sunday morning target dodgers - dude looks like a brooklyn groom

here we go with another sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger stadium giveaway set.  i remember seeing this set offered in the la times classifieds in 1990 (i usually looked at the sunday classifieds for collectibles, although i don't recall ever buying anything).  i wound up getting my set on ebay (in a couple different transactions) about 8 years later.  on to the cards.

dude esterbrook

dude! sweet! dude! sweet! i could go on for awhile.  esterbrook (given name thomas john) hit .375 in 3 games for the 1891 brooklyn grooms.  that was his last hurrah in the majors, as he finished his career that began in 1880 with the buffalo bisons.  still, esterbrook played in the minors until 1894 and, according to his obituary, fancied himself able to return to the majors at the time of his death in 1901.  the cause of his death was injuries sustained following a jump from a moving train while trying to escape a trip to a mental hospital.

mickey doolan

doolan (his name is spelled 'doolin' on baseball-reference) spent the first 9 years of his career (beginning in 1905) as the phillies' primary shortstop.  in 1914, he jumped to the federal league, but returned to the national league in 1916 with the cubs and later, the giants.  he did not appear in the majors in 1917, but signed with brooklyn for 1918.  in what would be the final season of his career, doolan hit .179 in 92 games as the robins' second baseman.

lou fette

fette pitched in 109 games during his big league career, 107 of which came with the boston bees/braves in two separate stints.  in 1940, after posting an 0-5 record for the bees, the dodgers claimed him on waivers and sent fette to the mound twice.  fette pitched a total of 3 innings in a dodger uniform, allowing 3 hits and issuing 2 walks, but no runs crossed the plate against him.  fette later returned to boston in 1945, where he pitched for his former franchise (having reverted to their previous name, the braves) and finished his big league career.

darrin fletcher

fletcher was a backup catcher who had a couple of cups of coffee with the dodgers in 1989 and 1990.  he was traded to the phillies for dennis cook during the 1990 season, but found success after the phils traded him to montreal following the 1991 campaign.  fletcher was a member of the 1994 expos, even representing them in the all-star game, and was their regular catcher from 1993 through 1996.  it's worth noting that fletcher was the catcher for tommy greene's no-hitter against the expos in 1991.

dave goltz

i first learned about goltz from his appearance on a 1978 topps league leader card.  there he was, in a minnesota twins hat along with dennis leonard, jim palmer, and steve carlton thanks to the fact that he, leonard, and palmer all had 20 wins in 1977.  a couple years later, goltz signed with the dodgers as a free agent.  the move didn't work out so well for the minnesota native although he was part of the 1981 world champions (he relieved bob welch in game 4 of the series - a game the dodgers came back to win by scoring two late runs off of old friend tommy john.  goltz pitched for the angels in 1982 after leaving the dodgers, but he never regained the touch he had during his time in minnesota.

harvey hendrick

hendrick played for the robins from 1927 into the 1931 season.  he hit .354 in 1929, which was only good enough for 9th in the national league (lefty o'doul hit .398) and second on the robins (babe herman hit .381).  hendrick, who was a member of the world champion yankees in his rookie season of 1923, hit .318 for brooklyn during his tenure which ended after one appearance in 1931 after which he was traded to the reds.

ricky horton

horton had the good fortune to join the dodgers in august of 1988.  last week i noted that shawn hillegas was the guy with the bad luck who was traded away by the dodgers to the white sox on august 30, 1988, and now here's the guy who the dodgers received in return showing up on this week's sheet.  horton appeared in 12 games for the dodgers down the stretch, going 1-1 with a 5.00 era.  he also appeaered in 4 games of the nlcs and didn't allow any runs, but he didn't pitch in the world series.  horton returned to the team for the 1989 season, but was released in july of that year.

tom mccreery

mccreery suited up for the superbas in 1901, '02, and part of '03 towards the end of his 9-year career.  he hit .264 during that time, which was below his career average of .289.

lemmie miller

lemmie's big league career consisted of 8 games for the dodgers in 1984.  he was 2 for 12 with a walk and a run scored in those games, the last of which occurred on his 24th birthday.

eddie moore

moore played for the robins in 1929 and 1930, hitting .291 for brooklyn during that time.  he had been the second baseman on the pirates' 1925 world championship team, although he led the league in errors at that position that season.

van lingle mungo

mungo was often referred to by his full name for some reason, so as not to be confused with all of the other van mungos out there perhaps.  or maybe i am just thinking that because of the song 'van lingle mungo'.  mungo pitched for the robins/dodgers from 1931 through 1941, and was a 3-time all-star.  in 1936, he led the league in strikeouts (and walks), and he also led the league in fip and k/9ip although he had an 18-19 record to show for it.

hal peck

the sum total of hal peck's dodger career is a single pinch-hit appearance in 1943.  peck flew out against rip sewell in his major league debut while pinch-hitting for bobo newsom.  two days later, peck's contract was purchased by the cubs and he never played for brooklyn again.  he did, however, play through 1949, and was a member of the indians' 1948 world championship team.

jack savage

savage pitched in 3 games for the 1987 dodgers, retiring 10 of 14 batters and allowing only one run in those 3.1 innings of work.  during the offseason, he found himself headed to the mets as part of the three-team trade that also involved bob welch, jay howell, jesse orosco, and others.  savage didn't pitch for the mets, however, and was eventually traded (with tapani) to the twins in the frank viola deal.

