filling in the gilliams

this is jim gilliam's 1964 topps card

it's also his last topps card (as a player), and for good reason.  gilliam joined the dodger coaching staff following the 1964 season.  however, the team, and particularly the infielders (john kennedy and dick traczewski) that were supposed to replace gilliam faltered, and buzzie bavasi reactivated junior from the coaching squad.

gilliam played for two more years, helping the dodgers reach the world series in both of those seasons.  not that topps noticed.  so, here is a 1965 topps jim gilliam card that should have been

i used the photo from his 1962 topps card, which is a bit of a throwback, but topps has done that same sort of thing before.  the 1966 topps card that should have been

is very similar to one created by cards that never were.

i didn't do a back, but here is what would have been gilliam's final tribute - a 1967 topps card that should have been

it's not the best photo, but i liked the backdrop of dodger stadium.  it would have been nice to see dodger stadium in the background of some of those cards from the 1960's. topps did get the los angeles coliseum (the dodgers' home prior to moving to chavez ravine) on some 1959 cards, so why weren't they able to do the same for dodger stadium?

gilliam returned to coaching after the 1966 world series, and he appears on the manager/coaches cards in the 1973 and 1974 topps sets, but he should have had more cards as a player than he did.

where in the world is my wallet card? - hanging out with mr. october edition

i took some time earlier today to head to the bi-annual regional card show that, oddly enough, was scheduled for the same weekend as the monthly local card show.  the reason i chose the regional show was it draws dealers from a broader range of locales, plus they bring in some interesting autograph guests.  the one signer i keyed in on a couple of months ago when i first looked at the lineup was reggie jackson.  

first of all, i could only go to the show on saturday, so that meant no bill madlock for me.  second, reggie is in the 1978 topps set (twice), and i have amassed over a couple hundred signed cards from that set.  third, even though he was a yankee who beat the team of my youth in back-to-back world series, he's still mr. october.

i arrived later than i had hoped, and missed out on handing over a 330-count box of cards to brian from hsca.  that's the box there under my 1978 topps jackson card, the autograph ticket, and my trusty wallet card - a beat up (even more beat up now) 1974 topps steve garvey card.

i chose reggie's base card over his world series recap card because, to me, it's one of his most iconic cards.  the guy behind me in line was having a 1969 topps rookie card signed, and that might be the only card more iconic than the '78.

the line for jim craig (usa! usa! usa!) was about the same length as reggie's, but they were only letting in a limited number of people at a time for craig.  there was no such metering of reggie's line.  that was ok, as the line was moving well, even as reggie took photos with some folks. he had a couple of guys helping him out - one taking the tickets and the other monitoring the stuff being signed.  i was wearing my dodger hat, and the first guy commented on it. i told reggie that he broke my heart in 1977 and 1978, but that game 6 of the '77 series was one of the most impressive things i've ever seen.  even at 6 years old, i knew enough to be impressed by 3 home runs in one world series game.  he thanked me for the words, and as i was telling him i wouldn't ask about him sticking out his hip in the 1978 world series, he reached for my wallet card.

the second guy made sure that reggie didn't sign it - i don't think he would have - but reggie did ask me who it was on the card, and i told him it was the garv and that i kept the card in my wallet.  he didn't say anything about that, but did offer his hand for me to shake which was pretty cool.

it turned out that the '78 topps card isn't the best to get signed since there's a dark background on the bottom half of the card, but i'll still take it.

wallet card and i have a nice little story to tell.

i browsed the wares of a few vendors, and found a guy selling various signed cards for a couple bucks apiece.  i couldn't resist buying a 1981 topps bill russell

a 1984 donruss bill russell

a 1967 topps jim barbieri

and a couple of 1978 topps cards - gene clines

and bob gorinski

seeing the gorinski signed in ballpoint reminded me that i had received a dave lemanczyk card signed

through the mail a couple of weeks back.

i picked up some other cards at the show, including some decent vintage for a few of you out there in blogger land.  keep an eye out.

an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of giants collectors

i believe economist adam smith would agree that a baseball card is only worth what someone is willing to give up to obtain it.  well, i was willing to send some giant cards to another smith - arpsmith - of arpsmith's sportscard obsession in order to obtain some random dodger cards.  smith also noted that individuals who own surplus stock would generally look to gain from the excess, and arpsmith clearly subscribes to that theory because he sent me some of his collection's excess - mainly these (and a few more) dodger cards.

