sunday morning target dodgers - the longest name edition

here are more players from another sheet in the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set.

mike devereaux

devereaux was a 5th round pick of the dodgers in 1985, and he was in their outfield a couple of years later.  and then again a few years after that.  i've told his tale before, so i won't go into details again here.  devereaux is currently a coach in the rockies' system.

dick dietz

dodger fans know dietz from his days as a giant, particularly his failure to get out of the way of a don drysdale pitch during big d's scoreless innings streak.  dietz was deemed to have not tried to evade the pitch, and was not awarded first base. that was significant because the bases were loaded at the time.  drysdale got dietz out after the non-hbp, and went on to set the record for consecutive scoreless innings.  dietz joined the dodgers for the 1972 season, but injuries limited him to just 27 games.

snooks dowd

in 1919, dowd played in 13 games for the a's and one for the tigers.  seven years later, he appeared in two games for the brooklyn robins, going 0 for 8. not much to say about dowd, so instead i will note that mlb should bring back the sweaters.

jim golden

golden was acquired by the dodgers from the phillies in 1958 in the deal that sent sparky anderson to philadelphia.  he debuted with the dodgers a couple of years later, starting and beating the cubs in his big league debut and only appearance of the 1960 season. the following year, golden pitched in 28 games, winning 1 and losing 1, although he was used exclusively in relief.  after the season, golden was selected by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft, and he went on to pitch for them for a couple of years.  he was traded to the white sox for nellie fox following the 1963 season.

don lund

lund was a standout athlete at the university of michigan, and chose baseball over football by signing with the dodgers rather than the chicago bears. he appeared in four games for brooklyn in 1945, and then hit .300 in 11 games for them in 1947. the following year, lund was hitting just .188 when the browns selected him on waivers in late june. he eventually returned to michigan as a member of the tigers, and later coached baseball at his alma mater, leading them to the college world series in 1962.

cal mclish

that would be calvin coolidge julius caesar tuskahoma mclish.  just cal, for short.  mclish first appeared in the majors with the dodgers in 1944 as an 18-year old.  he was 3-10 in 23 games (13 starts) that year, with all three of his wins coming in complete game performances. after a year of military service, mclish appeared in just one game in 1946, and was included in the may 1947 trade with the pirates that netted the dodgers al gionfriddo.

clarence mitchell

mitchell pitched for the robins from 1918 through 1922, which means that he was a member of the 1920 national league champions.  he was 5-2 during the regular season that year, and pitched in just one of the world series games (game 5) without figuring in the decision.  mitchell also played the outfield and first base when he wasn't pitching, and had a batting average of .277 in well over 400 at bats during his time with the robins.

gene moore

moore had three different stints with the brooklyn dodger organization, but only appeared in the majors for them in one of them, so he did not achieve true double (or triple) dipper status.  he was first brought into the fold in september of 1935 after playing for the reds and cardinals, but he was traded to the boston bees prior to the start of the 1936 season.  following the 1938 campaign, the bees sent him back to the dodgers, and he played in 117 games for brooklyn over the 1939 and 1940 seasons until his contract was purchased by the bees in may of '40.  the bees eventually traded moore to the yankees, and the dodgers purchased his contract a couple of months later, in february of 1942.  moore spent most of 1942 with the dodgers' triple-a team in montreal, at least until the senators came calling at the end of august and brought him back to the majors.

mike morgan

morgan was well traveled in his major league career, pitching for the dodgers from 1989 through 1991. he was 33-36 as a dodger, and represented the club at the 1991 all-star game - the only all-star selection of his career.

mike munoz

munoz began his 12-year big league career with the dodgers in 1989, and pitched for them again in 1990.  following that season, he was traded to the tigers, but he eventually returned to the nl west with the rockies, with whom he spent the majority of his career. a lefty specialist, munoz appeared in 453 games (all in relief) and pitched a total of 364.1 innings in his career.

charlie neal

neal played mostly second base for the brooklyn and los angeles dodgers from 1956 through 1961.  he was an all-star in 1959 and 1960, and led the league in triples in the former.  neal hit .370 with a couple of home runs in the 1959 world series, but the dodgers traded him to the mets in the fall of 1961.  with the mets, neal was their inaugural second baseman, and he drove in the first run in franchise history on opening day, 1962.

