sunday morning target dodgers - featuring the 'other' sandy

it's sunday again.  here are another 15 players from a sheet of cards featured in the 1990 target 100th anniversary dodger giveaway set.

sandy amoros

amoros is known throughout dodgerdom as a hero of the 1955 world series.  in game 7, he was inserted   into the lineup in the 6th inning after don zimmer had been lifted for pinch-hitter george shuba. jim gilliam shifted from left field to second base, and amoros entered the game in left.  with the dodgers ahead 2-0, billy martin walked and gil mcdougald singled to start the yankees' half of the inning. the next batter, yogi berra, hit a ball down the line that amoros was able to catch by stretching his arm out after running from left-center. he then threw the ball to pee wee reese who relayed it to gil hodges to force mcdougald for a double play.  it is largely believed that the fact that amoros wore his glove on his right hand made the catch possible.  amoros stayed with the dodgers through their move to los angeles until he was dealt to the tigers during the 1960 season. he later returned to his native cuba, but fell on hard times after refusing fidel castro's request to manage a cuban team.

jack fimple

fimple was a backup to steve yeager and mike scioscia in 1983, 1984, and 1986. he played a bit down the stretch in '83, and actually started a couple of games in the 1983 nlcs against the phillies.  i still believe that he hit a home run that year with a broken finger on his hand. i don't think i would have remembered that if it had not happened, but who knows.

mudcat grant

jim 'mudcat' grant pitched (and hit a home run) against the dodgers in the 1965 world series as a member of the minnesota twins, and he must have made an impression because they traded for him just a couple of years later.  with the dodgers for the 1968 season, grant posted an era of 2.08 in 37 games (4 starts). unfortunately for the dodgers, grant was lost to the expos in the expansion draft that followed that season.

kent greenfield

greenfield pitched in six games for the 1929 brooklyn robins - the last six appearances of his 9-year career. he had begun the season in boston with the braves, but joined the robins on waivers near the end of june.  in his six games for brooklyn, greenfield posted an era of 8.31, allowing 8 runs in 8.2 innings of work.

chris gwynn

gwynn was a dodger double dipper. he was also the younger brother of tony gwynn, and after his second tour of duty with the dodgers ended in 1995, gwynn signed with his brother's team for the 1996 season.  his last appearance as a major league player came in game 3 of the 1996 nlds, wherein gwynn singled as a pinch-hitter and was driven home by his big brother.

phil haugstad

haugstad made his big league debut in september of 1947. he pitched in 6 games for the dodgers, and went 1-0 with a 2.84 era. he made one appearance in 1948, and then didn't return to the majors until 1951 when he went 0-1 in 21 appearances for the dodgers. haugstad finished his career with the reds in 1952.

fred heimach

heimach had pitched in the majors for nine seasons when he joined the robins in 1930. he had been a member of the 1928 world champion yankees (he's wearing the pinstripes in the photo used on his card), although he did not appear in the world series.  heimach wound up pitching for brooklyn for four seasons, winning 9 games in both 1931 and 1932, but failing to post a victory in 1930 or 1933.

charlie kress

kress was traded to the dodgers by the tigers in june of 1954. he played in 13 games for brooklyn, going 1 for 12 with 2 rbi at the plate. you can see that he also played for the reds, and he was at one time a member of the white sox, as well.

mike j. mccormick

there was a mike mccormick that played for the dodgers, but it's not this guy.  baseball reference lists this mccormick as being actually named 'mccormack', which is probably correct. anyway, this player spent just one year in the majors - 1904 - and he spent it as a member of the brooklyn superbas. as the team's primary third baseman that year, mccormick/mccormack hit just .184 in 105 games.  he was only 5'-3", which would make him shorter than freddie patek, who is always my bellweather for vertically challenged ballplayers.

otto miller

miller spent his entire 13-year big league career with the superbas/robins/dodgers, beginning in 1910.  miller caught for both the 1916 and 1920 pennant winning teams, although he hit poorly in each of the world series.  he played in 927 games for the club, and later became a coach following his playing days.

buster mills

mills debuted as a cardinal in 1934, but spent most of the 1935 season in the minors.  the dodgers purchased his contract from saint louis, and he spent most of the last month of the '35 season with brooklyn.  he hit .214 in 17 games as a dodger, but went on to hit .295 in 1937 (he spent 1936 back in the cardinals' organization) as a regular in the red sox outfield.

bobby morgan

morgan played for the dodgers in 1950, 1952, and 1953.  in each of those seasons, he hit exactly 7 home runs.  he appeared in both the 1952 and 1953 world series, but was held hitless in his 2 at bats. after the 1953 season, morgan was traded to the phillies.