1967 topps ron fairly

it's always nice to see some vintage in these blind trades.  even better when the dodger is wearing number 6 which means it's either a carl furillo, fairly, or steve garvey card.  those three were the only dodgers to wear the number from 1946 through 1982.

1988 topps traded alfredo griffin

when i saw this card i thought of baseball card vandals and wondered if they had changed this into a nate griffin card yet.

1993 score select henry rodriguez

outfielders that the dodgers kept instead of henry rodriguez (who hit 140 home runs over the five and a half seasons following his 1995 trade from the dodgers to the expos) included can't miss prospects billy ashley, roger cedeno, and karim garcia who between them had 33 home runs for the dodgers (although power admittedly was not cedeno's thing).

2001 pacific shawn green

and 2001 pacific jim leyritz

thank goodness for pacific.  i have plenty of shawn green dodger cards, but only a couple of leyritz in dodger blue - this one and a 2001 upper deck victory card.  i don't know if any others even exist.

2001 pacific private stock adrian beltre

beltre will be inducted into the hall of fame, i have no doubt.  he is 7 home runs shy of 400 and about 450 hits shy of 3000 (just 41 behind steve garvey) and is signed through next season with a vesting option for 2016.  it is likely that he would get his 3000th hit in 2017 at the age of 38 if things stay relatively the same.  if he does it as a ranger, that would mean that he would have played as many seasons in texas as he did in los angeles, and so i would guess that he would be inducted wearing a rangers' hat.  we will have to wait and see what happens.

2013 topps joe blanton gold parallel

smith was a critic of mercantilism which endorsed the keeping of gold reserves as part of a country's economic stability.  i guess i disagree in that i will hoard all gold parallels of dodger cards.  even those of joe blanton, who was 2-4 with a 4.99 era in his 10 games as a dodger.

2014 donruss matt kemp power plus insert

here's a card dealing with surplus - a surplus of talent, a player not one-dimensional, making dodger fans happy, while providing financial gain for the individual to the tune of a $160-million contract through 2019.  i actually already owned this card, so perhaps i will attempt to turn my surplus into gain by trading with a fellow dodger collector…

thanks for the trade adam!  i'll have some excess giant cards headed your way soon!

the evolution of the dodger second baseman - beginning with jackie

just two positions left to review in my evolutionary posts.  this one is special to me because i spent most of my playing days at second base, and even though i was a steve garvey fan, i marveled at the dodger lineage at second base.  as a little leaguer, i traced it back from dave lopes to jim lefebvre to jim gilliam to jackie robinson.  i later learned that it wasn't quite that clean, but still.  at some point, it traces back to jackie, which is where i will start.  besides, it gives me a reason to show my 1952 topps jackie robinson card again, now freed from its plastic cage.

jackie robinson (1948-1952)

jackie was named the rookie of the year in 1947 when he was the dodgers' first baseman.  in 1948, brooklyn traded their second baseman, eddie stanky, to boston and gil hodges took over at first with jackie moving to second.  he stayed there for five seasons, winning the mvp award in 1949 and leading the league with a .342 average as well.

jim gilliam (1953-1957)

like jackie, gilliam was named the rookie of the year, but he won the award as the dodgers' second baseman in 1953.  that's his 1954 topps card - i unfortunately don't have a copy of his 1953 topps issue.  although gilliam also played some outfield in 1955 and 1956, he was the team's primary second baseman through 1957.  he finished fifth in the league mvp voting in 1956, when he hit .300 and helped the dodgers return to the world series.

charlie neal (1958-1961)

gilliam moved to the outfield in 1958 as the dodgers moved west, and so charlie neal moved from short to second.  he remained the dodgers' second baseman until he was traded to the mets following the 1961 season.  he made two all-star teams for the dodgers in his tenure as their second baseman, including the 1960 team as noted on his 1960 topps all-star card, and he also won the gold glove at the position in 1959.

jim gilliam (1962-1963)

with neal in new york, jim gilliam returned to the position in 1962, which is the year that the bell brand card shown above was issued.  he finished 6th in the mvp voting in 1963 as the team's second baseman, but once the world series came along, he moved to third base and dick tracewski played second in the dodgers' four game sweep of the yankees.

