the evolution of the dodger second baseman, part four

when last we visited the evolutionary chain of the dodgers' second basemen, we saw jeff kent retiring following the 2008 season.  to replace him, the dodgers went out and signed free agent orlando hudson.

orlando hudson (2009)

hudson's tenure as a dodger began with a bang.  after the season started on the road, the team opened in los angeles against randy johnson and the giants.  hudson went 4 for 5, hitting for the cycle in his dodger home debut.  he became the first dodger to hit for the cycle since wes parker did it in 1970.  he was also the second los angeles dodger to accomplish the feat, and the first to do it at dodger stadium.  the card shown above, a 2009 topps unique unparalleled performances insert, is all about the cycle.  hudson didn't miss many games that year, starting 143 contests as the team's second baseman although joe torre seemed to lean more towards ronnie belliard at second in the last few weeks of the season, and certainly in the postseason.  still, hudson won the gold glove for the position and signed a free agent deal with the twins for 2009.

blake dewitt (2010) first half

here we have a 2009 topps allen & ginter relic card of dewitt, who wound up as the dodgers' second baseman as the 2010 season got underway.  he started 76 of the team's first 103 games at second, hitting .270 with a .352 on-base percentage.  the dodgers traded dewitt to the cubs at the trading deadline that year, meaning that another second baseman would take over.

ryan theriot (2010) second half

theriot was part of the trade that sent dewitt to the cubs.  he and ted lilly came over for dewitt, brett wallach, and kyle smit. theriot, shown on a 2010 topps update walmart black parallel card, started 50 games for the dodgers at second.  he hit .242 and was traded to the cardinals after the 2010 season ended.  theriot wound up winning world series rings with the cards in 2011 and the giants in 2012.

jamey carroll (2011)

carroll had been with the team in 2010 (playing mostly shortstop with some second, third, and outfield thrown in), but played only second and short in 2011.  that's a target red parallel 2011 topps update card, by the way.  unfortunately, there aren't too many jamey carroll as a dodger cards out there. anyway, carroll wound up playing second base in 81 games for the dodgers in 2011.  aaron miles played in a few fewer games than that, although he made more starts than carroll.  however, carroll spent more innings at second than did miles, so carroll gets the nod here.  at the dish, carroll hit .290 in 2011 and like hudson, joined the twins after his dodger tenure ended.

mark ellis (2012-2013)

that's ellis turning two on his 2014 topps walmart blue parallel card.  ellis played second base in 110 games for the dodgers in 2012 (100 starts) and 119 games (106 starts) in 2013.  overall, he hit .264 and made only 9 errors.  he signed with the cardinals for the 2014 season.

dee gordon (2014)

dee is red hot on his 2014 topps red hot foil parallel.  he's also hot on the basepaths this season, having stolen 51 bases through 111 games.  there was speculation going into spring training that alex guerrero would be the dodgers' second baseman, but he was left behind when camp broke to get more developmental playing time.  gordon has made the most of his opportunity (he made the all-star team and has hit around .300 for most of the season).  it will be interesting to see what happens with hanley ramirez in the offseason.  if the dodgers don't re-sign him, will gordon move back to short with guerrero playing second, or will guerrero (or someone else) play short with dee staying at second.  i don't see darwin barney as a dodger long term.

just one position left to review - i'll get to the evolution of the dodger first baseman soon...

another 73 down

thanks to don who found an amos otis for me

that's a classic '73 right there with what looks to be a brewers catcher (but likely not ellie rodriguez) in the foreground.  don also sent some parallel dodgers, like this 1995 score gold rush card of rafael bournigal

who is awkwardly high-fiving a lurking mike piazza.  i can imagine the staff as they assembled the checklist:

'we need another dodger in the set'
'how about piazza?'
'he already has a couple of cards'
'well find a player who has a photo that includes the italian-american superstar slugger, even if it's a no-hit, all-field backup shortstop'
'bournigal gets a card!'

here is one of mike piazza's cards from the set

i could do without his eyes featured so prominently.

