonny johnson - outfielder/first baseman advanced to aa albuquerque at one point, but never made it to the big leagues.

4th round (65th overall) mike pazik - lhp who did not sign with the dodgers, and was later drafted by the yankees in 1971 and signed with them. he was traded to the twins and eventually made the big leagues in 1975.  went 1-4 in 13 career appearances.

5th (89th overall) tom paciorek -

paciorek was part of the dodgers' 1974 nl championship team, and he was 2 for 3 in the postseason that year.  a year later, however, he was traded to the braves in the deal that brought dusty baker and ed goodson (himself a product of the 1968 draft - more on that later) to the dodgers.  with baker in the outfield, the dodgers won pennants in 1977, 1978, and 1981, plus another nl west title in 1983.  baker hit .371 in his four national league championship series, and was the mvp of the 1977 matchup against the phillies.  so, like buckner, the paciorek pick helped net the dodgers four pennants and one world championship.  baker eventually left the dodgers as a free agent after the 1983 season, and goodson retired as a dodger after the 1977 season, so there were no further ramifications of the paciorek pick.

6th round (113th overall) bob auger - did not sign

7th round (137th overall) joseph barkauskas - did not sign

8th round (161th overall) joe ferguson -

ferguson was a big part of the dodgers' 1974 team, and he made that fantastic throw from right field in the world series against the a's.  he also contributed to the 1977 pennant winning team, as he was traded to the cardinals for reggie smith in june of 1976.  smith was arguably the dodgers' best player in 1977 (just ask don sutton), and he had a big year in 1978, too. ferguson returned to the dodgers in 1978, and was a part of that pennant winning team as well.  ferguson was released during the 1981 season, and smith missed most of that year due to injury.  he did return in time to make a couple of appearances in the dodgers' successful postseason run, but left the team as a free agent after they won the 1981 title.

9th round (185th overall) doyle alexander - alexander was traded with a few other players in 1971 to the orioles for pete richert and frank robinson.  richert was flipped to the cardinals in december of 1973 for tommie agee (who was released by the dodgers during spring training in 1974), and robinson was dealt to the angels a year later in that aforementioned deal that also included bobby valentine.  so, this pick played a part in bringing andy messersmith and the 1974 pennant to los angeles.

the only other dodger draftee that signed with the team and made it to the big leagues was their 17th round pick.

17th round (377th overall) bob gallagher - signed, but lost in rule 5 draft to boston so there was no compensation.  gallagher eventually made it to the big leagues with the red sox, astros, and mets.

but then there was the secondary phase of the june draft, apparently held for collegiate players.  here are the dodgers' seven picks from that draft

1st round (13th overall) steve garvey -

garvey helped his teams win five pennants in 11 years, although one of those world series appearances came after he left the dodgers as free agent.  with the team that drafted him, he won the 1974 nl mvp award, and the 1978 nlcs mvp trophy, and for a brief moment, was told he was one of the co-mvp's of the 1981 world series - his only championship in his five trips to the fall classic.  this was clearly one of the best picks the dodgers have ever made, and it was made possible by the fact that he didn't sign with the twins out of high school and that 12 teams passed on him this time around.  it is worth noting that the most successful player taken ahead of garvey in the first round was future teammate ed goodson, who was taken third overall by the giants.

2nd round (33rd overall) sandy vance -

vance was 7-7 in his first year as a major leaguer (1970), but was forced to retire due to injury after 30 big league appearances and a 9-8 record in two seasons for the dodgers.  he was previously drafted in one of the phases of the 1968 january draft by the astros, but obviously didn't sign.

3rd round (53rd overall) ron cey -

cey debuted in 1971 and was a stabilizing force at third base for the four pennant winning teams.  he was one of the co-mvps of the 1981 world series triumph over the yankees, and when he was traded to the cubs for vance lovelace after the 1982 season, he was the all-time home run leader among los angeles dodgers.  lovelace, by the way, did not make it to the majors.  it should be noted that up to this point in the draft, the dodgers had picked up a promising pitcher and half of their record setting infield, while the only other picks that had serviceable careers were goodson and jim barr.