nate oliver (1964)

oliver was a second year player in 1964 when he hit .243 in 99 games and played more second base than any other dodger.  tracewski and gilliam also spent time at the position that season, but oliver started 97 contests there.  in 1965, however, he played second in only 2 games at the big league level.

jim lefebvre (1965-1966)

another dodger second baseman to win the rookie of the year award, lefebvre (shown on his 1965 topps rookie card) hit .250 with 12 homers en route to the honor.  he did better in 1966, hitting 24 homers with a .274 batting average while being named to the all-star team for the only time in his career.  he also began playing some third base, and spent most of the 1967 season at the hot corner.

ron hunt (1967)

hunt was acquired by the dodgers after the 1966 season from the mets in the tommy davis trade.  topps was abel to get him into the 1967 set as seen above, although the card is a bit of a high number (525).  he spent the 1967 season in los angeles before being traded to the giants prior to the 1968 campaign.  during his stint with the dodgers, hunt started 89 games at second base batting .263 while hitting 3 homers and driving in 33 runs.

paul popovich (1968)

with hunt going to the giants, the dodgers turned to popovich, an offseason acquisition from the cubs, to man second base in 1968.  his 1968 topps card there identifies him as an infielder, and he lived up to that billing by playing second, short, and third in '68.  still, his 80 starts at second base is what qualifies him for a spot in the team's evolutionary chain.  he hit only .232 on the season, and was traded to the expos early in the 1969 season, meaning that the merry-go-round of dodger second basemen would continue...

the evolution of the shortstop - from reese to russell

only three positions left to address in these evolutionary posts - first, second, and short.  let's check the 6 in dodger history.

for me, dodger shortstops begin with…

pee wee reese (1941-42, 1946-56).  aside from the time he spent serving our country in world war ii, pee wee was a mainstay at short for the dodgers.  here's his 1954 bowman card

pee wee came over from the red sox organization in 1939, but only appeared in the majors as a dodger. during his time as the team's primary shortstop, he appeared in over 2000 games, scored over 1200 runs, had over 2000 hits, and reached base another 1100 or so times by walks.  he helped lead the team to 7 world series (all against the yankees), and hit .272 in 44 postseason games, the most by any dodger.  pee wee went with the team to los angeles, but shifted to third base in 1957, opening up the shortstop position for

charlie neal (1957)

i know that's neal's 1955 bowman card, but i hadn't shown it yet on the blog.  neal played shortstop in 100 games during the dodgers' final season in brooklyn.  he hit .270 with 12 homers, but was moved to second base when the team went west.  that means that neal replaced two dodger legends in the field in two consecutive years.  it also meant that the team had a new primary shortstop in los angeles...

don zimmer (1958-59)

yes, i know that's don zimmer's 1955 topps rookie card that i am using to mark the los angeles dodgers' first primary shortstop.  actually, pee wee reese was the first dodger to play shortstop in la, but zimmer replaced him in the team's second game and wound up playing in 114 games at the position in 1958.  the following year, zimmer appeared in 88 games (70 starts) at short so he gets the positional nod here over the other dodger to start 70 games at the position in '59, maury wills.

maury wills (1960-66)

how awesome is that 1962 bell brand maury wills card, by the way?  wills actually took over at short in june of 1959 and helped the dodgers get to the world series (and win) for the first time since 1955.  he manned the position for 7 and a half seasons before he was dealt away to the pirates.  during those years, wills earned an mvp award and led the league in steals six straight years.  he also set a record that will never be broken (unless the owners get really greedy and expand the season) by playing in 165 regular season games in 1962.  with wills traded to the pirates after the 1966 season, the door was opened for one of the players obtained in return to be the dodgers' shortstop

gene michael (1967)

although he only appeared in 83 games (66 starts) as the dodgers' shortstop in 1967, michael gets the nod over nate oliver, dick schofield, bob bailey, and tommy dean as the most used shortstop on the dodger roster in 1967.  he hit just .246 with 7 rbi, and his contract was purchased by the yankees after the season ended.  michael went on to be their primary shortstop for several years, while the dodgers went out and picked up someone else to fill the void.

