sizemore returned for more

[this is the thirty-fifth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, and jeff weaver.]

ted sizemore debuted as a dodger on opening day, 1969, and went on to play in 159 games over the course of the season.  he played mostly at second base, but also made some appearances at shortstop and left field.  here's his 1969 topps rookie card, on which he shares time with bill sudakis

sizemore was craig biggio before there was craig biggio, going from a catcher to a second baseman.  i find it interesting that sizemore gets the billing as a catcher, while it was sudakis who wound up behind the plate a fair amount in the big leagues.  for some reason, i scanned the back of this card, so here it is

sizemore averaged about a hit per game in the minors, and he carried that to the big leagues as he had 160 hits in his rookie year - a mark would stand as his career high, unfortunately.  in addition to 160 hits, sizemore put up a line of 4/46/.271 which was good enough to claim the rookie of the year award over something called coco laboy, as well as al oliver and larry hisle.  he was the 7th dodger to have won the award, and was the last until rick sutcliffe came along in 1979.

then, after the 1970 season, sizemore was dealt to the cardinals along with bob stinson for dick/rich allen.  with the cards, sizemore grew out his sideburns (as seen on his 1973 topps card)

and settled in as their regular second baseman.  he played there for 5 seasons before the cards sent him back to the dodgers prior to the 1976 season for willie crawford.

back in la, sizemore covered second base for a couple of long stretches in april and july in place of davey lopes, and also backed up ron cey a bit, too.  he also finally made a big league appearance wearing the tools of ignorance when he got a couple innings in during a game in august.  later in the season, sizemore actually made a start behind the plate - his final start as a dodger.  he caught the entire game and went 1 for 3 with a walk and a couple of runs scored to boot.  by the time his 1977 topps card was released,

sizemore was in philadelphia, having been traded after the 1976 season for johnny oates.  sizemore took over at second for the phillies, and in both of his seasons there faced off against the dodgers in the nlcs.  of course, the dodgers won each time.

i sent a couple of cards to sizemore in 2009, and he signed 'em both.  here's his 1970 topps card, complete with the topps rookie cup

and his 1978 topps card

complete with frizzy hair, mustache, and the growler peeking out of his shirt.

here's to you ted sizemore, dodger double dipper and ttm signer!