bill north

north was a two-time stolen base champion for the oakland a's and a two-time world series champion (he was with the a's in 1973, but did not appear in the postseason due to injury, and played against the dodgers in the 1974 fall classic).  he began his career with the cubs, which is why he's wearing cub gear in the card photo.  i don't know why a photo of him from the early 1970's was used for his card, unless someone really wanted to make sure we acknowledged those sweet muttonchops.  anyway, north joined the dodgers in a may of 1978 trade (the trade that sent glenn burke to oakland) and took over in center field for rick monday.  he helped the dodgers win the nl west that year, but was 0 for 8 in the nlcs and 1 for 8 in the world series against the yankees, and he chose to leave la via free agency for the 1979 season.

lee rogers

rogers spent one year in the majors - 1938.  he was 1-1 in 14 games for the red sox, and then, following an august trade with the dodgers, he went 0-2 in 12 games for brooklyn.

dick smith

smith was originally signed by the dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1957, but he made his big league debut with the mets in 1963.  he returned to the dodgers for the 1965 season, and he was 0 for 6 with a sacrifice in 10 games.  he did not appear in the 1965 world series, although he was traded to the twins (the 1965 american league champions) prior to the 1967 season, after spending all of 1966 in the minors.

ben wade

similar to dick smith, wade signed his first professional contract in 1940 with the dodgers, however he made his big league debut as a cub in 1948.  the dodgers re-acquired the hurler prior to the 1950 season, and he marked his return to the majors two years later - this time with brooklyn.  he was 19-15 in the 2-plus seasons that he spent with the dodgers, and got to pitch in the 1953 world series for them as well.  after his playing days were over, wade became a scout for the dodgers, and he eventually served as their scouting director from the late 1970's into the '90's.  no word on whether or not he bought into sabermetrics, though.

a nice way to close out 2014 - 60 year old cardboard completed!

i very seriously doubt that i will complete the 1955 topps dodger team set in 2015, but that is the only set that stands between me and having a complete run of topps flagship dodger team sets from 1954 through 2014 (minus a few short print photo variations from 2014).  that's because i recently picked up the last card i needed for the 1954 team set - this jackie robinson card.

it's a beauty.

jim hughes

and ben wade

were the other dodgers i picked up for the team set this past year.

i've got my eye on a 1953 topps jackie robinson card for 2015 - it's the only jackie topps card i don't have - although i am more certain about not being able to complete the '53 team set than i am about the '55 set.  but then again, i never thought i would get this far either.

cartwright!

perhaps one of the best early episodes of seinfeld was the chinese restaurant one.  the foursome waited in real time for a table, but lost out when the host called out 'cartwright' instead of 'costanza' when it was their turn to be seated.  that's a long way to go to get to this 2012 panini cooperstown card of alexander cartwright

it came to me from jeff at 2x3 heroes as part of his 'tis the season giveaway and features the baseball pioneer in fireman gear from his time as the honolulu fire chief.  

there were also a mess of twins in the package, including a 2012 topps heritage jamey carroll

on which the former dodger does his best 'suttoning' pose, and a bunch of angels including a 2006 fleer ultra vladimir guerrero

i also found this 1987 ralston purina steve garvey card

in the package.  i think i still need the cookie crisp version - it doesn't say '1987 collectors' edition' on it.

don't worry - jeff also sent some dodgers along.  here's a 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee cory wade black parallel card

but the biggest, best, baddest card of the entire package was this 2013 panini america's pastime fernando valenzuela autograph

el toro autografia certificado para mi!  mucho gusto! muchas gracias jeff!

my pared down 1953 topps sampler

i've removed all the non-dodgers from my 1953 topps sampler set.  here is what i am left with.

that's 12 of the 21 dodgers in the set.  i just need some guys named robinson, reese, campanella, etc.

for those of you with eagle eyes, you've noticed that there are 12 dodgers instead of 11 that were included in the sampler set post earlier today.  that's because in between the time i scanned the cards and got around to posting, i picked up a charlie dressen card.

sorry, that's chuck dressen.  i also mentioned earlier today that my approach to the sampler sets was to not worry about position differentiation, just team, color combos, and subsets.  that meant that i didn't have a manager card in the 1952 set (dressen is a high number), and until i picked up this card, i didn't have one in the 1953 set either.

garv-aholic

everybody's favorite calgarian blogger, captain canuck, recently braved the elements to snowshoe (or did he have to row?) over to the post office and send me some pretty nice dodger cards to feed my addiction.

i will show them now so that his journey of kindness may not have been in vain.

