30 October 2011

like father like son. almost.

the dodgers have had a few sets of brothers wear dodger blue such as ramon and pedro martinez and steve and dave sax.  this year, the dodgers took nepotism to a new level with a nephew (tony gwynn jr) of a former dodger (chris gwynn), and a son of a former infielder on the roster.

of course i am talking about the dejesus clan - ivan and ivan jr.  but they weren't the first father and son combo that suited up for the dodgers. back in 1966, the yankees sent 'ducky' to the dodgers in a late season trade.  as a result, we got this 1967 topps schofield card:
by looking at the back of the card, we see that schofield last played in pittsburgh in early 1965 before he was traded to the giants.
so, topps used a potentially recent photo of schofield, even though it was from three teams prior.  the yankees purchased schofield from the giants in may of '66 so i'm surprised topps never got over to the bronx to photograph him in pinstripes. 

the dodgers released schofield after the 1966 season and he was quickly picked up by the cardinals.  that means that, while he may well be shown in a dodger uniform on his 1968 topps card, he is counted as a member of the cardinals.  i figured i could do better, so here is the 1967 topps dick schofield card that should have been:
i purposely left a facsimilie autograph off of the card, since i was planning to try to get the real deal instead.  luckily, mr. schofield obliged
it doesn't scan too well.  he also signed one of his regular topps cards, too.
but enough about the senior schofield who hit .225 for the dodgers in 104 games.  let's talk about his son, dick schofield jr.  the younger schofield started his career in southern california, although it was with the angels and not the dodgers, in 1983.  ten years later, he found himself in toronto, as shown by his 1993 upper deck card
he became a free agent after the 1994 season, and once the strike ended, the dodgers signed him for the 1995 season.  because he only played in 9 games for the dodgers, he didn't get a card to commemorate his time in la - not even of him in a different uniform like his dad.  i gave it a shot with this 1995 topps card that should have been:
when the dodgers traded for jayson werth in 2004, they brought on a third generational dodger, since werth is the grandson and nephew of ducky sr.
the latest son of a dodger to play for la is ivan dejesus jr.  unfortunately for him, he has seemingly been passed on the depth chart by dee gordon.  anyway, dejesus jr signed a couple cards for me earlier in the season, including his 2007 bowman heritage card
and a 2010 bowman topps 100 card
i had previously had his dad sign a 1978 and 1979 card for me, and i sent him a couple more in the hopes he would sign again.  one of the cards i sent was his 1975 sspc which is one of the only cards that shows him in a dodger uniform.  unfortunately for me, he kept that card.  he did sign his 1989 upper deck card, however.
so far, the younger dejesus is besting his dad as far as dodger stats go.  he's hitting .188 in 17 games while pops hit .183 in 88 games.  hopefully, ivan jr. gets some more opportunities in 2012.

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