sunday morning target dodgers - from abrams to zahn

let's go from a to z with this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger set.

cal abrams

abrams was a part-time player who debuted as a dodger in 1949.  he peaked in 1951when he hit .280 in 67 games. with a fantastic obp of .419  the following year, the dodgers traded abram to the reds after he had appeared in just 10 games for the blue.  abrams was reportedly buried in his brooklyn dodgers uniform following his death in 1997.

jack billingham

billingham was 3-0 with 8 saves and a 2.14 era as a rookie for the dodgers in 1968, however, he was lost to the team when the expos selected him in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season.  montreal was forced to flip billingham to the astros before the season began because donn clendenon refused to report to houston after he was traded as part of the package that netted the expos rusty staub.  eventually, billingham made his way to the reds, where he won back-to-back world series titles in 1975 and 1976.

ben cantwell

cantwell's career began in 1927 with the new york giants, although he spent most of the next 10 years with the boston braves during which time he won 20 games once and also lost 25 games in a single season.  in 1937, he returned to the giants, but was claimed by the dodgers after one bad start.  with brooklyn, cantwell had no record as he appeared in 13 games, all as a reliever.

vic davalillo

davalillo was one of the professional pinch-hitters employed by the dodgers when i began my fandom.  he and manny mota filled that role on the dodgers (davalillo from 1977-1980), and it was davalillo's pinch-hit bunt that got things going with 2 outs in the 9th on black friday in philadelphia during the 1977 nlcs.

johnny gooch

gooch spent time with the robins during the 1928 and 1929 seasons. he was acquired by the robins via a trade with the pirates during the '28 season, and was traded away to the reds early in the '29 campaign.  as a robin, gooch played in 43 games and hit .314.

babe herman

the robins'/dodgers' babe.  one of them, anyway.  herman was a franchise double dipper who had his best years as a robin, hitting .381 in 1929 and a franchise record .393 in 1930, but finishing second in the batting average race both years.

john hummel

hummel, who played with the superbas/dodgers/robins from 1905 through 1915, was best known as being one of the first utility players in the major leagues.  he played everywhere but pitcher, catcher, and third base, and did spend a couple of seasons as brooklyn's primary second baseman.

max macon

macon joined the dodger system in 1939 following his first taste of big league ball in 1938 with the cardinals for whom he pitched and played the outfield.  he didn't appear as a dodger until 1940, and even then he played in just two games, both as a pitcher only (he was 1 for 1 at the plate, by the way).  macon returned to the majors as a dodger in 1942, and was used as a pitcher and pinch-hitter.  he pitched in 14 games and had an era of 1.93 while he pinch-hit 12 times and was 5 for 11 in that role.  macon pitched (and hit) for the dodgers again in 1943 before being selected by the braves in the rule v draft following the season's conclusion.

fritz ostermueller

ostermueller spent the first part of the 1943 season with the browns, but was traded to the dodgers in july.  he was 1-1 in 7 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the season, and was 2-1 in 10 games for the dodgers in 1944 when he was dealt to the pirates at the end of may.

paul popovich

popovich was traded to the dodgers by the cubs for lou johnson following the 1967 season.  he spent 1968 with the dodgers, playing in 134 games and batting .232.  the dodgers traded popovich to the expos a couple of months into the 1969 season in the deal that brought manny mota and maury wills to the dodgers (back to the dodgers in wills' case).  the expos flipped popovich to the cubs that same day, so popovich was around to witness the infamous collapse of leo durocher's cubbies.

dave sells

sells joins rick waits and davey lopes as players whose names make full sentences.  sells spent the majority of his career with the angels, pitching in 85 of his 90 big league games for the halos.  the other five were spent as a dodger during the last part of the 1975 season following a trade that sent jim brewer to the angels.  sells was 0-2 for walter alston's team in those five games, and he spent the following season in triple-a albuquerque.