jim peterson

peterson pitched for the a's in 1931 and 1933, and then made the majors with the dodgers in 1937.  he pitched in only 3 games for brooklyn, however, and allowed 5 runs in 5.2 innings of work.

bart shirley

shirley was a double dipper, sandwiching stints with the dodgers around a run with the mets in 1968.  he also graces the 1966 topps grant jackson rookie card that always seems to run a pretty penny.  i like this card of shirley because he's standing in a young dodger stadium with some nicely pulled stirrups.

danny walton

it's interesting that walton is listed as an outfielder on his card.  sure, that's where he spent most of his time during his 9 years in the big leagues, but he also played some third base, first base, and even catcher.  for the dodgers, however, walton was only used as a pinch-hitter.  during the 1976 season, walton got 17 plate appearances for the dodgers (he was announced but not used as a pinch-hitter in an 18th game).  overall, he was 2 for 15 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

we'll have to wait and see what random selection of players show up on next week's sheet...

catching up on some cards that should have been - 1977 topps style

i hadn't produced any cards that should have been for quite a while, and i felt like i was falling behind.  my hope had been to keep up with the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers series and fill in cards from the respective years shortly after posting the actual topps cards.  however, i hadn't posted any cards that should have been since 1975, and the most recent evolutionary post was for the 1979 cards.  i sat down last week and whipped a few cards up. i feel better now.

i decided to skip 1976, having previously made a 1976 topps traded reggie smith card, and went to 1977.  the biggest miss as far as i am concerned regarding the 1977 topps set is boog powell.  maybe the miss goes to o-pee-chee instead, since boog didn't sign with the dodgers until april 5 so topps can be forgiven for featuring him as an indian.  anyway, here's the 1977 topps card that should have been for john 'boog' powell.

if i had owned this image sooner, it would have been used for his 1978 topps card that should have been that i created as part of my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set.  what i like the best about it is that it has the facsimile auto that fits perfectly with the 1977 set.
i pulled the image from the dodgers' 1977 photo album

that features reggie smith on the cover with the third base umpire doing some adjusting.  this album was a treasure trove for images of players missed in the 1977 set, like al downing

downing was left out of the set completely having appeared in only 17 games during the 1976 season.  he wound up earning the final win of his career that year although he did return to the club for the 1977 season.  this is another image that i likely would have used for the 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update project since it is more 'of the period' than the picture i wound up using for downing's card.
here's mike garman, who was featured as a cub in the 1977 topps set

as he was part of the rick monday deal.
here's utility infielder ted martinez

who, like downing, didn't get a card in the 1977 topps set.  martinez had spent the entire 1976 season in the reds' minor league system and was selected by the dodgers in the december 1976 rule v draft.  he appeared in 67 games and hit .299 for the dodgers in 1977.

rick monday is a special case, because he does have a 1977 o-pee-chee card that features him as a dodger.  sort of.  it's up there in the header at oh my o-pee-chee! although i haven't yet featured it on that site.  it's really bad, so i was happy to get this card done

yes, that's much better.
johnny oates was a phillie in the 1977 topps set. here he is as a dodger

oates joined the club in december of 1976, so there was time for o-pee-chee to make the change, but oates didn't make their checklist and the opportunity was lost.

seeing that oates card, i am reminded of the other dodger catcher that joined the team in 1977 - jerry grote.  he wasn't featured in the 1977 photo album since he didn't join the team until late in the season.  instead, i used his 1978 sspc card and copied in his 1975 topps facsimile auto to make a 1977 card that should have been.

not too bad.  the image is almost certainly from 1978 during spring training, but that's ok.
i also picked up a couple of versions of the dodgers 1976  photo album

i am guessing one was from the stadium, and one was a promotional item at unocal station stores, hence the stylized '76.  one of them is incomplete with some of the photos removed, but it is also the one that denny lewallyn signed, so i'm keeping it.  anyway, i used one of the photos to make a card for danny walton

walton appeared in 18 games for the dodgers in 1976 - all as a pinch-hitter.  he had two hits and two rbi, and was traded to houston after the season ended.  he only played in 15 games for the astros in 1977, but topps still gave him a card in 1978.  why then, didn't 18 games warrant a card in 1977?  i blame the blue jays and mariners.  maybe i should have done a 1976 topps traded card  of walton instead, but hopefully these guys will get to that eventually.
finally, i just had to share a photo that was in the 1977 yearbook.  apparently the dodgers' opening day lineup had a photo shoot on the grounds of dodger stadium in their street clothes.  awesome.

between reggie's pants, sutton's glasses, and dusty's three-piece i almost didn't notice what appears to be a denim suit that bill russell is wearing.  

yep, this was the team of my youth.