black and blue ryu and some other dodger cards

i'm continuing with a sort of random rambling theme today.

this is a 2013 panini black friday hyun-jin ryu card

it was somehow available on black friday, 2013. i don't recall how i obtained it (sportlots, maybe), but it is not worth standing in line waiting for stores to open to obtain.  still, panini did the same sort of thing last year, and i'm guessing panini is doing it again this year.  ryu is out for the season now, following shoulder surgery.  

this is a 2013 panini pinnacle matt kemp museum collection parallel

it doesn't scan as well as the museum collection inserts from the 1990's.

still more panini - this time from 2014 panini golden age

dusty baker

davey lopes

and zack wheat

as pleased as i was to see dusty and davey and other dodgers from the team of my youth in this set, i don't consider them to be from the golden age.  wheat, sure, but not the others.

wheat also got an insert card in the release - it's a 1913 the national game card

and i wish this had been the base set design

now here's a 2007 topps turkey red andy laroche card

and a 1999 topps chrome jeff shaw card

moving on to 2010 upper deck, here's a biography insert of jeff weaver

marking the time that he beat his brother jered in a game between the dodgers and angels.

olmedo saenz didn't have too many cards, but he spent four seasons with the dodgers and made it into the 2007 topps update & highlights set

even though 2007 was his fourth year with the club.  not much of an update there - more like an omission.

last card for today is a 2008 topps stadium club beam team autographed card of delwyn young

i secretly hoped that delwyn and delmon young (no relation) would have wound up on the same team just for the potential confusion factor.  would they have had their full names on the backs of their jerseys? who knows.

one does not simply post random cards on friday

unless one lacks inspiration for a proper post, and there are still a bunch of cards sitting idly in the scanned folder.

such is life.

2002 topps tribute zach wheat

wheat actually had 476 career doubles, which was still about 300 shy of the all-time leader (tris speaker) when he retired.  speaker is still on top of the list, with wheat way down at 81st all-time (and about to be passed by torii hunter) now.

2004 topps heritage don newcombe flashback

newk won exactly 20 games in 1955 (as he had in 1951), but was 27-7 in 1956 to win the cy young and mvp awards.  he lost game 1 of the '55 world series, so i guess that's why the flashback card references the 1955 regular season.  always good to see don newcombe cards in newer releases!

1985 donruss ken landreaux

i liked '85 donruss at the time. definitely more than i liked '85 fleer (and i am a fan of the 1970 topps gray border set).  landreaux here is swinging away in dodger stadium, while delino deshields is in vero beach on his 1996 upper deck card

1996 upper deck got a little too fancy for me.  there are some nice cards in the set, but all the gold foil didn't do much for me so i bought very little of this back then.

2002 topps chrome davey lopes refractor

that's a shiny card of the former dodger second baseman who was fired by the brew crew 15 games into the 2002 season.

2002 topps chrome traded brian jordan

i don't know if the chrome traded veteran cards are short printed, but i was pretty ticked that topps did that with the regular traded set that year.

2010 upper deck jonathan broxton biography insert

broxton was indeed 6-0 after june 5, 2009 with 13 saves to his credit to boot.  after the game on august 18, 2009, broxton was 7-0 with 26 saves.  he took the loss the next day.

2010 topps cards your mom threw out 1953 topps johnny podres

this is the 'original back' version

at some point between 1953 and 1978, people stopped using the phrase "pulls a rock". i had not heard that until reading the back of this card.

