sunday morning target dodgers - you can call him shirley

here's another sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set. enjoy.

luis alcaraz

alcaraz showed plenty of pop in the minors, hitting 22 homers in 1967 at albuquerque, which would have been unusual for middle infielders of the time.  however, when he reached the majors as a september '67 dodger call-up, he slugged just .250 with one extra base hit.  1968 was worse - he slugged .217 in 41 games for the dodgers with a double and two home runs.  his contract was purchased by the royals after that season, and he played in kansas city for a couple more years.

bill antonello

antonello was a brooklyn native who made his way to the big leagues with the dodgers in 1953. he appeared in 40 games for the club, hitting .163 with a home run, triple, and a double to his credit. although he was with the team all season, antonello did not appear in the 1953 world series.

steve bilko

bilko had played parts of six seasons in the majors before he joined the los angeles angels of the pcl in 1955.  he had hit 21 homers for the cardinals in 1953, but really found his power stroke in the pcl, as he hit 37, 55, and 56 home runs in 1955, 1956, and 1957, respectively.  the reds purchased his contract for the 1958 season, and then traded bilko to the dodgers in june of that year.  over the course of the remainder of the season, bilko hit .208 with 7 home runs for the dodgers. he spent the 1959 season back in the minor leagues, and was then drafted by the tigers in the rule v draft following the '59 season.

carl erskine

erskine was a pitcher for the dodgers for 12 seasons - from 1948 into 1959.  he helped the club win their first world series title in 1955, although he pitched better in other fall classics.  in the 1953 world series, erskine set a record by striking out 14 yankees in game 3. he had won 20 games during the regular season that year, and finished 9th in the mvp voting. erskine has two career no-hitters to his credit, throwing one in 1952 and the other in 1956.

george fallon

fallon was 2 for 8 with the 1937 brooklyn dodgers in what was his first taste of the big leagues. he returned to the majors in 1943 with the cardinals, and played for saint louis through the 1945 season. he had a couple of at bats in the 1944 world series with the cards, and so earned a ring following their defeat of the crosstown browns.

pete mikkelsen

mikkelsen spent the last four years of his nine year major league career with the dodgers. he pitched out of their bullpen from 1969-1972, compiling a record of 24-17 with 20 saves in 155 appearances. i previously lamented the fact that, despite his regular presence in the bullpen each of those years, topps never put him on a baseball card as a dodger.  i'm glad to have this card.

bobby mitchell

mitchell did get a card from fleer in 1982, even though his dodger career consisted of 13 plate appearances in 19 games over the previous two seasons.  he was included in the trade that sent bobby castillo to the twins following the 1981 season, and played for two years as a twin.

paul richards

richards was 0 for 8 as a member of the 1932 brooklyn dodgers, appearing in 3 games that season. he got his first big league hit the following year, although he was a member of the new york giants then.  richards went on to play for the a's and tigers as well, and he was detroit's starting catcher in the 1945 world series in which they defeated the cubs in 7 games.  in fact, hit was his 3-run double in the first inning that put game 7 out of the cubs' reach.

don ross

in between stints with the tigers in 1938 and again from 1942-45, ross spent some time with the brooklyn dodgers. he appeared in 10 games for the club in the 1940 season, hitting .289 with a home run and a couple of doubles.

steve shirley

shirley spent about a month in the majors. the dodgers called him up in june of 1982, and he appeared in 11 games between june 21 and july 30.  he was 1-1 in those games with a 4.26 era, and in one of them he was allowed to bat.  on june 25 against the astros, shirley relieved bob welch in the 2nd inning, and when the pitcher's spot came up in the top of the 4th, tommy lasorda let shirley hit. in his only career at bat, shirley singled off of mike lacoss, so he is among the very few players to have a career batting average of 1.000.  later in the game, shirley was relieved by terry forster, himself one of the best hitting pitchers in the history of the game.  shirley went on to pitch in japan for a couple of seasons before returning to the states where he pitched in triple-a for several organizations (including the dodgers) through the 1988 season.

jerry stephenson

stephenson appeared in 3 games for the 1970 dodgers, pitching 6.2 innings and posting an era of 9.45 after putting up some pretty good numbers (18-5, 2.82 era) in triple-a spokane.  not good, but enough to earn him a card in the 1971 topps set for which i am thankful.  i'm guessing the photo used for the card comes from 1971 spring training (stephenson pitched in the dodger organization through 1973), as that was the year the team added the shoulder and neck piping to their jerseys.

stuffy stewart

stewart was a member of the 1923 brooklyn robins, appearing in 4 games and going 4 for 11 at the plate with a double and a home run. despite being a prolific base stealer in the minor leagues, stewart did not attempt a steal with the robins, nor had he tried to swipe a bag in his previous big league appearances with the cardinals or pirates (as far as baseball reference knows).  when he returned to the majors in 1925 as a senator, however, stewart did start to steal.

bert tooley

tooley spent 1911 and 1912 in the major leagues with the dodgers. in fact, he was their primary shortstop in 1911.  following the 1912 season, he was sent back to newark of the international league where he played through the 1915 season.

george watkins

watkins finished up his seven year big league career, and the 1936 season, with the brooklyn dodgers. he had begun the 1936 campaign with the phillies, but joined brooklyn in may.  in 105 games for the dodgers, watkins hit .255 with 4 homers and 43 rbi.

les webber

webber pitched for the dodgers from 1942 into the 1946 season.  he led the league in saves (although not an official category) in 1943 with 10.  overall, webber was 22-18 with a 3.89 era for the dodgers, and he had a 2.30 era in the 1946 season when he was claimed on waivers by the cleveland indians.

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!

jerry stephenson through the mail success!

former dodger pitcher jerry stephenson passed away yesterday at the age of 66.  i was fortunate enough to have him fulfill a through the mail request last winter:

stephenson spent parts of 5 seasons with the boston red sox, but also played for the seattle pilots and the dodgers at the end of his career.  in fact, this 1971 topps card is a final tribute, as stephenson's final appearance came in 1970.  traded from seattle before the season started, stephenson appeared in just 3 games for the dodgers, including his final appearance - a 2.2 inning performance against the san francisco giants.  in that game, stephenson relieved joe moeller in the 4th inning, giving up 3 runs.  the final batter stephenson faced in his major league career was willie mays, who singled.

stephenson will be better remembered as a member of the 1967 boston red sox' world series team, and he most recently served as a special consultant and scout for them.  prior to that, however, he was a scout for the dodgers for 25 years.

here's to you jerry, and thanks!