2008 topps triple threads steve garvey

as much as i like seeing garvey on new releases as a dodger, the best part of this card might be the lurking jimmy wynn in the background!

it wouldn't be a proper package from the great white north without some o-pee-chee.  unfortunately, this is a 2009 upper deck opc card of jonathan broxton

instead of a true canadian cardboard sample.  no matter, there were other things in the package to keep my mind off of that situation.  like this 2008 upper deck baseball heroes nomar garciaparra charcoal parallel

nomah!

there were also a couple of 2008 upper deck sp authentic rookie exclusive cards, too.  i don't recall if these were inserts or part of a special set or what.  i think i knew at one time.  anyway, here's ramon troncoso

he can be seen in white sox gear these days.  the other card from that set that i received was of cory wade

wade is currently pitching in the rays' system at aaa.

another dodger with ties to the rays is don zimmer, whose 2005 topps pristine card is safely encased

thanks captain!

that's not gentle, ben

gentle ben was a tv show starring dennis weaver, ron howard's brother, and a bear.  it was set in the everglades.  are there bears in the everglades?  i saw a few episodes of the show thanks to mid-70's reruns, and don't recall if the bear was escaped from the circus or what.  anyway, the coolest part about the show was dennis weaver going about his job as a game warden via airboat in the swamps.

this 1953 topps ben wade card that i picked up recently looks as though it might have been run through the airboat's fan or mauled by a bear

it is trying hard to be oval, as another blogger recently said about a different vintage card (i forget which blog i read that description on - sorry, as i would like to give you credit).

the wade was a tagalong to the card i really wanted - this 1956 topps duke snider

which is in better shape and allows me to cross off the last card i needed to complete the 1956 topps dodger complete set.  yay me.

i crossed wade off of my want list, too, even though the card is in rough shape.  i doubt i will ever complete the team set for that year, so i am not going to be looking for upgrades of the cards i do have any time soon.  still, try not to let any bears maul your vintage dodger cards.

recent card shop pick ups (and they're not all dodgers)

i don't know how often the 'baseball specials' bin gets updated at the quasi-card shop that is nearest to me, but i stop in maybe once every two or three months just to check. here are some goodies that i picked up for around 30 cents a pop.

2002 topps archives reserve don suttonthis is one shiny sob. works well with the psychedelic tombstone.

1992 kellogg's all stars bill madlocknot sure what was more surprising to me - kellogg's making a bill madlock card in 1992 or kellogg's making a bill madlock as a dodger card. either way, i'm glad they did.

2008 upper deck sp cory wadewere these rookie exclusives short prints or just available in blasters? i think i recall buying a blaster and getting a 5-pack of rookie exclusives. no dodgers though.

2006 bowman chrome brad pennybrad penny is like a bad penny - he keeps popping up everywhere. next season, it will be in saint louis, where he'll be a teammate of this guy's

2008 upper deck o-pee-chee insert albert pujolskinda sorta a ripoff of 1969 topps. the studio shot is a look at things to come with 2009 opc.

finally, the beautiful 1974 topps dave kingman card i've wanted this card for a while after seeing it on a few different blogs. it is the yang to the 1974 topps steve garvey's yin; the hell to garvey's heaven; the mr. glass to garvey's david dunn. you get the idea.

goose joak bullpen

time for some more 2009 goose joak original dodgers.

this time, we'll focus on the bullpen. i already featured hong-chih kuo, but here are more of the relievers.

guillermo mota.hopefully we don't bring back loduca to try to placate plaschke.

jonathan broxton.close 'em out big guy!

eric stults.not stoltz. although pulp fiction was awesome. and not to be confused with

tanyon sturtze.a torre tag-along who has been pitching well this spring. keep it up.

james mcdonald.let's see what he can do.

claudio vargas.mop it up.

eric milton.i had tickets to his no-hitter but didn't go. that sucks.

cory wade.set up guy primed for a big season, i hope.

ramon troncoso.that's a closer's name if i ever heard one. but i think he wants to start.

scott elbert.sent down to triple a, but he'll be back.

shawn estes.released, but he came back to try to be the loogy. i thought that's why they picked up...

will ohman.the latest dodger. started things out with a hr to the first batter he faced. i actually like this card a lot because it reminds me of the late 60s/early 70s cards where the photo gives no indication of the team, making it easy for use when players switched teams.

more to come...