sunday morning target dodgers

here are 14 more cards (all from the same sheet) from the 1990 target dodgers set.  you know what that means, the 15th card on the sheet will get its own post later today.  let's see what baseball reference call tell me about these folks.

i'll start with the star of the sheet, carl furillo

a nice photo selection for skoonj there.  probably one of the more candid cards in the set.  furillo, of course, was the right fielder for the dodgers during their 'boys of summer' days.  he led the national league with a .344 batting average in 1953.

al epperly

epperly made his big league debut as a cub in 1938.  he pitched in 9 games compiling a record of 2-0.  he didn't appear in the majors again until 1950 when, as a dodger, he pitched in 5 games without recording a decision.

neal 'mickey' finn

neal 'mickey' finn's real name was cornelius francis finn.  he made his big league debut with the brooklyn robins in 1930 and played with the team for three seasons.  he played mostly second base for the team, and appeared in a career high 118 games in 1931.

larry french

this is a guy i know about.  he finished up his 14 year big league career with the dodgers in 1941 and '42.  before that, he pitched for the pirates and the cubs, for whom he appeared in the 1935 and 1938 world series.  in the 1935 fall classic, french took 2 losses, and was the game 6 pitcher for the cubs who made it through 8.2 innings before giving up goose goslin's series winning base hit.  as a dodger, french helped the club to the 1941 world series after pitching in just 6 games for brooklyn following his arrival off of the waiver wire in august.  i had heard about french before because of a postseason oddity that year - he pitched in two games against the yankees, recording three outs by facing just one batter.  in game 3, he came in with one out and runners on first and third in the eighth, but got bill dickey (who had homered off of french in the 1935 world series) to ground into a double play.  the next day, french entered the game with two outs in the 4th inning and phil rizzuto on second. rizzuto proceeded to run the yankees out of the inning (caught stealing, i presume), and french had his third out of the series by retiring just one batter.

dick gray

gray, who played for the dodgers in 1958 and 1959, is best known for being the first third baseman in los angeles dodger history, and for hitting the first home run in los angeles dodger history.  he also had the misfortune of being traded to saint louis during the 1959 season, and so did not get a chance to play in the first world series for the los angeles dodgers.

hunkey hines

hunkey's real name was henry, by the way.  he played in two games for the brooklyn grooms in 1895 (the only big league games of his career), so it's pretty cool that there is a photo of him in uniform.  he was 2 for 8 with 2 walks in those games, for a nice lifetime obp of .400.

jim hughes

hughes pitched for the dodgers exclusively as a reliever from 1952 until may of 1956 when his contract was purchased by the cubs.  in that time, he appeared in 143 games including a league best 60 in 1954. as the dodgers' "fireman", had there been an official statistic, hughes would have led the league in saves that year as well.  after he retired from baseball, he became a more traditional fireman in chicago.

frank kitson

kitson was with the superbas from 1900 through 1902, amassing a record of 53-37 in those three seasons.  baseball reference notes that he 'jumped' from brooklyn to detroit after the 1902 season, and  so was a teammate of ty cobb when the georgia peach joined the club in 1905.

elmer klumpp

klumpp played in 5 games for the dodgers during the 1937 season, going 1 for 11 with 2 rbi.  his only other big league experience had come in 1934 when he played in 12 games for the senators.

alejandro pena

if you were to name dodger pitchers who led the league in era, i am sure you would get koufax and kershaw, but what about johnny podres, dazzy vance, kevin brown, and don sutton?  or alejandro pena, who led the national league in era in 1984?  it's too bad a shoulder injury late in that season pretty much ended his career as a starter, although he did have success as a reliever over the remainder of his career.

ted savage

savage played for the dodgers for just one season - 1968.  he hit .206 with a pair of home runs, the first of which was a pinch hit blast.

tom seats

seats pitched for the dodgers in 1945 after seeing big league action with the tigers in 1940.  in his lone year with the dodgers, he appeared in 31 games, starting 18, and threw 6 complete games, 2 of which were shutouts.  his record was 10-7 with a 4.36 era, but the most interesting thing i found about seats is that on september 3, 1945, he won both ends of a doubleheader.  after pitching a shutout against the braves in the first game, seats returned to pitch a scoreless 10th in the nightcap and earn the win when the dodgers scored in the bottom of the inning.

daryl spencer

spencer was acquired by the dodgers in 1961 and split time between third and short for them until he was traded away early in the 1963 season.  all told, he played in 144 games as a dodger, with 10 homers.  his first two home runs as a dodger were of the walk off variety, including one against juan marichal and the arch-rival giants.

nick willhite

i have told the tale of nick willhite, dodger double dipper before.  it's the perfect segue to the next post which features the 15th player from this sheet of cards who also double dipped.  stay tuned...

savage love!

in the way of a ted savage through the mail success!

savage spent the last part of the 1968 season with the dodgers.  he was acquired in the deal that sent phil regan and jim hickman to the cubs.  prior to that, savage played in saint louis.  one would have to go all the way back to 1963 to find savage in pittsburgh wearing the uniform he is shown in on his 1969 card.

as a dodger, savage hit .209 with 2 home runs.  he was traded to the reds prior to the 1969 season.

thanks ted!