enjoying wait 'til next year's hand me downs

steve at wait 'til next year was kind enough to send over some fantastic dodgers cards. most of these are from the 60's and early 70's before i was an active collector. they kind of feel like cards i would have inherited from my big brother once he moved on to other things, if my brother had ever collected cards. i wonder why a cubs fan would get rid of these great cards!?

1968 bill singer.tattered and torn. not the card, singer's undershirt. get thee a tailor, or a new shirt. actually, the dodgers, like most clubs back then i am sure, didn't throw much away. i'm not sure they even laundered their stuff. on an episode of antiques roadshow, a woman showed up with a late '60s dodgers warmup jacket that her husband was issued in spring training. in the pocket he found don drysdale's pre-game notes from the end of the previous season! in 1970 singer threw the first non-koufax dodger no-hitter since 1956. he was later selected by the toronto blue jays in the 1976 expansion draft.

1968 topps dodgers rookie stars jack billingham and jim fairey.this card should have been called 'expos rookie stars'. billingham went 3-0 with 8 saves for the dodgers in 1968, but the expos liked what they saw and took him in the expansion draft. they traded him to the astros prior to the start of the 1969 season, though. later on, billingham was part of the trade that sent joe morgan to the reds. as a result, billingham won two world series rings as a member of the big red machine. jim fairey hit a buck ninety-nine for the dodgers in 1968, playing in 99 games, before he too was selected by the expos in the expansion draft. he played with them for four years before returning to the dodgers in 1973. he made 10 pinch hit appearances that season before being traded to the twins, for whom he would never appear in a major league game. still, 5 of fairey's 7 career home runs came off of hall of famers (gaylord perry, juan marichal, fergie jenkins, and tom seaver - twice!).

1968 topps al ferrara. another expansion draftee, although he was taken by the padres. ferrara hit 16 home runs in 1967, but only made 2 appearances for the dodgers in 1968. he had a couple of decent years with the padres before retiring after the 1971 season with the reds. it is worth noting that he once hit an inside-the-park home run against fergie jenkins.

1968 topps jeff torborg. unlike the others, torborg didn't play for an expansion team or homer off of fergie jenkins. he did hit 2 of his 8 career home runs against the cubs, though. torbog caught sandy koufax's perfect game, singer's no-hitter, and nolan ryan's first no-hitter. not bad for a platoon guy.

1966 topps ron fairly. fairly wasn't selected in the 1968 expansion draft either, although the dodgers traded him to the expos in 1969 anyway as part of the manny mota/maury wills trade. fairly would also be traded to the blue jays in their first season, becoming the first player to appear for both canadian franchises. i remember fairly mostly as a broadcaster for the angels in the late 70s/early 80s, although he spent most of his broadcasting career with the mariners. fairly hit 3 home runs off of fergie jenkins.

1972 bill buckner. billy buck's first solo card. he's looking to destroy the rookie cup trophy. buckner would go on to play for the cubs after he was traded for rick monday. he didn't hit any home runs off of fergie, but he did take then-cub burt hooton deep once.

1982 donruss dave stewart. intense. stewart made his debut for the dodgers in 1978! he pitched in one game and then didn't make it back up until 1981. that time, he was up for good, and he pitched well in the 1981 world series after a terrible nlds against the astros in which he was the losing pitcher twice. stewart pitched well for the dodgers who eventually traded him to the rangers for rick honeycutt. he didn't do so well for the rangers or the phillies, but had 4 monster seasons for the a's, finishing in the top 5 for the cy young voting every year from 1987-1990. he was dominating.

finally, steve sent along a couple of fernando autos. 1987 fleer and 1987 topps. viva fernando! and viva wait 'til next year!