zoilo versalles (1968)

i guess versalles had impressed the dodgers in the 1965 world series, as they traded bob miller, ron perranoski, and john roseboro to the twins to get him and mudcat grant.  unfortunately, versalles hit only .196 as the dodgers' everyday shortstop in 1968, and was taken by the san diego padres in the expansion draft after the season.  time for the dodgers to right the wrong that they had done a couple years earlier

maury wills (1969-1971)

yes, maurice morning wills returned to the fold by way of trade during the 1969 season.  an honorable mention goes out to ted sizemore, who started the season as the dodgers' shortstop, but moved to second base when wills was acquired, and wound up winning the nl rookie of the year.  wills was able to secure his spot as the team's primary shortstop in '69 by appearing in 104 games at the position, about 60 more than sizemore.  wills held on to the spot through the 1971 season in which he finished 6th in the league mvp voting.  while he was still with the dodgers in 1972, he was no longer the everyday shortstop, giving way to a converted outfielder...

bill russell (1972-1983)

ropes brought stability back to the shortstop position, holding on to the spot for 12 seasons.  he was named to three all-star teams during that run, and helped the dodgers win 4 pennants and 1 world series.  he was the shortstop of the team of my youth.  but, all good things must come to an end, and russell was eventually replaced as the everyday shortstop in 1984.  i'll get to that next time.

card show recap - dealers 3 and 4 and the assault on my 1974 topps want list

all right.  moving on to the meat of the card show from last week.

before i get there, however, remember to let me know what you think i spent on these cards in the comments.  whoever is closest (or first with a precise guess) gets some cards featuring a team of their choice.

now then.  my primary goal was to complete my 1974 topps set.  i would have gone to dealer 3 first, but he was still setting up shop when i arrived.  this is the guy with the vintage bargain bins.  i have been buying slightly-off vintage from him for 14 years or so.  he also has a half-price vintage box with cards in better shape marked at half off of what i assume to be book.  who knows the last time he updated the prices, though.

i took some cards from there, including a 1974 topps nolan ryan

1974 topps nolan ryan/tom seaver league leaders

1974 topps bobby murcer/pete rose all-stars

1974 topps hank aaron special #2

i didn't need the hank, but i picked it up for a certain calgarian.  the ryan was the most expensive card i bought at the show.

now for those true bargain bins

1961 post johnny podres

1967 topps stan bahnsen/bobby murcer rookie stars

1967 topps john werhas

1968 topps deckle edge frank howard

1969 o-pee-chee jim lonborg

1969 o-pee-chee rick monday
1971 o-pee-chee clete boyer - love the 71 opc backs!

1971 o-pee-chee lew krausse
1971 o-pee-chee rod gaspar
1971 o-pee-chee merv rettenmund
1971 topps willie smith

1972 o-pee-chee mets team - featuring gil hodges

1972 o-pee-chee vida blue in action - look at how often new york shows up on the back

1972 o-pee-chee 1971 nl playoffs bucs champs
1972 o-pee-chee 1971 world series game 1
1974 o-pee-chee ramon hernandez
1975 o-pee-chee yogi berra/roy campanella 1951 mvps

yes, it it miscut, but it is a campy o-pee-chee.  in the most bargainy of all of this guy's bargain bins.  here's the back for you frenchies

ptd in canada!
1975 o-pee-chee joe niekro
1975 o-pee-chee mickey rivers
2 1971-72 o-pee-chee hockey cards for $30 a week habit

yes, i found some vintage o-pee-chee.  that doesn't happen - ever - at these shows.  the podres is the second 1961 post card in my collection (both from this show) and the werhas, while creased, was worth picking up because it took me so long to find one for my collection that i thought there might be a dodger collector out there that would be ok with one that is creased in half.  the murcer rookie was an impulse buy, but the '71 willie smith goes in my set.  not completely sure what i will do with most of these cards, however.  i am not about to start building any more opc sets (i have from 1977 through 1992 and just the variations from prior to '77).

on to dealer 4

i don't recall exactly when it was that i last attended this show, but whenever it was, i talked to this guy about my need for a few 1974 topps washington nat'l variations.  he emailed me later to let me know that he had the ones i needed and that he would bring them to the next show i attended.  i emailed him last week to let him know i was coming, and he brought the cards i needed.  unfortunately, i had already obtained a copy of one of the cards since our last meeting.  that would be the glenn beckert variation

here are the ones that are new to me - nate colbert

cito gaston

dave roberts

and the whole darn 'nat'l lea' team.

i became so so close to finishing that set after these two guys helped me out.

let me know how much you think i spent with dealer 3 and dealer 4 in the comments.  i am looking for individual amounts, not total.  next post coming later this pm.