the evolution of the shortstop, part 2

it's been awhile and i need to finish off these position evolution posts.  here's the second installment of the shortstop evolutionary chain - this time from anderson to izturis.

dave anderson (1984)

andy started 111 games at short in 1984, replacing the dean of the dodgers, bill russell, as the team's first primary shortstop not named wills or russell in 15 years.  he hit .251, and the following year spent more time at third base than short.  that's because the dodgers promoted mariano duncan.

mariano duncan (1985-1987)

duncan appeared at shortstop in 123 games (120 starts) for the dodgers in 1985.  he hit .244 with 38 steals and helped the dodgers reach the playoffs, although he hit just .222 in the nlcs against the cardinals.  in 1986, duncan appeared in 106 games as the dodgers' shortstop, and while he stole 48 bases, his batting average dropped to .229 and he was losing favor as the dodgers' shortstop of the future.  in 1987, duncan's average dropped to .215 and he played at shortstop only slightly more (538 innings to 499) than anderson.  he was demoted to the minor leagues for the entire 1988 season, as the dodgers went out and brought in alfredo griffin.

alfredo griffin (1988-1991)

griffin, seen above admiring one of his mammoth home run blasts on his 1991 topps stadium club card, barely gets the nod in 1988 thanks to his 89 starts at short compared to anderson's 72 starts.  he hit a lousy .199 on the season, and then was even worse at the plate in the postseason - .160 in the nlcs and .188 in the world series - but the dodgers won it all anyway.  griffin had better seasons as the dodgers' primary shortstop in 1989 (136 games, .247 average), 1990 (141 games, .210 average), and 1991 (109 games, .243 average) before returning to the blue jays in 1992.

jose offerman (1992-1995)

offerman hit in the .260's in both 1992 and 1993 as the dodgers' everyday shortstop.  unfortunately, he made 42 and 37 errors in those seasons respectively, earning his nickname 'e-fferman'.  at least that's what i called him.  he lost a fair amount of playing time to rafael bournigal in 1994, but still managed to be the team's primary shortstop.  in his final season as a dodger (1995), offerman remained the everyday shortstop, and even made the all-star team thanks to a .303 average at the break (he wound up hitting .287 on the season).  offerman was traded to the royals after the 1995 season, and kc immediately moved him out of the shortstop position and reaped the offensive benefits that followed.  no joke - offerman averaged .306 over his three seasons with the royals.

greg gagne (1996-1997)

gagne came over from the royals after the 1995 season, but not in the offerman trade - it was his signing as a free agent actually made offerman expendable.  over the course of the next two seasons, gagne missed only 52 games (that's what passed for stability at this position back then) and hit .253 with a little pop.  he finished his career as a dodger, retiring after the '97 season.

jose vizcaino (1998)

el viz returned to the dodgers for the 1998 season, and he wound up leading the team with 65 starts at the position while hitting .262.  juan castro, wilton guerrero, alex cora, and even adrian beltre also spent time there, but vizcaino got the nod most often.  until the dodgers made a trade deadline deal, that is.  after that, mark grudzielanek took over the position.

mark grudzielanek (1999)

the g-man appeared in 123 games for the dodgers in 1999, 119 (118 starts) as a shortstop.  he also hit a robust .326 on the season.  yes, his 2002 upper deck card shown above lists him as a second baseman, and for good reason - he switched to second in 2000.

alex cora (2000-2001)

cora played short for the dodgers in 101 games in 2000 and 132 games in 2001.  he didn't do much offensively, and was an average fielder, but jim tracy played him.  like grudzielanek, cora later moved over to second base.

cesar izturis (2002-2005)

the dodgers went out and acquired izturis in a trade with the blue jays after the 2001 season.  i recall hearing him advertised as a slick fielding prospect and so was not really surprised when he posted obp numbers below .300 during his first two seasons as the dodgers' primary shortstop.  in 2004, however, his third year at the top of the depth chart, izzy put it all together, hitting .288 with an obp of .330 and 25 steals.  he also won the gold glove that year - the first dodger shortstop to do so since maury wills in 1962.  in 2005, izturis again was the dodgers' primary shortstop, at least until an injury sidelined him for the season in august. the following year, he found his starting job lost and was traded to the cubs for greg maddux.

i'll wrap up the shortstop evolution in a couple of days.  stay tuned.

a double play junkie gets his fix

so, quite a few of the cards that the junior junkie has sent me over the last few months have been cards that feature double plays.  that is fine by me.  here are a few of them as the junkie takes over the gcrl airwaves today.

