sunday morning target dodgers - brought to you by the number 0. or is it the letter o?

two sundays into the new year, and i still haven't run out of sheets of cards from the 1990 target dodger set to show off.  i think i have enough to go for about 20 more weeks at which time i will have shown the entire set.  not sure if i'll make it that long, though.  here are this week's players:

bob barrett

barrett was 0 for 1 with a ribbie in his lone appearance for the robins in 1925. he had been acquired from the cubs in may, played in that one game, and was sent to the minors. he remained in the minors for the entire 1926 season, but returned to brooklyn in 1927.  that year, barrett hit .259 in 99 games.  he finished his big league career in 1929 with the red sox.

mace brown

the dodgers purchased the contract of mace brown from the pirates in april of 1941 and dealt him to the cubs in august of that same year. in between, brown appeared in 24 games for the dodgers pitching exclusively in relief.  he was 3-2 with a 3.16 era in those games. like barrett, brown finished his playing career as a member of the red sox, and later became their pitching coach and then a scout.  it was in the latter role that he discovered and signed hall of famer jim rice for the bosox.

gino cimoli

cimoli began his career in 1956 with the dodgers, and was an all-star for brooklyn in 1957.  he moved with the club to los angeles in 1958 (where he struck out as the first batter in a west coast major league baseball game), but was traded to the cardinals after that season as part of the wally moon deal.  as a dodger, cimoli had hit .269 in 324 games.  he also played for the pirates, braves, a's, orioles, and angels during his 10 year career.

ron davis

i don't remember ron davis as a dodger, probably because he only pitched in four games for them during the latter part of the 1987 season.  to me, ike's dad is a yankee, as he pitched for them from 1978 through 1981 when he faced the dodgers in the world series.  after i moved to minnesota, where davis pitched from 1982 into 1986, i came to know him as 'whiplash', as in the pain that twins' fans suffered as they followed a davis pitch approaching home plate and then being swatted into the outfield seats.  that's a bit of an exaggeration, as davis averaged 1 home run/9 innings pitched over his career, which is cole hamels-ish.  davis gave up no home runs as a dodger, but did walk 6 in his four innings of work for the blue.

art decatur

decatur was used as both a starter and a reliever for the robins from 1922 through 1924.  he also made one relief appearance in 1925 before he was traded to the phillies.  overall, decatur was 16-16 for brooklyn, with a 3.31 era.

jack fournier

fournier was the robins' first baseman from 1923 into the 1926 season.  he finished 9th in the league mvp voting in 1924 when he led the league with 27 home runs. the following year, he led the league with 86 walks and had a career high on-base percentage of .446.  he was regarded as a poor fielder, and his high error totals supported the reputation.

tom haller

haller was a two-time all-star for the giants when the dodgers traded for him following the 1967 season.  he was an all-star again in 1968, hitting .285 in 144 games for his new team.  haller remained with the dodgers until he was dealt to the tigers in december of 1971.  along the way, he hit .276 and caught in over 440 games as a dodger.  haller later became the giants' general manager, and was responsible for the signing of reggie smith.

billy herman

herman was a hall of fame second baseman who established himself with the cubs during the 1930's. he joined the dodgers via a trade made between the two clubs during the 1941 season, and played second in brooklyn through the 1943 season.  after missing two years due to military service during world war ii, herman returned to the dodgers in 1946, but was traded to the braves near the end of the season.  he eventually returned to brooklyn to coach the dodgers from 1952 through 1957.

hy myers

myers played for brooklyn beginning in 1909. he had a second cup of coffee with the club in 1911, and then became a regular in 1914.  he was a fixture in the robins' outfield through the 1922 season, after which he was traded to the cardinals for john fournier, profiled above.  for brooklyn, myers hit .282 and twice led the league in triples. he helped the club win two pennants, and was responsible for the only run that the team scored off of babe ruth in the 1916 world series thanks to his first inning solo home run.

al oliver

oliver, the man who wore number 0 for the dodgers, brought his .305 career batting average to los angeles following a february, 1985 trade with the phillies.  as a dodger, oliver fairly quickly lost his left fielder job and was used mostly as a pinch-hitter after the first month of the season.  he was traded to the blue jays in early july after compiling a .253 batting average in 35 games.

john ryan

ryan was a catcher who played for the 1898 brooklyn bridegrooms, hitting .189 in 87 games.  he played in a total of 13 seasons, although the last two each consisted of a single at bat while coaching for the washington senators.