2005 topps carl erskine 'dem bums' insert

oisk is trying to run away from this post as fast as he can. i don't blame him.

a 52 card pick up, 13 at a time

not too long ago, i showed off some new to me steve garvey cards.  one of those came from a deck of playing cards - the dodgers' version of the 2005 baseball hero deck.  i later went out and bought the whole deck of cards, and figured they were worth showing off.

i noted in the title that it was a 52 card pick up, but actually, there are 55 cards in the set.  three 'jokers' are included - long time managers walter alston and tommy lasorda, along with even longer-time broadcaster, vin scully.

each suit is broken up into specific teams/eras of the franchise, with the clubs focusing on the brooklyn years - and primarily the 'boys of summer' years of the late 1940's and early 1950's.  let's see what we have in this suit.  aces are low in this deck, as the card values mirror the fielding positions...

don newcombe as the ace of the staff, plus roy campanella behind the plate. gil hodges, jackie robinson, billy cox, and pee wee reese make up the infield, with hall of famers zack wheat and duke snider sharing the outfield with rightfielder carl furillo.  the high cards have dazzy vance, clem labine, and carl erskine in the bullpen, plus jake daubert coming off the bench.

most of these cards represent the latter years of the brooklyn franchise, with the outliers being zack wheat, dazzy vance, and jake daubert. it's nice to see them getting some attention though.

this is daubert's first appearance on the blog, so i'll go ahead and note that he was the first franchise player to win the mvp award (1913), and the second to win a batting title (also 1913) after dan brouthers was the first in 1893.  daubert followed up that season by winning the batting title again in 1914.

sunday morning target dodgers featuring one of the greatest catchers of all-time and one of the greatest dodger franchise players ever

and no, i'm not referring to roy campanella even though he fits the bill on both counts.  this particular sheet of cards from the 1990 target set recognizing the 100th anniversary of the dodger franchise's national league membership happens to contain some notable and interesting folks.

deacon mcguire

mcguire was acquired by the superbas in a trade with the senators during the 1899 season.  he was then a 35-year old catcher with 14+ seasons under his belt.  still, he hit .298 in 202 games for brooklyn, and then left them to play for the tigers in 1902, successfully challenging the reserve clause along the way.  following his two-plus years with the superbas, mcguire played in 9 more seasons, setting a record of 26 seasons that was not tied until tommy john came along in 1989.  it was later broken by nolan ryan who played in his 27th season in 1993.  mcguire also held the record for most teams played for in a career (11) until matt stairs played for his 12th team in 2010.  he still holds records, however, for runners caught stealing (and for stolen bases allowed) in a career, assists by a catcher, and was the all-time leader in games caught until ray schalk broke that record in 1925.  mcguire is also credited with being the player who added padding to the catcher's glove in the late 1890's, no doubt out of necessity. still, his hands bore the brunt of his occupation - google his xray and see for yourself.

zack wheat

wheat broke in with the superbas in 1909 and by the time he finished his run with the franchise as a robin in 1926, he had claimed a whole bunch of franchise records.  for the record, wheat finished out his big league career by playing the 1927 season with the philadelphia a's, but for 18 of his 19 years in the majors, he belonged to brooklyn.  as a superba/dodger/robin, wheat amassed over 2800 hits and a .317 lifetime average.  he led the league with a .335 average in 1918, and led the robins to the pennant in 1916 and 1920.  no one has played in more games, had more plate appearances, had more total bases, had more hits, more triples, more doubles, or more singles for the franchise than zack wheat.  and, when he left the club following the 1926 season, he was also the franchise leader in runs scored and walks.  wheat was enshrined in the hall of fame by the veterans committee in 1959.  

sammy bohne

bohne finished up his big league career by playing the second half of the 1926 season with the robins.  he had previously played for the cardinals and reds.  he hit an even .200 in 47 games for the robins in '26

kiki cuyler

like bohne, cuyler finished his major league career with a short stop in brooklyn.  unlike bohne, cuyler's career was later determined to have been worthy of the hall of fame.  cuyler spent the 1938 season with the dodgers, following 17 seasons with the pirates, cubs, and reds.  he hit .273 in 82 games for the dodgers, falling just one hit short of reaching 2300 for his career.  the black armband he is wearing, by the way, is for the club's president stephen mckeever, but i'll cover that in a different post.

