#465 Gil Hodges

By the time this card came out Gil had passed away from a heart attack on April 2 1972 before the strike delayed season started...he was age 47....This sad event adds an eerie feeling to his picture....legendary player and manager but not in Hall of Fame....hit 370 home runs as a player mostly as a Brooklyn Dodger...rung up a string of 7 consecutive season of 100 RBI’s or more....hit over .290 in 4 out of 7 World Series but also went 0-21 in one too....excellent offensive player but never led league in any major category...many time all star, gold glover, and highly regarded man of outstanding character....went west with the Dodgers but his game was eroding...returned to NY as a player with the infant Mets 1962....started the 1963 but quit the club to manage Washington Senators...came back to NY again to manage Mets for 1968....hampered by team BA of .227 team captured only 73 win....1969: made history....not just happy with an amazing 27 game improvement, a sweep of the first NL League Championship followed....crowning achievement was overturning the heavily favored Orioles in the World Series...following two seasons had a winning records but ultimately let downs as the Mets failed to make the post season.....Yogi Berra took over in his place for 1972.

#522 Los Angeles Dodgers Team Card

The storied franchise....the team of dominant legends know by one moniker: #42, Vance, the Duke, PeeWee, Drysdale, Koufax, Garvey, and most recently Kershaw,....A team mythic only next to Yankees....Beginning in Brooklyn 1884....team had various monikers until 1931 when the Dodger name stuck....place of residence: 1913-1957 Ebbets Field....Legendary but nestled in a residential neighborhood with limited seating and poor parking....On the field the bums were typically very good but were snake bit come World Series time...spell was broken in 1955 with a victory over the Yankees....1958 negotiations new stadium fell through and with the promise of prime land and a new stadium and market, the team traveled west to Los Angeles....Convinced the NY Giants to follow suit to San Francisco...subsequently the 5 other World Championships....First championship was in 1959 was a cooperative effort with no one dominant player....the next two were carried on the left arm of Sandy Koufax in the years 1963 an d 1965...After Koufax's departure the team had to rebuild....The team was able to return to the World Series in 1974, 1977 and 1978 but came up short in all three....1981 were able to use strike shortened year and extract revenge against NYY....most recent  WS win was in 1988 topping the A's payback for 1974 loss....Only Duke Snider  home run record has been broken, three times and Shaun Green holds the top spot with 49....the only pitching record broken, as typical of most franchises,  is total games for Mike Marshall still holds the top spot with 104 set not so recently in 1974.

#576 Leo Durocher

Known as the Leo the Lip…of French Canadian ancestry…caustic with the press and management and certain players…tumultuous personal life, married multiple times …Took his bumps as the new Cubs manager in 1966….Northsiders made a 28 game improvement next year….guided the team to also ran contender status for next 4 seasons….according to a preview guide it was somewhat surprising he was retained after 1971 season…all before that he was known as a competitive, great fielding, fair hitting infielder…Legendary fixture in New York starting with a brief stint with the Yankees 1927, the Dodgers in 1939….During that year he was a regular player in the field….Skippered the Bums thru the war years…was suspended for the year of Jackie Robinson’s debut but was candid in his support of him….Returned the following year but he had already lost favor….a below .500 record resulted in his dismissal....Quickly hired by NY Giants….Spent  8 years in the Polo grounds capturing 2 pennants and WS Championship in 1954….Let go after 1955, Leo starts a series of high profile, yet odd jobs….returns to baseball in 1961 as Dodger coach….After the Cubs let him go midseason 1972, took a gig with Houston for the remainder of the year and the whole of 1973….Enshrined in the Hall of Fame 3 years after his death in 1991.

 

#659 Bob Aspromonte

Brother of Manager Ken…A Houston Colt .45 orginal…drafted out of the Dodgers organization was the opening day 3^rd base starter and first hitter ever for the franchise…got a single in that At Bat scored the first run…capped off the day going 3-4 and a walk in the Colts 11-2 slaughter of the Cubs…faithfully served the organization at the hot corner thereafter for seven years…Great fielder and set errorless games records for a short time…power numbers diminished after move to Astrodome but was able to hit over .260 four times…Sent to Atlanta for 1969 and backup to either Clete Boyer or Sonny Jackson…1971 was acquired by the Mets as a stopgap measure for Wayne Garrett’s early season injury…as an early season regular hit .225 in 342 At Bats…Released by the Mets after conclusion of the season…Apparently invited to 1972 Reds Training camp although this not acknowledged in Baseball Reference...did not play in 1972…was the last original Brooklyn Dodgers to take the field.

#749 Walt Alston

HOF…23 years as manager of both Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers…nineteen of them with a winning record…Four times a world champs…Managed in the minors going back to 1940…but only his managerial AAA record is known….His time in Los Angeles was benefited from an exceptional pitching and small ball hitting…Greatest challenge was recovering from the departure of Sandy Koufax which resulted in two losing seasons…despite consistent winning records Walt never won another WS past 1965…a well known fact he worked under a series of one year contracts.….Had one AB in career as a player...Last year as Dodger's skipper was 1976, giving way to Tom Lasorda for the last four games....passed away in 1984.