frank skaff

skaff broke in with the 1935 dodgers, and hit .545 (6 for 11) in the 6 games in which he played.  he did not appear in the majors again until 1943 when he hit .281 for the philadelphia a's.  skaff later became the manager of the tigers in 1966, following the deaths of chuck dressen and interim manager bob swift.

roy spencer

spencer finished his 12 year career with the dodgers in 1937 and 1938.  he hit .222 as a dodger in 67 games during that span.

terry whitfield

whitfield had spent three years playing in japan where he had helped the seibu lions win a couple of championships before the dodgers signed him as a free agent for the 1984 season.  prior to that, he had found success with the giants, hitting .289 as a member of their outfield from 1977 through 1980.  as a dodger, whitfield hit .242 as a reserve outfielder and pinch-hitter from 1984 into 1986.  he was announced as a pinch-hitter in  the 9th inning of game 3 of the 1985 nlcs, but was pinch-hit for when the cardinals made a pitching change.  that was as close as whitfield got to postseason mlb action in his career.

pat zachry

zachry was acquired by the dodgers from the mets in december of 1982 in exchange for jorge orta.  he had been a starter for his entire career until the mets moved him to the bullpen during the '82 season, and the dodgers left him there (aside from one spot start in 1983 in which he was the winning pitcher) for the next two years.  zachry relieved in a total of 97 games for the dodgers, posting a record of 10-7 with 2 saves in that role.  he was traded to the phillies following the 1984 season in exchange for al oliver, which marks the second time a pair of players on this particular sheet of cards were traded for each other.  i really wish i knew what, if anything, the people who put these sheets together took into account when doing so.

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...

the evolution of the dodger third baseman - part one of way too many

it's been a while since i've run down the lineage of a dodger position.  it's time to get to the infield, although i should probably update one or two of the previous posts.  i'll do that eventually, but for now, let's look at the hot corner.  this one will take a few posts to get through, as third base has not been a model of consistency for the dodgers except from 1973 through 1982.

as usual, i am starting with the late 40's/early 50's since that's when baseball cards became more prevalent.

billy cox (1948-1953)

look at that 1952 bowman awesomeness!  billy cox arrived in brooklyn after the 1947 season (along with preacher roe and gene mauch) by way of a trade with the pirates.  he helped the dodgers win three pennants (1949, 1952, and 1953) and was best known for his fielding abilities although he hit .291 in 1953 and .302 over his three world series appearances.  cox was prominently featured in roger kahn's book 'the boys of summer' but was unfortunately not a member of the 1955 brooklyn dodger championship team.  that's because he was traded (again along with roe) after the 1954 season to the baltimore orioles.  he spent just part of the 1955 season there before being traded to cleveland, but he chose to retire rather than report to the indians.

in his tenure as the dodgers' third baseman, cox appeared in 742 games and hit .259 with 46 homers and 245 rbi, and he saved who knows how many with his glove.

don hoak (1954)

yes i realize that i'm showing hoak's 1953 topps card rather than his more appropriate 1954 issue.  it's because i find it odd that hoak had a card in the 53 set since he didn't debut in the majors until the following year.  anyway, hoak and cox split time fairly evenly at third base in 1954 with hoak getting slightly more playing time and thus the entry here.  as a rookie, he hit .245 with 7 homers and 26 rbi.  one would have thought, perhaps, that with cox being traded after the season hoak would be given the third base job.  not so.

jackie robinson (1955)

good lord.  i'm burying my 1955 topps jackie robinson card three deep in a dodgers-centric post that hardly anybody but me cares about?  what's wrong with me?  nice card, anyway.

yes, jackie robinson slid over to the hot corner in 1955, starting there in 82 of his 105 games played for walt alston.  he had the worst offensive season of his career that year, hitting just .256 with only 16 extra base hits and 36 rbi.  still, the dodgers won the pennant and jackie started the first six games of the series.  after hitting .182 in those games, alston gave the game 7 start to hoak, who had the privilege of being on the field when johnny podres shut the yankees out for brooklyn's lone world series title.

in 1956, robinson made 71 starts at third during his final season, but was not the team's primary third baseman.

randy jackson (1956)

randy 'hansome ransom' jackson started just three games more than robinson in 1956, but that's enough to make the evolutionary list.  he had been acquired from the cubs prior to the season in a deal that sent don hoak (among others) to chicago.