1987 sportflics ozzie guillen

i assure you, that is a double play card.  take a look from another angle

and another

and another

double play lenticular goodness!

1990 leaf mike gallego

i did not have much 1990 leaf in the collection, so this gallego is appreciated.

i can't believe, however, that i did not have a 1991 score casey candaele card

or a 1992 score jose lind card

or a luis river card from the same set

prior to the package arriving.

same goes for this 1992 upper deck jose oquendo

with ryno sliding in.  actually, i did have this oquendo, but it is part of a complete set so i am happy to have another.

here are a couple of jay bell cards - 1993 donruss triple play

and 1993 leaf

the dirt on the triple play card is largely what gives me reason to recognize the card as a dp turn.

here's another 1993 leaf card, this one of the royals' keith miller

i like this 1995 topps stadium club mike bordick card very much

more than this 1994 donruss ozzie smith

that features craig biggio, or this 1995 leaf ozzie

that features way too much busy-ness

the final card for this post is another card from 1995 leaf, but this one is of barry larkin

and comes from a great gloves insert set.

thanks again, thomas.  more cards coming soon!

the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part three

the hot corner merry go round following the trade of ron cey really gets going now...

here's the story using baseball cards.

german rivera (1984 - second half)

rivera started 71 games for the dodgers at third base in 1984, and appeared there in another 19 contests. this was after pedro guerrero, who had started 72 games at third, was moved back to the outfield in what i believe was an attempt to kick start his offense.  it seemed to work, as petey hit 10 homers and raised his average from .277 to .303 after moving back to the grass.  as for rivera, he hit only 2 homers with 17 rbi, and was returned to the minors for the 1985 season before being traded to houston for enos cabell.  it's worth (to me) noting that rivera is in the ted lilly/scott proctor/shane victorino group of almost dodger double dippers.  he was signed by the dodgers, went to another organization, and later returned.  if only he had played for the dodgers before being drafted by oakland in the rule v draft...

other folks to try their hand at third in 1984 included bob bailor, rafael landestoy, candy maldonado, and this next guy - dave anderson.

dave anderson (1985)

39 starts, 36 complete games, 51 total appearances at third.  that's what anderson logged in 1985.  bob bailor had 18, 12, and 45 respectively.  enos cabell? 29, 15, 32.  bill madlock, a midseason acquisition had 32, 14, 32.  bill russell made 5 appearances at third, steve sax spent three innings there in a game, and even len matuszek manned the hot corner for the grand total of one inning in 1985 for the dodgers.  the person who logged the most starts and innings at third for the dodgers in 1985 was actually pedro guerrero, who had 44 starts, 42 complete games, and 44 total appearances.  i'll leave anderson there by virtue of his total number of games played at third, but know that 1985 was an unholy mess for the dodgers at third base.

bill madlock (1986)

yes, i know that's a card from 1987.  oh well.  madlock started and appeared in 101 games at third base for the dodgers in 1986.  he hit .280 with 10 homers and 60 rbi, but he was 35 and we knew it wouldn't last.  he was released by the dodgers in may of 1987 and finished his career that year with the detroit tigers.

mickey hatcher (1987)

hatcher had been released by the twins prior to the start of the 1987 season, and signed with the dodgers a week or so into the season.  he played third for the dodgers in 49 games in '87, 42 of which he started.  this made him a true dodger double dipper, by the way.  in addition to madlock and hatcher, the dodgers also had anderson (11 starts), sax, phil garner (29 starts), craig shipley, alex trevino (!), mike sharperson, brad wellman, tracy woodson (33 starts), and jeff hamilton (23 starts) spend time at third in 1987.

jeff hamilton (1988-1989)

even though that's a 1988 donruss card i used for hamilton, i like it.  the dodger stadium left field pavilion and diamondvision in the background, along with the 'mac' patch on his shoulder for coach don mcmahon means that it fits into a few different collections of mine.

as for hamilton the third baseman, he started 80 games there in 1988 and was the dodgers' third baseman in the world series that year.  he followed that championship season with a whopping 140 starts at third for the dodgers in 1989.  he also had the rare honor that year of suffering a loss as a pitcher.  hamilton took the loss in a 22-inning affair against the astros - a game that also featured fernando valenzuela at first base and eddie murray at third.

hamilton began the 1990 season as the dodgers' third baseman, but his bid to end the revolving door ended when he tore his rotator cuff just a few days into the season.

