27 July 2010

who knows what dodger lurks on the cards of men?

besides the shadow. 

at first glance, i assumed that the dodgers' catcher caught on darrell evans' 1979 topps card is jerry grote.  what do you think?
the 1978 dodgers had 5 different catchers:  steve yeager, joe ferguson, jerry grote, johnny oates, and brad gulden.  yeager caught in 3 games against the giants at san francisco in 1978, but only two of those games had darrell evans batting while yeager was behind the dish. ferguson caught in a total of 5 games on the road against the giants during his tenure with the dodgers in 1978.  grote and johnny oates both caught in a couple of games at candlestick in 1978, but all 3 of gulden's appearances in 1978 were against the padres. 

i'm going to stick with jerry grote.  this is based purely on the back of his head and the fact that he's using a soft cap (instead of a helmet) with the bill turned up.  that's classic grote.  that would mean that the photo used is from either the may 27 or september 12 game.  the may 27 game was a saturday game - the first of a doubleheader.  the september game was a tuesday, but it was also a 'getaway' day, so it may well have been a day game, too.

i find it interesting (and pretty cool) that the evans card is almost a negative of steve garvey's 1979 topps card
in garvey's case, it's much easier to identify the giants' catcher (marc hill).  turnabout lurking is fair play!

3 comments:

Matt Runyon said...

What is Evans doing in that picture? Is he getting a sign from the coach? Is he grumbling at the ump? Is he checking out the gal in the fifth row?

Bo said...

Evans's 1978 Topps card is an almost identical pose, though it is at Candlestick and the catcher is a Pirate.

Doc said...

First time I've heard someone use a Lamont Cranston quote.

I thought I was the only person still alive that listens to old time radio dramas.