jackson had been an all-star in his last two seasons with the cubs and was coming off a 21-homer campaign.  he played in a total of 101 games for the dodgers in 1956, and hit .274 with 8 homers and 53 rbi.  one of those home runs came as the middle part of a back-to-back-to-back sequence that started with a duke snider home run and culminated with gil hodges' walk-off blast against the phillies on june 29 - the only time three consecutive home runs have ended a game.  jackson helped the dodgers return to the world series in 1956, but he was hitless in his three fall classic at bats.

jackson returned in 1957 and started the season as the dodgers' third baseman.  however, a serious knee injury suffered near the end of april caused him to miss half the season, and precipitated a move to third by a dodger legend.

pee wee reese (1957)

good golly.  a '55 jackie and a 1957 topps pee wee reese in the same post? never mind the tape stains, this is a sweet piece of cardboard.

with jackson injured, pee wee took over at third and wound up playing 75 of his 103 games there that year.  at 38 years old, he hit .224 with a single home run and 33 runs scored.  he made the move to los angeles with the team, but was just a part-time player in 1958.

dick gray (1958)

dick gray made his major league debut on april 15, 1958 and was 2 for 4 with a single in his first big league at bat.  the next day, he hit the first los angeles dodger home run, and a couple days after that, he hit the first dodger home run in los angeles.  not a bad way to start.  gray wound up hitting .249 with 9 home runs on the season in just 58 games.  randy jackson and pee wee reese shared time with him at third, with jim gilliam, don zimmer, earl robinson, and even gil hodges helping out, but gray's 53 starts at the hot corner were more than anyone else, so he gets the spot in our countdown.

gray began the 1959 season on the bench, but got a few starts at third before he was traded to the cardinals in mid june.

jim gilliam (1959-1960)

the aforementioned gilliam brought some semblance of stability to the third base position for the dodgers as he took over in 1959.  sure, he still played second base and the outfield, but between 1959 and 1960, gilliam made a total of 246 starts at third base - more than any dodger in a two-year span since before even billy cox.  in 1959, gilliam led the league in walks and was named an all-star for the second time in his career.  he hit .282 and helped the dodgers win their first championship in los angeles.  in 1960, his average dipped to .248 although he matched his base on balls total from the previous season, and scored 96 runs.  in 1961, gilliam spent more time at second base, as the dodgers acquired a third baseman from the cardinals.  sort of.

daryl spencer (1961)

daryl spencer was acquired by the dodgers early in the 1961 season, and wound up starting 55 games for them at third base that year, despite having played nothing but shortstop for the cardinals prior to the trade.  he hit .243 with 8 home runs and 27 rbi for the dodgers, and then returned in 1962 to hit .136 with a pair of homers and 12 rbi in 77 games (57 of which included time spent at third base).  spencer's reduced playing time in 1962 meant that a familiar face was once again the primary dodger third baseman.

jim gilliam (1962)

believe it or not, walt alston trotted out jim gilliam as the dodgers' starting third baseman 60 times in 1962 - more than spencer, andy carey, lee walls, or even tommy davis.  that means that gilliam was the team's primary third baseman and second baseman that season!  in addition to those starts, gilliam found himself manning the hot corner 30 times as a result of in-game moves after starting elsewhere on the diamond.  overall, gilliam hit .270 in 1962, with an obp of .370 and 83 runs scored.

in 1963, gilliam made only 27 starts (and 55 total appearances) at third, because the dodgers had a rookie from oxnard ready to take over.

ken mcmullen (1963)

that's mcmullen's 1964 topps card.  i wasn't going to bury his 1963 rookie card way down here in this post.

as with most years, the dodgers employed a number of third basemen in 1963.  mcmullen got the most starts (66) out of his 71 appearances, so he gets to represent the year that the dodgers swept the yankees in the world series.  unfortunately, mcmullen did not appear in the postseason after hitting .236 with 5 home runs and 28 rbi during the regular season.  mcmullen only appeared in 24 games during the 1964 season, after which he was dealt to the senators in the claude osteen trade.

jim gilliam (1964-1965)

look who's back!  gilliam was once again getting the majority of the starts at third base in 1964 and 1965.  gilliam had a down year in 1964, hitting only .228 in 116 games (86 of which were spent at third with 62 starts there), but bounced back in 1965 to bat .280 with an obp of .384 in 111 contests (80, 77).

come back next time to see who took over for gilliam in 1966, and whether the dodgers could keep someone there for more than one season at a time.

