three c's and a big d from fuji

everybody's favorite teacher from the bay area sent me some cards recently. you'd think by the title of this post that i didn't fare so well, as my gpa wouldn't be good enough to be academically eligible for the school's baseball team. however, a 'd' and three 'c's when it comes to dodger cards is pretty darn good.

here's a 1980 tcma 1959 world champions don drysdale card

drysdale was the winning pitcher in game 3 of the 1959 world series. he helped beat the white sox and bring the first los angeles dodger championship home, just four years after the franchise won it's first ever world series.

the three c's i received were these ron cey cards - 1976 topps, 2000 fleer greats of the game, and 1982 kellogg's

cey, of course, helped the dodgers win the 1981 world series - beating the yankees for only the third time in 11 tries.  note the helmet cey is wearing in the kellogg's card photo - no earflap.  he would be beaned in the head by goose gossage during the '81 world series and switch to an earflap helmet after that.

thanks for the cards fuji! enjoy your spring break!

the junior junkie takes over

i have waited long enough to show some of the cards that have come my way out of louisiana over the past few months.  a pwe here, an envelope there, all from the junior junkie.  today is officially junior junkie day here at the blog.

first up is a bona fide 1989 donruss rookie card of the kid himself.

that and this 1980 tcma don drysdale card

came my way after i submitted a haiku explaining my appreciation for the kid.  pretty nice to get a junior rookie and big d card for three lines.

an earlier mailing contained some very nice cards of its own, including a 1995 upper deck sp championship steve garvey die cut card

that lauds garvey's postseason heroics

there is so much to say that there is not even room to mention his two nlcs mvp awards.

orel hershiser had a card in the set, too, but this one is not the die cut parallel

the back is all about 1988

although the last line includes his 1985 nlcs appearance.  the card notes that he had appeared in the postseason 3 times, which would mean that they are counting his 1995 run with the indians.  however, he was 4-1 in the '95 postseason, losing for the first time against the braves in the world series.

here's a 1997 upper deck card of eddie murray that i had not seen before.

the back focuses on eddie's mlb best batting average in 1990 that did not earn him a batting title

to be honest, i am not altogether sure how mlb handles this sort of thing in the interleague play era.

also from 1997 upper deck, a capture the flag subset card of ramon martinez

unfortunately, the dodgers failed to capture the flag during ramon's career (aside from that year that he had a cup of coffee with the big club, 1988)

isn't it nice that the bakersfield dodgers could use the old brooklyn 'b' on their hats?  this is a 1994 upper deck minors card of karim garcia

who may have had more cards than any other dodger prospect ever.

certainly more than wilton guerrero, whose 1997 bowman card was sent with the black borders still nicely black

i guess if there were a dodger prospect to rival garcia in the number of cards, it might be todd hollandsworth.  these aren't prospect cards of his, but here are his 1997 pinnacle

and 1997 upper deck collector's choice 'the big show' insert of the 1996 nl roy anyway

thanks thomas!  more cards from the junior junkie coming throughout the day!

dennis lewallyn, double dipper?

it's true.  denny lewallyn, in addition to being a member of the 1977 and 1978 national league champion los angeles dodgers, was also a dodger double dipper. 

i will admit that i don't recall denny lewallyn as a dodger, even though he pitched for both the 1977 and 1978 teams. he started one game and pitched in four other late season games in 1977, and then appeared in one game in july of 1978. those appearances are enough to warrant a 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update card that should have been,

complete with a back

lewallyn actually began his big league career with the dodgers in 1975. he appeared in 6 games over the '75 and '76 seasons. his 1975 debut consisted of two perfect innings against the astros, and his first win came via a 7-inning shutout performance against the padres on october 1, 1976. he had his best season in 1977, earning a decision or a save in all 5 games in which he appeared. he had 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 save in 17 innings of work. after the season, he was purchased by the minnesota twins. the twinkies, however, returned him to the dodgers in march of 1978 so he never appeared for them in a big league game.

lewallyn cemented his double dipper status with the one aforementioned appearance as a dodger in 1978, but then also pitched in 7 more games for the dodgers in 1979. after spending the bulk of the 1980 season in the minors, he was dealt to texas for pepe frias, where he pitched in 4 games and was largely ineffective. in august of 1981, he was picked up by the indians who used him in 7 games. those 7 appearances, and his previous big league work, were enough to garner a 1982 topps card

even though he appeared in just 4 games for the tribe in 1982 and was out of the bigs by the end of april.

i usually don't feature cards on here that i don't own, but lewallyn also had a number of minor league cards that i was able to find online and didn't want to pay the price to obtain them.  here are his 1978, 1979, and 1980 tcma minor league cards:

and a mid-70's (1976?) venezuelan league sticker/card

with his name misspelled.  i am disappointed that i could not find a photo of him in a twins uniform from his brief spring training stint with the club.

in all, lewallyn had a big league record of 4-4 with all but one loss coming as a dodger.

here's to you denny lewallyn, double dipper with a 1978 topps burger king dodger update card that should have been!

myron white chose baseball after the dodgers chose him

myron white was the dodgers' second round pick in the 1975 draft.  he chose to sign with the blue for $60,000 instead of going to ucla where he had a football scholarship lined up. you see, white was a prep football stud from orange county, having rushed for over 4,000 yards in his high school career after replacing garry templeton at tailback.  still, white chose his love for baseball and the dodgers over the bruins and a possible nfl career, and reported to the minor leagues.

