forsakken pete mikkelsen

pete mikkelsen finished his career in dodger blue.  he pitched for the dodgers from 1969 through 1972, appearing in 155 games over those four seasons.  he had previously pitched for the yankees, pirates, cubs and cardinals over his 5 seasons in the big leagues before he joined the dodgers.

as a dodger, mikkelsen won 24 games and saved 20 others.  but you wouldn't know that thanks to topps.  mikkelsen's last topps card was issued in 1968, and it showed him as a cub.  if you have been reading this blog for a while, you know where i am headed with this...

yes, it's time for me to display the 1973 topps pete mikkelsen card that should have been, featuring an image culled from the fantastic steve's baseball photography page.

mikkelsen does appear on the 1973 topps dodgers team card

that's him in the middle of the back row between don sutton and bill singer.  singer is one of those guys who is in the 1973 set, but not as a dodger (i corrected that a while back).  come to think of it, there are a number of people in the photo who aren't dodgers on their 1973 cards or are left out altogether (some of whom i've already made cards that should have been), including jim lefebvre, mike strahler, bobby valentine, billy grabarkewitz, ron perranoski, maury wills, frank robinson, and chris cannizzaro.  looks like i still have some work to do.

sadly, mikkelsen passed away in 2006.

here's to you, pete!  definitely not forgotten...