ever seen a player sample?

no, i'm not talking about bodily fluids that sit in someone's basement until fedex opens, i'm talking about sample cards.  last week, i sent a card to former dodger daryl spencer in the hopes that he would sign it.  he did, and he also included this card, signed as well.

it's a 2012 topps heritage card, with 'player sample' across the top.  i am guessing that topps provides a bunch of cards to the players who sign for them?  but why distinguish them as 'player sample' rather than just give them extra cards?  does anyone know if this is common practice with all sets?

here's the card i sent spencer - his 1962 topps card, which also provides the inset photo on his 1963 issue

spencer spent part of the 1961 and 1963 seasons with the dodgers, as well as the entire 1962 campaign. shortly before the dodgers acquired him in may of 1961, spencer hit a grand slam off of larry sherry, and then hit two home runs in a game off of stan williams.  maybe the dodgers just wanted to keep spencer from hitting against them.  at any rate, in his fourth game as a dodger, spencer hit a walk-off home run against juan marichal to beat the giants.  a week later, he hit his second dodger long ball, also a walk-off.

spencer celebrates his 84th birthday in a week or so (july 13), although i'm the one who got the gift. happy birthday mr. spencer!  thanks for signing my card and including your sample!

they're not mint, mister.

there's a big card show in the twin cities this weekend - a few hall of famers are signing on saturday.  i'll probably go on friday evening and not worry about that, however, no matter how badly i would like reggie jackson to sign one of his iconic 1978 topps cards for me.

i went to this same show last year, and picked up a hefty dose of bargain vintage.  being a dodger fan, and being a dodger fan without the backing of the guggenheim group, that means i bought non-mint stuff.  like this beautiful-to me 1957 topps don drysdale rookie card.

and you can't have a drysdale without a koufax, so i picked up a 1960 topps while i was there

now, the first thing i saw when i walked into the earle brown center was mr. mint.  he was set up at a table directly in line with the entrance.  right next to him was one of the regular twin cities' dealers with the vintage bargain bins.  i set up shop there, and kept one ear on what was going on at the mr. mint table.  he didn't have a whole lot of traffic and spent most of his time talking to his younger companion (son?) about real value vs. sentimental value.  he also had some stories about some of his past purchases, but i can no longer recall any specifics.

now don't get me wrong - i have no illusions when it comes to value of these things we collect.  monetarily, they are only worth what someone else is willing to pay for them.  and, if you are selling to mr. mint, you must understand that you are dealing with a middle man who wants/needs to make a profit off of what he is buying from you.  apparently, many folks don't understand that.  and, i am guessing that this is a speech that mr. mint has had to give thousands of times in the past, so the fact that he was so matter of fact about it while crushing the outlandish hopes of some would-be sellers should not have surprised me.  and it didn't, even though i still cringed at his brusk tone.

in the two hours or so that i spent poring through boxes of vintage cards, many with rounded corners and/or creases, no less than two babe ruth signed baseballs were presented to mr. mint.  he looked at them nonchalantly and made offers on each - offers that were far less than their owners had hoped to receive.  were they fair offers? i don't know.  even dealers came down to see what he might pay for some memorabilia.  not once did i see money or merchandise exchange hands.  he didn't seem to be enjoying himself, that's for sure.

i had a good time though.  i finally found a 1962 bob uecker rookie card that i could live with at a decent price.

being a dodger fan, this is one of the tougher multi-player rookie cards to pick up, especially in the upper midwest.  thanks doug camilli for making it difficult.

not to be outdone as far as rounded corners go, here's a 1962 post daryl spencer card

i am sure i could get a much better copy online for probably close to what i paid for it at this show.  but i don't care!

that's not to say that i didn't pick up some decent looking cards for their age, like this 1956 topps billy loes

 or this charley neal from the same set

and, this sandy amoros

and this don newcombe

from the 1958 topps set are both upgrades for me.  there was another dealer there who had a ton of mid-70's stuff, and he helped me (almost) complete my dodger team set from the 1975 topps mini issue.  for not much money at all, i picked up a 1956 mvp card featuring newk and some triple crown winner

 plus a 1955 campy (with some other catcher)

and a 1963 koufax featuring yet another yankee

this year i will try to complete my 1973 topps set (15 cards to go) and maybe pick up a 1959 topps koufax to finish my dodger set from that year.  and with my budget, mint cards need not apply.

anybody else need anything?