score wasn't the only company doing some weird stuff to their parallels in 1995.  here's a 1995 topps ismael valdes cyber stats card

i think topps figured ismael would have gone 3-2 if the full 1994 season had been played, and he would have suffered blisters on his fingers on three separate occasions.  you dodger fans know what i'm talking about.

i predict the-riot! on a 2010 topps update gold card

which is markedly different from the 2011 topps update cognac cards

that particular ethier card is really just a checklist.  it's interesting that topps included no further text elaborating on what it meant by 'ethier streaks through april'.  who knows what future generations will think.

back to gold - here's darryl strawberry's 1992 topps gold card

i never get tired of that card.  so cool.

finally, in a nod to sesame street, don included a card that was not like the others.  it's a 1991 swell baseball greats card of ralph branca

thanks don! hope you enjoy your 73's i sent in return.

the outfield wall in blue heaven

first things first - i have updated last week's post on the dodger stadium bullpens to correctly identify the back walls as plastic, not metal. thanks to speigel for reminding me.  i also

added a couple of cards showing the flora that currently adorns those blue walls.  go back and check it out.

now that that is out of the way, we'll visit another part of the stadium that has seen it's share of changes.  you all know i'm not referring to the bathrooms.  no, it's the outfield walls of which i speak.  for most of their existence, the walls were just blue.  a nice blue in contrast to the orange and yellow benches in the pavilions. 

 

(by the way, welcome to the blog, mr. bournigal.  sorry it's taken me so long to feature one of your cards).  see that 1995 topps stadium card?  nice colors make for a pretty card.

i began to notice in the early 90's, although it may have been happening for who knows how long before that, that the dodgers would adorn the outfield wall with championship banners on opening day.  if you look closely at the back of this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (shameless plug) card, you can see the big white banners.

there would be six in all - 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, and 1988 - evenly spaced from left to right field. 

that was all temporary, though, and the walls would go back to being just blue.  then, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, the dodgers began to use the wall as a canvas for some really great murals.  murals that recognized dodger hall of famers one year, cy young award winners another year, or world championships another, as seen on devon white's 1999 fleer si card.  

the white sox and cardinals and braves have all done something similar.  i think it is permanent at the cell and new busch stadium.  i like that kind of nod to the past.  like a good rug, it can really pull the room together.

in 2003, out of town scoreboards were added to the walls near each bullpen.  here's hee seop choi's 2004 fleer ultra card to provide some proof.

2004, of course, is when frank mccourt got to town, and he had no use for wasting outfield wall space on murals celebrating the history of the franchise or even just providing a nice color backdrop.  no, he needed to sell advertising space, and he went full bore the following year.  right julio lugo?

right.  that reebok ad isn't too obnoxious, i guess.  except at night, when the signs are lit.  here's ryan theriot's 2011 topps card to show what i mean.

yes, that's dodger stadium with theriot airbrushed into cardinal red.  at least topps put him in away grays.

i know that revenue is important and that most, if not all, other teams sell space on their outfield walls.  maybe, just maybe, however, the new owner could tone it down a bit.  or at least roll out the banners for old time's sake.

goose joaks for the newly acquired

since i gave scott podsednik the o-pee-chee treatment, i figured it was only fair to do the same for the three players the dodgers acquired at the trade deadline. 

octavio dotel

ned seems to enjoy trading with pittsburgh, although the last time he did it the dodgers wound up with a motivated manny ramirez.

the other two guys came over from the cubs.  they are ted lilly

and ryan theriot

lilly was a dodger prospect way back in the latter part of the 90's, but we had to have carlos perez, so he was dealt away.  as far as theriot goes, ned actually compared his level of play to the guy (blake dewitt) who was sent to the cubs as part of the deal.  if it's a wash, could dewitt have been that crucial to the deal?

anyway, the three amigos posed for dodger photographer jon soohoo soon after arriving, and i've tried to cut it up to create more traditional card images.

lilly is too skinny to get his own card without some resolution loss.  since the trades, only lilly has really delivered, although theriot is batting .276.  dotel hasn't even been used in a game in which the dodgers have had a lead yet.  and, as for scotty pods,

he is batting a buck ninetyfive since the trade with a .250 obp.  that's garret anderson territory.