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:

  1. 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?

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

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  3. 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.

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