sunday morning target dodgers - featuring a trojan dodger

there's only one los angeles dodger on this particular sheet of cards from the 1990 target 100th anniversary set, yet the best known person on the sheet is known for wearing a different uniform in la.  oh, and there are only 14 people in this post because one of the guys on the sheet was a double dipper - he gets a separate post later.  enjoy.

leon cadore

cadore is known primarily as the brooklyn robins pitcher in the famous 26-inning, 1-1 tie with the braves during the 1920 season (friday was the 95th anniversary of the feat).  however, in addition to pitching 26 innings that day, cadore won 68 games during his 9 seasons with the robins, and appeared in one game of the 1920 world series against the indians as well.  still, that marathon game is his claim to fame, and it even got him a card in the 1961 topps set, which is nice.

andy carey

carey spent 10 seasons in the american league before joining the dodgers in 1962. he won three world series rings with the yankees (in 1953, 1956, and 1958 - although he did not play in the '53 series), and appeared in two other fall classics (1955 and 1957) as well.  with the dodgers, carey hit .234 in 53 games during the 1962 season, which was the last of his career.

raoul dedeaux

known better as 'rod', dedeaux was the legendary manager of the usc trojans baseball team from 1942-1987 and of the us olympic team in 1984 (earning himself a card in the 1985 topps set as a result). before all of that, however, dedeaux was a baseball player, and he appeared in two games for the brooklyn dodgers in 1935.  he was 1 for 4 with an rbi at the plate as a major league player, but went on to collect over 1,300 wins and 11 collegiate titles as the coach at southern cal.

carl doyle

doyle pitched for the dodgers in 1939 and part of 1940. he had a sparkling 1.02 era over his five games pitched in 1939 (including a shutout of the phillies), but he had just a 1-2 record to show for it. in 1940, he pitched in 3 games for the dodgers and had an era of 27.00 before he was traded to the cardinals in the ducky medwick deal.

dick durning

durning pitched in two major league games - one in 1917 and one in 1918.  both came as a member of the brooklyn robins, both were in relief, and both were as the final pitcher of the game. in his big league debut, durning pitched a perfect inning.  in his final appearance, he allowed 5 runs to score (3 earned) with 3 hits and 4 walks allowed over two innings.  perhaps he should have quit while he was ahead.

chauncey fisher

fisher pitched for the bridegrooms in 1897. he was 9-7 that year with a 4.23 era.  fisher also pitched for the reds, giants, cardinals, and cleveland spiders during his career.

nig fuller

fuller appeared in three games over a 12-day span in 1902 with the superbas, and was 0 for 9 with an rbi and a sacrifice in them.

carden gillenwater

gillenwater spent time in the major leagues over five different seasons, playing for four different teams. one of those teams was the 1943 brooklyn dodgers, for whom he played in 8 games and hit .176.

ed konetchy

a good fielding first baseman, konetchy spent the first 7 years of his career (1907-1913) with the cardinals, where he put up numbers that topped the franchise leader board in many categories until rogers hornsby surpassed them.  one number, his 151 steals as a cardinal, stood until lou brock passed him in the 1960's.  he joined the robins in 1919 after spending time with the pirates, braves, and one season in the federal league. konetchy helped the robins reach the world series in 1920 by hitting .308 in the regular season, although he hit just .174 in the fall classic.

john mcdougal

mcdougal made his big league debut with the brooklyn grooms in 1895, earning what today would be considered a save despite allowing four runs over three innings of work.  he did not pitch in the big leagues again until 1905, when he was a member of the cardinals.

darby o'brien

o'brien was a member of the 1890 brooklyn bridegrooms in their inaugural year as a national league team. he had joined the club in 1888, actually, and remained a member of the team through 1892. he hit .314 for the national league champion bridegrooms in 1890, but well below .200 during the postseason exhibition that year.

charlie schmutz

schmutz pitched for the robins in 1914 and 1915.  he was 1-3 in 18 games during the 1914 season, and had no record in the lone appearance he made in 1915.