kal daniels

man, was i excited when kalvoski daniels joined the dodgers in a trade with the reds during the 1989 season.  sure, the dodgers gave up mariano duncan and tim leary, but they had alfredo griffin and rookie ramon martinez, and they needed someone to replace the injured and/or ineffective kirk gibson and john shelby in the outfield.  daniels did just that for about two weeks, hitting .342 in 11 games for the dodgers before he was injured and lost for the season just like gibby, who had shifted to center to replace shelby.  daniels returned in 1990 to hit .296 with 27 homers and 94 rbi, but the 26-year old had ancient knees and was not the same in 1991 or 1992 when he was traded to the cubs.

wild bill donovan

donovan hurled for the superbas from 1899 to 1902.  the first two seasons were not impressive - he had a record of 2-4 and an era of 5.63 in that span - but in 1901 he led the league with 25 victories.  he completed all but 2 of his 38 starts that year, and appeared in 10 other games as a reliever.  in 1902, donovan went 17-15 and then bolted for the detroit tigers.  with the tigers, he appeared in three straight world series from 1907-1909, although ty cobb and the boys lost all three times.  he retired in 1912 and managed in the international league, including a team in 1913 that had a first-year player named babe ruth.  donovan eventually managed in the majors, leading the yankees from 1915-17 and the phillies in 1921.  he died in the december, 1923 wreck of the 20th century limited train ("the most famous train in the world") on his way to the baseball winter meetings where he was expected to be named the manager of the washington senators.

solly drake

i'm not sure if there was a transaction involved, but drake played for the dodgers' affiliate in saint paul in 1956 according to baseball reference, even though he appeared in the majors with the cubs at different times throughout that season.  no matter, the dodgers did bring drake into the fold officially in 1958, and he reached the majors with the club in 1959.  drake appeared in only 9 games as a dodger, however, batting .250 in 8 at bats.  his contract was purchased by the phillies in june of 1959, just in time for him to take the field against the dodgers - drake's first at bat as a phillie was as a pinch hitter for sparky anderson against the dodgers' stan williams.

alfredo griffin

griffin joined the dodgers in that big 3-team trade prior to the 1988 season that involved three of the four teams that would make the postseason in '88 (the mets, a's, and dodgers).  although he hit only .199 in his first season with the dodgers, they beat the mets in the nlcs and the a's in the world series with griffin on the field.  he was re-signed following the season, and hit better in 1989.  griffin left the dodgers after the 1991 season, returning to toronto where he was part of their back-to-back championship teams in 1992 and 1993.  he's currently the angels' first base coach.

charlie hargreaves

hargreaves was a robin from 1923 into 1928 when he was dealt to the pirates.  he hit .407 for the robins in 1924, but he only played in 15 games so it doesn't really count. overall he hit .267 in 231 games for brooklyn.

cookie lavagetto

lavagetto was acquired from the pirates in the late 1930's and he quickly took up residence for the dodgers at third base.  lavagetto was an all-star for the dodgers in each of the four seasons from 1938 through 1941, but he missed the four subsequent seasons as he was serving in the military during world war ii.  lavagetto returned to the dodgers for the 1946 and 1947 seasons, and returned to the hot corner although he eventually gave way to spider jorgensen in 1947.  lavagetto's last appearance in the majors came in the 1947 world series.  even though the dodgers lost that series to the yankees, lavagetto is remembered for his game 4 two-out 9th inning walk-off pinch-hit double that not only won the game for the dodgers, but broke up bill bevens' no-hit bid.

gene mauch

mauch, better known as a big league manager than player, was a dodger double dipper who missed out on the 1947 world series and lavagetto's heroics because he spent the last half of that season in pittsburgh following an early season trade.  he returned to the dodgers shortly after the world series as part of the infamous dixie walker deal.