three years later, the 21-year old was making his major league debut for the dodgers.  luckily for white, the 1978 dodgers had a fair amount of older players who didn't run so well.  he debuted as a pinch runner for vic davalillo on september 4, 1978, and was forced out at second base.  his next 4 appearances were all as a pinch runner (he scored the only run of his career pinch running for manny mota in his third big league game), although he did stay in a couple of games to play the outfield.

that means that white gets his very own 1978 topps burger king dodger/update card that should have been

complete with a back

white finally got his first big league at bat on september 30, 1978 when he replaced jerry grote in the lineup.  he grounded out against the padres' juan eichelberger.  the next day, white entered the game in the third inning, replacing ron cey in the lineup but playing right field (lee lacy moved from right to second, and grote went to third).  facing gaylord perry, white singled his first time up and was then thrown out trying to steal on a 'strike-em out, throw-em out' double play.  his next time up, perry struck him out, but white came back with a game-tying rbi single in the 8th inning off of the hall of famer, although he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.  the final at bat of white's major league career came in the top of the 11th inning against another hall of famer, rollie fingers.  white sacrificed davalillo to second, where he was stranded, and the padres won the game in the bottom of the inning.  game over, and as it turned out, white's big league career over.

he spent the next couple of seasons playing for the dodgers' minor league clubs in san antonio and albuquerque before being sent to the oakland a's after the 1981 season.  he played with the a's in spring training in 1982, but was released after going awol at the start of the minor league season.  out of baseball, white enrolled in the university of hawaii to play football, but suffered a knee injury which ended his athletic career. 

i used white's 1980 tcma minor league card

to create the card at the top of the post, which admittedly is pretty bad.  as they did for some of their other top prospects, the dodgers included a closeup black and white photo of white in the 1978 yearbook, so here is that version of the 1978 card

even though white's rushing records have since been broken, he can say he has a career major league batting average of .500 and a perfect fielding percentage.  that's not too bad.

here's to you, myron white, and your card that should have been!

the brad gulden 1978 topps card that should have been

the next installment in my 1978 topps burger king dodgers/update set is brad gulden.

gulden does have a dodgers minor league card (this 1977 tcma lodi dodgers card)

but it's black and white, so i used the photo from this 1980 tcma columbus clippers card

instead.  i just had to get rid of the pinstripes and photoshop the logo.

the dodgers' official 1978 topps set featured three catchers - steve yeager, jerry grote, and johnny oates - all of whom played for the blue in 1978.  they also reacquired joe ferguson that year, and he spent some time behind the plate.  that left little room for gulden, a prospect from the great state of minnesota.  so, it's not too surprising that gulden's time with the dodgers in 1978 amounted to just 4 at bats in late september and october.  still, it counts, and so i celebrate his membership on the team of my youth.  here's the back of the card, by the way.

gulden was called up from the minors and made his big league debut on september 22, 1978 against the padres.  that's the same day that pedro guerrero and dave stewart each debuted as well.  unfortunately, gulden had the least success of the three.  while guerrero got a hit in his lone at bat, and stewart faced the minimum of 6 batters in his 2 innings pitched, gulden went 0 for 1 after replacing ferguson behind the plate in the 7th inning.  a few days later, in game 161, gulden again subbed behind the dish, this time for yeager.  he got one at bat and struck out against eric rasmussen of the padres.  the next day, gulden made his third and final appearance for the dodgers.  he got 2 at bats this time, but grounded out against gaylord perry and then struck out against rollie fingers.

at the beginning of spring training in 1979, gulden was dealt to the yankees for gary thomasson.  but you already knew that, since i showed that clippers card up above.  he played in 40 games for the bronx bombers in '79, and earned a spot on their 1980 topps future stars card

unfortunately, gulden only played in 2 big league games in 1980.  he did, however, hit his first career home run that year, a 2-run shot against aurelio lopez of the tigers.  the yankees traded gulden to seattle after the season for larry milbourne and a player to be named later.  he wound up joining a select group of players to be traded for themselves when he himself became the player to be named later and was sent back to the yankees.  he later went to the expos organization and made a few appearances for them in 1982, only to be brought back to the yankees minor league system for a third time. 

he wound up in cincinnati for the 1984 season and appeared in a career high 107 games.  perhaps the highlight of his career came that year when he hit a 14th-inning walk off 3-run home run against the pirates.  after spending the 1985 season in the minors for the reds and astros, he joined the giants. he played in 17 games for them in 1986 and was released after the season ended.  and so too ended gulden's big league career.  

i sent a copy of the 1978 topps card that should have been, along with his 1980 topps card, to gulden to sign earlier this week after getting his addy from the writer's journey (thanks jason).  he still lives in minnesota, so only three days later, the cards were returned to me adorned with his signature

it wasn't the only 1978 topps custom in my mailbox that day, but i'll save the other one for a future post.

thanks brad!  and here's to your card that should have been!

my 6 in 30

better late than never...

let's pick a random dodger binder and see what happens!

1981 donruss don stanhouse.
between dave goltz and stanhouse it's a wonder the dodgers ever got back into the free agent market. here, stan the man unusual looks like mr. noodle's brother, mr. noodle.

1975 topps mike marshall highlights. a great card with alston, russell and yeager lurking. 106 games. good golly.

1960 fleer zach wheat.in full cryptkeeper mode.

1980 tcma chuck dressen. no real reason to pick this card, other than it is so non-descript.

1969 milton bradley jimmie hall.a non-dodger. how did that get in there? i think jimmie was with the angels for this issue, although you can't tell.

1991 topps fernando valenzuela.his last dodger card. in a classic fernando pose. i sent this one off for a ttm a while back, successfully, i might add.

so there you have it - 6 cards that are easy for a dodger fan (and a jimmie hall) to love!