tommy sheehan

sheehan spent the 1908 season as a member of the brooklyn superbas following a couple of years with the pirates and a single game with the giants back in 1900.  he appeared in 146 games, a career high, but hit only .214.  actually, that .214 clip was slightly better than the team's average of .213, so maybe i shouldn't say 'only' when referring to the deadball era.

danny taylor

taylor joined the dodgers in may of 1932 after starting the season with the cubs, for whom he had played since 1929 (he also had a cup of coffee with the senators in 1926). taylor patrolled the dodger outfield through july of 1936, and had an even .300 batting average over his tenure with the club.

sunday morning target dodgers - now with two world series mvps

there have been eight men who, while playing for the dodgers, have been named the most valuable player of the world series. this sheet of 15 cards from the 1990 target dodger anniversary set has two of them, plus 13 others to have worn the uniform of the franchise between 1890 and 1990.  have a look.

max carey

carey was (and still is) one of the greatest defensive outfielders in the history of the game.  he was also one of the best base stealers, too, and his 10 stolen base championships while with the pirates helped cement his hall of fame status.  he joined the robins during the 1926 season when he was 36 years old, but he continued to play for brooklyn through the 1929 season.  in 1932, he returned to the franchise as their manager, replacing wilbert robinson as the team became the dodgers once again. although he led the team to a 6th place finish in 1933 (his last season as the manager) he was still added to the national league's coaching staff for the first all-star game.

bob chipman

according to baseball reference, they called him 'mr. chips'.  chipman was a brooklyn native who debuted for the hometown dodgers in 1941. he pitched in one game that season, two the next, and one in 1943.  in 1944, chipman pitched in 11 games for the dodgers before being traded to the cubs in june for eddie stanky.  he wound up pitching for chicago through 1949, and then spent 3 years with the boston braves.

willie davis

davis is, quite simply, one of the greatest los angeles dodgers ever.  after hitting .318 in 22 games as a rookie in 1960, davis spent the next thirteen seasons as the team's primary center fielder.  as a result, his name sits near or atop the dodger (and especially los angeles dodger) career leader board in many categories.  no other los angeles dodger has had more plate appearances, scored more runs, had more base hits, or boasts a greater war than 3-dog.  i was disappointed that the team did not wear a memorial patch following davis's death in 2010.

tommy dean

dean got his start in the big leagues as a dodger in 1967. he hit .143 in 12 games as a september call-up that year, but was back in the minors for the 1968 season.  dean was traded to the padres early in the 1969 season for al mcbean, and became their regular shortstop in their inaugural season.

phil gallivan

gallivan was a pitcher on the 1931 robins. it was his first year in the majors, and he posted an 0-1 record in 6 appearances. the next season, he was pitching for the white sox who later traded him for a player named george washington.

charlie gilbert

gilbert hit .246 as a rookie for the 1940 brooklyn dodgers. he was traded to the cubs in may of 1941 for billy herman.

pedro guerrero

ah. here's one of the world series mvp's that i mentioned up top. guerrero, of course, shared his award with ron cey and steve yeager in 1981.  he hit .333 with 2 homers, 7 rbi, and an ops of 1.179 in that fall classic against the yankees and all was right with the world. the next year, he finished third in the league mvp voting, and in 1983, the dodgers moved him to third base and he was fourth in the mvp voting.  i've often wondered what might have happened if the dodgers had just left petey in the outfield and not tried to use him as a third baseman, but at the time it didn't seem to affect his offense too much. he was one of the most exciting players in the league, and i was glad he was on 'my' team.

oscar jones

jones pitched for the brooklyn superbas from 1903 through 1905. after winning 19 games in 1903, jones led the league with 25 losses (paired with 17 wins) in 1902, a season in which he threw 377 innings and posted a 2.75 era.