4th round (73rd overall) bruce kinder - did not sign

5th round (95th overall) bill seinsoth - signed and played 1969 at the dodgers' a league team in bakersfield, his only year in professional ball

6th round (113th overall) ellsworth jones - did not sign

7th round (127th overall) bob randall - did not sign, but was drafted by the dodgers again in the 1969 draft (he had also been drafted by the team in the 1966 draft).  randall was traded to the twins for danny walton in december of 1975, and he made his big league debut in the 1976 season.

before all of that, however, there were the 1968 january drafts - both a regular and secondary phase.  in the regular portion of the draft, the dodgers selected 10 players, none of whom made it to the big leagues or figured in trades that helped shape the team.  that wasn't the case in the secondary phase.

here are the notable selections by the dodgers from the 1968 mlb january draft - secondary phase, which i understand to have been a collegiate draft for winter graduates.

1st round (6th overall) marv galliher - taken three picks before dave kingman was picked by the orioles (he did not sign), galliher signed and reported to bakersfield in 1968.  he stayed with the dodgers' organization through 1973 and spent three entire seasons at aaa level.  in fact, here's a link to an article about one of the spokane indians teams he was a part of.  lots of familiar names in that writeup.  galliher was traded to the orioles prior to the 1974 season for bob o'brien (who came very close to being a double dipper for the dodgers, but he never made it back to the big leagues).  as for galliher, he spent 1974 and 1975 at aaa with the orioles and padres, but never made it to the majors.

2nd round (26th overall) davey lopes -

lopes is the third member of the famous infield to be drafted by the dodgers in 1968.  he debuted in 1972 and was around just long enough to win the 1981 title.  he was traded in february of 1982 to the a's for lance hudson, who never made it out of a ball for the dodgers.  as a dodger, lopes led the league in steals twice, was a four-time all-star, and had 19 steals in postseason play.

3rd round (46th overall) steven moore - moore did not sign, but was drafted and signed by the royals in 1969.  he spent 3 seasons in the minors for kansas city and detroit.

4th round (66th overall) randy smith - signed and spent 3 years in a ball for the dodgers.

5th round (86th overall) geoff zahn - zahn was part of the dodgers' 1974 pennant winning team, although he did not appear in the postseason.  he was pitching lights out as a reliever and spot starter in 1974 when he took over tommy john's spot in the rotation after john tore his ulnar collateral ligament.  zahn was then traded in may of 1975 (with eddie solomon) to the cubs for burt hooton.  hooton, of course, went on to win the 1981 nlcs mvp, and helped the dodgers to three pennants and the '81 title.  hooton left the dodgers as a free agent after the 1984 season, signing with the rangers

6th round (105th overall) david grangaard - did not sign and was drafted in the 1968 mlb june secondary draft by the astros.  he signed with houston and spent 5 seasons in the minors, getting to aaa with the royals' organization in 1972.

7th round (123rd overall) gregory wellman - lhp who signed and spent 1968 through 1970 in dodgers' farm system.  went to the giants prior to the 1971 season and got as high as aaa for them in 1971.  finished his career with the expos' a level team in 1972.

8th round (136th overall) james loll - signed, but appears to have been traded to kansas city.  maybe as part of the jim campanis deal or perhaps was a pick in the expansion draft?

9th round (147th overall) thomas jackson - did not sign

10th round (153rd overall) ed crosby - did not sign, but was drafted in 1969 by the cardinals and did sign.  played in the big leagues from 1970-1976 for saint louis, cincinnati, and cleveland.

there were 3 other guys selected by the dodgers later in the draft who apparently didn't sign either.

valentine was the first to take the field for the dodgers.  he debuted as a pinch runner in a game during the 1969 season against the mets.  the last of the drafted players to suit up for the dodgers were steve garvey and ron cey, with cey making the final plate appearance in the last game of the 1982 season.  in between, there were four pennants and one world series title, but the ramifications of the draft lingered, as the dodgers won the national league west in 1983 with monday and hooton still around, and again in 1985 in hooton's last season with the team.  buckner was the last of the players, drafted or otherwise acquired, to appear in the big leagues as he finished his career with a return trip to boston in 1990.

so, yes, it was a great draft, but al campanis and the dodger brain trust should also be commended for turning that drafted talent into the right mix of players (some via trade) to establish a national league west powerhouse.