gary thomasson through the mail success!

gary thomasson just missed out on being a member of the 1978 dodgers and therefore having a more special place in my fandom. in fact, thomasson was a member of the 1978 yankees who crushed my dreams of a world series title that year.  still, he was on the dodger teams of 1979 and 1980 which were ones that i followed closely, and so i associate him with some good times.  he was nice enough to sign a few cards for me through the mail a while back.  here's his 1980 topps card

thomasson was acquired by the dodgers just prior to spring training in 1979 in exchange for brad gulden.  he did manage to get a nice o-pee-chee variation to celebrate the transaction, but 1980 card was his first official dodger card.  too bad there was no 1979 topps traded set.

with rick monday missing almost all of the season, thomasson saw plenty of playing time in 1979 - especially during the first few months of the season.  later on, the dodgers also lost reggie smith, but they called up pedro guerrero and were using derrel thomas more as well, so thomasson split his time between center, right, and coming off the bench as a pinch hitter.

here's his 1981 fleer card, nicely signed, featuring thomasson in the home whites on the field in dodger stadium

and, for comparison, here's his 1981 topps card featuring him in the visitor grays in some generic multipurpose stadium

he also had a card in the 1981 donruss set which featured him, of course, in wrigley field.  the 1981 cards also serve as a final tribute for thomasson, so have a looksie at his complete major league stats

that pinch hit single topps refers to came in game 162 of the 1980 season.  with the dodgers one game behind the astros in the national league west, they faced a must win situation that day.  they were down 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning when thomasson was called upon to pinch hit for bobby castillo with one out and derrel thomas on first base.  side note - it was fun to have a thomas and a thomasson on the dodgers so soon after to having a rau and a rautzhan.  later in the 1980's (1985, to be exact) the dodgers would have a howe and a howell, and just a few years ago (2007) they had a martin and a martinez.  anyway, thomasson singled off of the astros' joaquin andujar, and dave lopes followed with an rbi single to score thomas and get the dodgers on the board.  they would eventually win the game and force a game 163 with houston, thanks to a ron cey homer in the bottom of the 8th.  of course, the dodgers lost game 163, and thomasson was 0 for 1 with a pinch hit groundout in the 9th inning.  that would be his final big league at bat.

as you can see by his final stats, thomasson started his career with the giants.  i asked him to sign his 1978 topps card, and he obliged

that's all i have to say about that.

here's to you, gary thomasson!  thanks for signing my cards!

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! 

sunday target insert

not what you're thinking - there are no markdowns on gladware here - and it's not really an insert, but rather a few random cards from the awesomely fantastic 1990 target dodger set.  this set was an sga in 1990, and it features over 1000 cards (on perforated sheets) depicting pretty much every dodger to have played in a game (sorry mario soto) from 1890 to 1990.

here's a few:

dan griner

griner spent one year (1918) in brooklyn (they were the robins then) after 5 with the saint louis cardinals.  he was 1-5 with brooklyn although his era was a decent 2.15.  his lone win was a shutout.

clem labine

clem spent 11 seasons with the dodgers, first in brooklyn and then making the move with the team to la.  1955 truly was a charmed year for clem and the dodgers - all 3 of his hits that year were home runs.

babe phelps

phelps played for the dodgers from 1935 to 1941. he was traded to the pirates prior to the 1942 season as part of the deal that brought arky vaughan to the dodgers. 

gary thomasson

thomasson was with the dodgers in 1979 and 1980 before heading to japan.  he was part of the huge bounty the giants sent to the a's for vida blue in 1978.  the a's quickly flipped him to the yankees where thomasson won a world series ring against the dodgers.  the dodgers must have liked what they saw, as they traded brad gulden for thomasson the following spring.

glenn wright

from 1929 to 1933, buckshot wright was the robins/dodgers' shortstop, or one of them anyway.  he had a couple of good seasons, finishing 25th in the 1931 mvp voting.  it looks like this photo is from 1921, the season he spent in the minors with the independence producers of the southwestern league.

now, wasn't that more enjoyable than looking at deals on laundry detergent?

(thanks baseball reference)

o canada! o-pee-chee!

having spent a good portion of some summers of my youth in canada, i really like o-pee-chee cards. the cardstock is different, the o-pee-chee logo is used instead of topps, and you get the french translation of some baseball terms. who knew, besides the french, that first base = premier but?

now, some o-pee-chee cards are pretty much identical to their topps brethren. like the 1979 steve garvey.

or the 1985 bob welch.but, here on mike (general soreness) marshall's 1983 card, we see the french translation for 1st base.sometimes, though, the cards are completely different. here, rick monday is shown as a member of the dodgers on his 1977 card, complete with airbrushed cap. his 1977 topps card shows him with the cubs, and uses an entirely different pose.usually when a player has changed teams, though, the card format for the new team is used with the unaltered topps photo and some explanatory text, lest we be unsure of the situation a la the 1979 topps bump wills or 1974 topps jerry morales cards. al downing and his 1971 card demonstrate. so, downing was "recently traded to dodgers". sounds good enough. however, o-pee-chee would use different text to get that simple message across, here, we see that derrel thomas was "signed as free agent 11-14-78".that's good information. on his 1979 card, we see that gary thomasson was "traded 2-15-79", presumably from the yankees to the dodgers.more ambiguity on the 1979 cards of andy messersmith and pete broberg. they are simply identified as "free agent"

so, in 1980, we return to a simplistic catch all statement. "now with dodgers" are jay johnstone and dave goltz.

i don't know if it's just the variation or what, but i really like these cards.