bill skowron

skowron spent just one season with the dodgers - 1963 - and he helped his new team defeat his former club in the world series.  skowron hit .385 in the 1963 fall classic for the dodgers against the yankees, with whom skowron had won four rings, including the previous two seasons.  following the series, skowron was picked up by the senators who later traded him to the white sox.

rick sutcliffe

sutcliffe, who made his big league debut in 1976, was the first dodger to win the rookie of the year award since ted sizemore (1969) when he claimed it in 1979 (the longest stretch the dodger organization had ever gone without one of their players winning the award).  even so, sutcliffe seemed to be in tommy lasorda's dog house, and he was used mainly as a reliever the following two seasons.  sutcliffe trashed lasorda's office after being left off of the 1981 postseason roster, and was traded to the indians soon thereafter.

jimmy wasdell

wasdell was a member of the dodgers in 1940 and 1941.  he hit .289 in 171 games for the dodgers over those two seasons, and he saw some action in the 1941 world series as well.

geoff zahn

zahn was a member of the dodgers' famous 1968 draft class.  he made it to the bigs in 1973, going 1-0 in his six appearances that season.  in 1974, zahn pitched in 21 games for the nl champs, but did not appear in the postseason.  he started the 1975 season with the dodgers, but was traded to the cubs in the burt hooton deal early on.  i approve of that deal.

see you back next week with another sheet from the 1990 target dodgers set...

1978 topps dodgers in 1982

some more of the dodgers of my youth were on the move in 1982, like reggie smith, who was featured in the 1982 topps traded set as a giant.

topps also listed him as a first baseman on the card, which was different from his flagship 1982 topps card

as i mentioned last time, reggie didn't play in the outfield at all in 1981, making only two fielding appearances all year (both at first base) due to his injured shoulder.  reggie also got an 'in action' card in the set, which means the photo shows him in inaction, waiting for a pitch.

reggie played in 106 games in 1982, 99 of which were spent at first base.  he hit 18 home runs and drove in 56 runs.  he hit his 300th career home run that year, as well as his 2000th base hit.  it turned out to be smith's final season in the big leagues, too.

davey lopes was another starter from the team of my youth to be playing in the bay area in 1982.  here's his very yellow and green (and pink) 1982 topps traded card:

but, before lopes could get into the green and gold, topps issued three cards of him in the flagship set.  here's his base:

all-star:

and in action:

you'll notice that lopes is slightly more 'in action' than smith - it looks like he is prepping for the pitch.  like maury wills in 1972, lopes gets an in action card that doesn't make any sense for a premier basestealer.  at least the photo is from 1981, unlike the photo on his all-star card which came from 1980 (as did the photo on reggie smith's base card).  you can tell by the patches.  the round patch was worn by the dodgers in 1980 to mark the playing of the all-star game at dodger stadium that year.  the 1981 patch was narrow and was worn to commemorate the bicentennial of the city of los angeles.  anyway, lopes played in 128 games for the a's.  he hit 11 home runs (including number 100 for his career which came courtesy of former teammate bobby castillo) and stole 28 bases.

steve garvey wasn't going anywhere in 1982

although his photo is also from 1980.  the garv didn't get an all-star card since he failed to start at first base for the national league for the first time since 1973, but he did get an in action card:

ah, the intense action of the swing follow through.  1982 was a contract year for garvey, and he didn't do himself any favors.  although he played in all 162 games, he had only 176 hits and his .718 ops was the lowest since 1971.  he did hit career home run number 200 during the 1982 season, and on september 13th, he capped off his dodger career with a 16th inning, walk-off home run for his final long ball as a dodger.  his 1968 hits as a dodger rank second among los angeles dodgers to willie davis, and he is 5th overall in franchise history in that category.   he hit more doubles (333) and drove in more runs (992) than any other la dodger, and only duke snider and zach wheat are above him on the all-time franchise doubles list.  carl furillo and gil hodges join snider and wheat in the top four spots of the all-time franchise rbi list.  finally, garvey left the dodgers for san diego with the fifth highest home run total in franchise history with 211.