mike sharperson (1990)

sharperson took over for the injured hamilton, and made 75 starts at third over the course of the season, appearing there in a total of 106 games. sharpy was essentially part of a platoon with lenny harris, who started 74 games there that year, and took over the majority of the playing time in 1991.

lenny harris (1991)

harris claimed this spot in the evolutionary chain by starting 89 games at third in 1991.  he was just keeping the spot warm until the next guy came along.

dave hansen (1992)

yes, dave hansen (another double dipper) was the primary third baseman on the worst los angeles dodger team in history.  the team lost 99 games that year - the first time the franchise had lost 90 since 1944 - and finished 35 games behind the atlanta braves.  i'm not suggesting that it was hansen's fault.  he started 98 games at third that year, and hit .214, by the way.  there were plenty of underperformers on that team.  on a side note, i appreciate that, even early in his career, leaf was already recognizing hansen as a pinch hitter - something that he would excel at throughout his career.

tim wallach (1993-1995)

the dodgers acquired wallach from the expos in a trade prior to the 1993 season.  he started over 100 games at third for them in both 1993 and 1994, and then made 92 more starts there in 1995.  after a brief stint with the angels to start the 1996 season, he returned to the dodgers (yes, another double dipper), and reclaimed the position from the injured mike blowers.

i'll get into the blowers era next time.

i'm shaking the stick, but there are just too many double play cards

i am still pulling double play cards from my collection and other sources as i try to set the field for the 'greatest double play card of all-time' tournament.  there are more than i realized.  i picked up these two 1956 topps red sox beauties at a recent card show

the facsimile autographs kind of get in the way, but they are still nice cards that show the turn.

i picked this one up out of a dime box - it's the 2012 topps archives jose oquendo short print

unfortunately for me, there is another photo of oquendo turning two that is used for one of his short print autos in the archives release.  good thing i'm not obsessive about collecting double play cards.  anyway, there's a good chance that we see osborne earl smith in the background there, which is nice.  ozzie is definitely featured on this 1991 score card that came out of the same dime box

and here's another dime box dp - 1990 leaf robby thompson

i didn't find this card, a 1992 leaf preview cal ripken jr

in the dime box, but there were a few of the iron man that i did grab for 10 cents.  this 1992 score card was one of them

as was this 1993 topps stadium club card

and this 1994 upper deck card

that leaf preview a few cards back is interesting as it features the same play but a slightly different photo as ripken's actual 1992 leaf card.

back to the dime box - here's a 1993 upper deck chuck knoblauch

and a 1996 topps stadium club carlos garcia

plus a 2005 fleer ultra michael young

with the last card i picked up being a 2009 topps update and highlights orlando cabrera

that's a lot of turning two, and i'm still finding more in the recesses of my collection and through trades, as well as in dime boxes and vintage bargain bins.

i gave myself a break

this was the third weekend in a row with a card show in town.  i went to the first two, but sat this one out.  at the first show, i picked up that 1955 topps sandy koufax, and at the next one i got mostly some odds and ends.  a few needs like this 1956 topps carl furillo card

and this 1955 bowman erv palica

but mostly dime box stuff like double plays and cards featuring dodger stadium.  here's chavez ravine providing the backdrop on luis gonzalez's 1993 upper deck sp card

fellow astro ken oberkfell gets a dodger stadium backdrop on his 1990 leaf card as well.

the astros' unis look nice in dodger stadium.

here's orel hershiser with pretty much the same background as oberkfell

while darryl strawberry's 1993 ud sp card gives us a glimpse of the visitor dugout and camera well

on garret anderson's 2000 pacific crown collection card

we see a bit more of the dugout, and ga continues to give us a tour of the stadium on his 2000 pacific omega card

it's blurry, but we get the third base side camera well and a bit of the field level scoreboard.  then, mr. anderson shows us the multi-colored levels of seating behind home plate on his 1998 fleer tradition card

while david segui is enjoying a cold beverage on the visitor's dugout step on his 1998 fleer tradition card.

i picked up a couple of phillies in dodger stadium, too.  here's pat the bat on a 2001 upper deck rookie roundup card

and vance worley on a 2012 bowman card

it doesn't look like the phillies drew a crowd for either game.  finally, i picked up another copy of the 2011 topps heritage news flashback card featuring dodger stadium

i figured i would show the back this time, if for no other reason than to show that the cartoon makes no sense.

i'm glad i passed on the show this past weekend.  the next one is only three weeks away and i have a lot of cards to put away, package up, and cross off of lists before i head out to another show.