doc newton

newton pitched for the superbas in 1901 and 1902, amassing a record of 21-19 in 44 games.  he also pitched for the reds and highlanders (later known as the yankees).  i find it interesting that he left the majors after pitching for the superbas in 1902 in order to join the los angeles angels of the pacific coast league.  he won 39 games for the angels in 1904, which must have caught the attention of the highlanders who brought newton back to the majors.

jose vizcaino

vizcaino had 7 games as a dodger to his name when this set was produced.  he appeared in only 37 more before he was traded to the cubs following the 1990 season.  he eventually returned to the dodgers in the late 1990's, but was dealt away again during the 2000 season.  he was a dodger double dipper.

tommy warren

warren spent one year in the big leagues, and it was with the 1944 dodgers.  he was 1-4 in 22 games with a 4.98 era.  he had allowed only one earned run in his first 8 innings of work in the majors, spanning his first four appearances, when he was used in relief in the first game of a doubleheader against the giants on april 30.  he came out to start the fourth inning, already the fifth dodger pitcher of the day, and was likely told by manager leo durocher that there would be no reliever following him.  he allowed 15 runs (11 earned) in his five innings of work that day as the dodgers lost 26-8.  on the bright side, they won the nightcap.

tom winsett

winsett had a lifetime average of .218 over 78 games when the dodgers traded three players for him in 1936.  he had put up big numbers in the minor leagues the previous few seasons, so the dodgers sent frenchy bordagaray, dutch leonard, and jimmy jordan to the cardinals.  winsett gave them a .241 average in 152 games spanning the 1936 through 1938 seasons, and he was left to be picked up on waivers by the new york giants.

sunday morning target dodgers - wampum edition

sadly, dick allen's card from the 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary giveaway set features him as a member of the chicago white sox.  that was the team to which the dodgers traded allen (for tommy john), and the team with which allen subsequently went and won the most valuable player award.  still, allen leads off this week's trip through a sheet of 15 cards in the set, although the 15th card (of double dipper vito tamulis) gets a separate post later on.

dick allen

allen had played for one year in saint louis as the cardinals' first baseman following his best years in philadelphia before joining the dodgers for the 1971 season.  the dodgers moved him back to third base,  and he hit .295 over 155 games with 23 home runs and 90 rbi.  the dodgers, of course, had steve garvey and ron cey waiting for a chance to play third base, but it was al campanis' desire to bring frank robinson to los angeles that may have spurred the consummation of the allen for john deal prior to the 1972 season.

willie crawford

crawford was a local standout athlete when he signed a contract with the dodgers in 1964 as a 17-year old.  he debuted for the big club that same season, shortly after turning 18.  at 19, crawford was playing the world series, getting a hit in one of two appearances against the twins.  he was in the majors for good in 1969, and stayed with the dodgers through the 1975 season.  with a .268 average in 989 games as a dodger, crawford was traded to the cardinals prior to the 1976 campaign for ted sizemore.  oddly enough, sizemore was one of the players the dodgers had given up in order to get dick allen prior to the 1971 season.  crawford did return to the dodgers for spring training in 1978, but was cut by the team before he had a chance to become, like sizemore, a double dipper.

tommy davis

davis was another local prospect signed by the dodgers, but he was a brooklyn-ite, signed while the club was still playing in ebbets field.  davis didn't make it to the majors until the dodgers were in los angeles, first appearing in one game during the 1959 season before becoming a regular sometime during the 1960 season.  davis led the league in batting average in both 1962 and 1963, setting the dodger franchise record for rbi (153) in 1963.  his career was sidetracked by a broken ankle suffered in 1965, and davis wound up as a bit of a journeyman after being traded by the dodgers in november of 1966.