george magoon

magoon was a brooklyn bridegroom in 1898 when he hit .224 in 93 games.  the next year, he was with the baltimore orioles and later played for the cubs, reds, and white sox.

camilo pascual

target put an extra 'i' in camilo's name, which is too bad since they are a company based in the twin cities which is where pascual had his best years. he was a member of the washington senators (as evidenced by the photo on the card) who moved to minneapolis with the rest of calvin griffith's squad in 1961. he won 20 games twice for the twins, and then pitched against the dodgers in the 1965 world series, losing game 3.  the dodgers signed pascual as a free agent during the 1970 season, and while he didn't earn a decision as a member of the club, he pitched well in his 10 appearances as evidenced by his 2.57 era. it's too bad that he wasn't held until the latter series of the 1970 set, as this is the only card of him as a dodger that i know of.

johnny podres

podres was the first dodger to win the world series mvp award.  he won game 3 against the yankees with a complete game performance, and then shut out the bronx bombers at yankee stadium in game 7 to win the dodgers' first world championship. podres then spent the next season in the military.  he returned to the club in 1957 and led the league in era and whip.  podres wound up winning a total of 136 games for the dodgers before pitching for the tigers and, fittingly enough, the padres towards the end of his career.

mike scioscia

scioscia was the dodgers' first round pick in 1976, and he made his big league debut four years later. after that, he was essentially the dodgers' primary catcher through the 1992 season, and appeared to be a front runner to eventually become the team's manager, especially after bill russell was fired in 1998.  no dice, however, as the club went with davey johnson for the 1999 season, and scioscia was soon leading the anaheim angels to a world series title.

harry taylor

taylor pitched for the dodgers from 1946-48, getting most of his action in 1947 when he pitched in 33 games, 20 of which were starts, and had 10 complete games and 2 shutouts. he also pitched in the world series that year. after spending 1949 and most of 1950 in the minors, his contract was purchased by the red sox, and he pitched for them through 1952.

john werhas

werhas played for the dodgers during the mid to late 1960's. he debuted in 1964 and then had a short stint with the club again as a september call-up in 1965. he was called up once more in 1967 for a few games, and was then dealt to the angels for len gabrielson, who was werhas's teammate at usc. overall, werhas hit .183 in 40 games as a dodger.

tom zachary

i knew who tom zachary was at a fairly young age, thanks to the fact that it was he who surrendered babe ruth's 60th home run in 1927.  i did not know, however, that zachary became ruth's teammate the following year (and helped the yankees win the 1928 world series) nor did in know that he also went on to pitch for the dodgers in 1934. he was 5-6 with a 4.43 era, but pitched a bit better in 1935.  in 1936, he made just one appearance as a dodger (allowing 2 runs in a third of an inning) before he was released - two years before the bambino joined the team as a coach.

that's it for this week - i've got another sheet lined up for next sunday...

zack taylor was a robin, brave, giant, brave, cub, yankee, and then finally, a dodger

he was a double dipper.

[this is the seventysixth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, marv rackley, bobo newsom, maury wills, dazzy vance, and ray hayworth.]

i have posted this 1990 target card of zack taylor before

but i wasn't doing double dipper posts at the time.  as i spelled out in the title, taylor played for a number of different teams during his career, but it began in 1920 with the brooklyn robins.  he played for uncle robbie through the 1925 season, hitting .287 in 350 games over that span as the backup backstop.  from there, taylor was traded to the braves and then to the giants in 1927.  he returned to the braves in 1928 and was claimed by the cubs during the 1929 season.

taylor helped the cubs reach the world series in 1929, although they lost to the a's.  he remained with the northsiders through the 1933 season, after which he was released.  late in the 1934 season, he signed with the yankees, because who wouldn't want to play behind bill dickey and alongside babe ruth and lou gehrig?  unfortunately, this was right in the middle of a three year stretch in which the yankees finished second in the american league, and taylor was denied a return to the postseason.  in two of the four games in which taylor appeared for the yankees, he actually replaced babe ruth in the lineup.  twice ruth pinch hit for the yankees' starting catcher (arndt jorgens - i assume that it was an injury to dickey that prompted taylor's signing), and twice taylor took over catching duties immediately thereafter.