garvey was eclipsed on that home run list by only one other los angeles dodger, and his name was ron cey (the penguin had 228 homers).  since then, eric karros has passed them both.  here's cey's 1982 topps base card

and an in action card of his very own.

hello, rick monday!  cey gets the most action out of any of the photos features.  in fact, you can see the progression of a swing if you look at the cards in the order in which i have presented them - smith, lopes, garvey, and cey.  cey also finished his dodger career in 1982.  he remains to this day the all-time los angeles leader in walks.  cey played in 150 games and hit 24 home runs in 1982.  before he was traded to the cubs during the offseason, cey hit a home run in his last game as a dodger.  against the giants, no less.

the fourth member of the infield, bill russell, got just one card in the set.

it looks a lot like reggie smith's in action card.  plus, there's a lurking pitcher on deck.  guess i'll try to figure out who it is.  hold on.  w know that the dodgers are on the road (gray uniforms), and we know the photo is from 1981 (left sleeve patch).  plus, the blue of the dugout roof fascia tells me that the dodgers are in new york (shea stadium, where the visitors sat in the third base dugout).  in the strike shortened season, the dodgers made only one visit to shea, and bill russell only appeared in two of the games.  on may 8th, russell did indeed hit in the 8th spot in front of the pitcher; however, that was a night game.  and, even though the pitcher was a left-handed batter (batting glove on right hand), it was fernando, and the on deck guy looks more like terry forster.  the next day, the dodgers and mets squared off in a saturday afternoon affair.  russell was once again in the 8-spot, and the starting pitcher was rick sutcliffe.  sut was a left-handed batter, and he was 0 for 1 in his lone at bat.  dave goltz also got an at bat that day, but goltzie was a righty-righty.  i'll go with sutcliffe as the lurker.

i thought at one point that it was possible that the lopes, garvey, and cey in action card photos all came from the same game as the russell photo, but rick monday did not play in any of the three games the dodgers played in new york in 1981.  pedro guerrero hit behind cey all weekend, and i don't know that monday would have been used as a pinch hitting decoy for petey.  so maybe the cey photo is from 1980?

moving on, here's dusty baker's base card

dusty also got some face time on the team leaders card that topps issued in place of the team card that had been part of their sets since 1956, except for 1969 i believe.

dusty followed up his .320 average with by hitting an even .300 in 1982 with 23 home runs, 88 rbi, and a second straight all-star berth, although he was 0 for 2 in the game.

terry forster got kind of washed out on his 1982 topps card

forster was all the way back in 1982, pitching 83 innings in 56 appearances.  both of those were highs for forster's tenure with the dodgers which ended after the 1982 season.  forster was 5-6 with 3 saves, and he criminally got only two at bats all season (he was 0 for 2) and his career batting average fell below .400.  after the season, forster signed a free agent deal with the braves.

burt hooton matched dusty baker as far as profile style photo on his base card

as well as appearing on the team leader card

his 2.28 era just barely bested jerry reuss' 2.30 mark in 1981, but his 4.03 era in 1982 was fourth-best among the four primary starters (fernando, reuss, bob welch, and hooton).  he was just 4-7 in 21 starts, but did throw two shutouts, including a one-hitter against the phillies in april.

here's rick monday in the foreground of a card for a change

mo hit .257 over 104 games for the dodgers in 1982.  he had 11 home runs and 42 rbi.  he had a two-homer game against the padres in june, and a grand slam against the giants in october.

finally, we have steve yeager

the yeager-meister hit .245 with a couple of home runs as mike scioscia's backup in 1982.  as far as the picture on his card goes, yeager caught both the saturday and sunday games of that three game series against the mets in new york during may of 1981, so this photo might be from the same game as the bill russell photo.  in reality, this photo should have been used for a steve yeager in action card so i could put it between the lopes and the garvey card to further complete the anatomy of a swing.

tomorrow i'll showcase the 1978 topps dodger players who had moved on from la prior to the release of the 1982 topps set.

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!