al ferrara

the bull, as ferrara is known, played for the dodgers from 1963-1968, although he didn't appear in the majors during the 1964 season.  the only world series that ferrara played in was the 1966 fall classic, in which the dodgers were swept by the orioles.  he did manage to get a hit in his lone at bat, however.  ferrara was also one of the many dodger players to get some side work on tv, appearing in episodes of gilligan's island and batman, among others.  he was selected by the padres in the expansion draft prior to the 1969 season, and became the team's first pinch-hitter when he substituted for longtime friend and teammate johny podres in the friars' second game.

burleigh grimes

ol' stubblebeard is back.  he was a pitcher for the robins from 1918-1926, and later succeeded casey stengel as the manager of the dodgers in 1937.  the photo on the card above must come from grimes' two-year stint as the dodger skipper.  grimes was inducted into the hall of fame as a pitcher (he won a total of 270 games, with 158 as a dodger) in 1964.

luke hamlin

hamlin was a pitcher who won 20 games for the dodgers in 1939.  he was 20-13 that year, following campaigns in which he was 11-13 and 12-15 for the dodgers despite posting consistent era's around 3.60.  goes to show how little a win-loss record tells you.  hamlin was 17-16 for the dodgers in 1940 and 1941 combined, and was dealt to the pirates in the arky vaughan trade in december of '41.

fielder jones

jones played for the bridegrooms and superbas from 1896 through 1900.  he hit over .300 (with a high of .354 in 1896) in four of those years, batting .285 in the other. at first i thought that perhaps his nickname was ironic, because he made 144 errors in his career, including 14 in his rookie year, but that is actually his first name.

rafael landestoy

landestoy bookended his career with stops in los angeles.  he was a rookie on the 1977 nl champion squad and then returned to the club for the 1983 and '84 seasons.  he played for houston and cincinnati in between.

cy moore

moore began his big league career with the robins in 1929, and pitched for the franchise through the 1932 season when they became known as the dodgers again.  he was 4-8 over those four seasons in 76 games, in which moore started only 6.  he finished his career with two seasons in philadelphia.

ray moore

no known relation to cy, ray moore pitched for the dodgers in 1952 and 1953.  he amassed a record of 2-3 in 15 games as a dodger, and he went on from there to find greater success in the bullpens of the white sox, senators, and twins.  with the chisox, moore faced the dodgers in the 1959 world series, giving up one of chuck essegian's pinch-hit home runs.

bob ramazzotti

ramazzotti played in 62 games as a 29-year old rookie in 1946, but didn't make it back to brooklyn until 1948.  he appeared in only 4 games that year, and was on the field for the dodgers in only 5 games in 1949 before he was traded to the cubs.

willie randolph

randolph joined the dodgers in what turned out to be a swap of free agent second basemen - steve sax went to the yankees following the 1988 season, with randolph leaving the bronx to sign with the dodgers.  randolph hit .282 in 144 games for the dodgers in 1989, making the all-star team in his return to the national league.  in 1990, he began the season as the dodgers' second baseman but was traded to the a's in may in exchange for stan javier.  it worked out well for willie, as he was able to return to the postseason for the first time since 1981.

ellie rodriguez

rodriguez began his big league career in 1968 with the new york yankees, but was taken by the royals in the expansion draft and became the first catcher in team history the following spring.  that year he was also the first royal all-star, although he did not get into the game.  after stints in milwaukee and anaheim, rodriguez was dealt at the end of spring training in 1976 to the dodgers in a rare trade between the clubs.  rodriguez wound up playing in 36 games, spelling steve yeager behind the plate.  he had an obp of .400 which is probably partially due to hitting in front of the pitcher - he was walked 19 times in 90 plate appearances.  rodriguez was released by the dodgers in may of 1977 without having appeared in a game.

mack wheat

mack wheat stands beside dave sax as probably the most forgettable dodger teammate brother in history.  zack's younger brother hit .191 in parts of five seasons with the robins from 1915-19, while zack hit .300 in that span, including a league-leading .335 in 1918.  mack was picked up by the phillies following the 1919 season, and had his best campaign in 1920 when he hit .226 with 20 rbi.