in 1935, the brooklyn dodgers brought taylor back to where his career had began.  this time, taylor hit only .130 in 26 games, and his playing days were through.  taylor stuck with the dodgers in 1936 as a coach, and then moved on to coach some other teams, and ultimately wound up managing the saint louis browns for five seasons.

another sunday morning edition of target dodgers

well, i still have a bunch of these scanned, so let's take a look at a few more of these cards from the 1000 or so in the set.

jimmy canavan

canavan, whose career lasted from 1891 - 1897, spent his last season with the brooklyn bridegrooms.  apparantly their uniform more resembled brooklyn inmates.  or referees.  anyway, canavan also played for the reds, brewers, chicago colts and cincinnati kelly's killers.  awesome.

gus getz

getz played with the organization for 3 years when they were the robins, back in the 1910's.  he was on the 1916 world series team that lost to babe ruth and the red sox.  in fact, getz pinch hit for nap rucker in game 4, making the last out of the game.  he faced dutch leonard in that, his only world series at-bat.  a fun fact: casey stengel was on first!

zack taylor

taylor began his career in 1920 with the robins and ended it in 1935 with the dodgers.  in all, he spent 7 seasons in brooklyn.  his 1934 season consisted of appearing in a handful of games with the yankees.  1934 was babe ruth's last year with the club, and in one game, taylor actually replaced ruth in the lineup.  ruth was called on to pinch hit for the starting catcher (arndt jorgens) and then taylor took over behind the plate.  baseball reference is a wonderful thing.

nelson greene

greene was a teammate of taylor's on a couple of those robins teams in the 20s.  he pitched in parts of 1924 and 1925, winning 2 games and losing 1.  he once gave up 18 hits and 15 runs in 6+ innings against the pirates.  yikes.

john wetteland

hey - it's a bona fide los angeles dodger!  too bad tommy lasorda didn't ever figure out how to use wetteland (he started a few games, then would go to the bullpen in middle relief, then start some more) as he notched only 1 save in his 3 years in los angeles. he was traded (with tim belcher) to the reds in the deal that brought eric davis to town.  the reds quickly flipped him to montreal where the expos instantly installed him as their closer, and the rest is history.  the 1996 world series mvp is currently a coach with the mariners.  hopefully he is doing well after his brief hospitalization during the offseason.

bob logan

bob logan appeared in exactly 2 games for the dodgers.  that was in 1935.  in his second game, he tallied his only strikeout as a dodger.  it occurred against the boston braves, and, while there is no play-by-play on baseball reference, only two braves struck out that day.  one was babe ruth, and the other hal lee.  sadly, based on the fact that lee replaced ruth in the lineup and logan was the last dodger pitcher, it was not the babe that logan k'd that day.  logan played for a few other teams in his career, including detroit as seen in the photo used for the card.  the funny thing there is that he only made 1 appearance in the majors for the tigers.

doc mcjames

mcjames was with the franchise when they were known as the superbas!  that would have been the turn of the century.  the 20th century.  he pitched for the club in 1899 and 1901, winning 19 games for the 1899 national league champions.  his 156 strikeouts for the washington senators in 1897 were enough to lead the league.  sadly, in september of 1901, 2 months after making his final appearance in a game, mcjames was killed when he was thrown from a carriage.  how's that for an early 20th century demise?

eddie stanky

the brat was the second baseman on the 1947 dodger team, which is why jackie robinson played first that year.  he was also one of the players who signed dixie walker's protest against having jackie on the team.  after the 1947 season, his 4th with the dodgers, stanky was traded to the boston braves opening up second for robinson.  there are a lot of great stories about stanky and the way that he played the game, and i am happy to be able to link to a jim murray column that recounts some of them.  enjoy.

thanks baseball reference!