1978 topps dodgers in 1982

some more of the dodgers of my youth were on the move in 1982, like reggie smith, who was featured in the 1982 topps traded set as a giant.

topps also listed him as a first baseman on the card, which was different from his flagship 1982 topps card

as i mentioned last time, reggie didn't play in the outfield at all in 1981, making only two fielding appearances all year (both at first base) due to his injured shoulder.  reggie also got an 'in action' card in the set, which means the photo shows him in inaction, waiting for a pitch.

reggie played in 106 games in 1982, 99 of which were spent at first base.  he hit 18 home runs and drove in 56 runs.  he hit his 300th career home run that year, as well as his 2000th base hit.  it turned out to be smith's final season in the big leagues, too.

davey lopes was another starter from the team of my youth to be playing in the bay area in 1982.  here's his very yellow and green (and pink) 1982 topps traded card:

but, before lopes could get into the green and gold, topps issued three cards of him in the flagship set.  here's his base:

all-star:

and in action:

you'll notice that lopes is slightly more 'in action' than smith - it looks like he is prepping for the pitch.  like maury wills in 1972, lopes gets an in action card that doesn't make any sense for a premier basestealer.  at least the photo is from 1981, unlike the photo on his all-star card which came from 1980 (as did the photo on reggie smith's base card).  you can tell by the patches.  the round patch was worn by the dodgers in 1980 to mark the playing of the all-star game at dodger stadium that year.  the 1981 patch was narrow and was worn to commemorate the bicentennial of the city of los angeles.  anyway, lopes played in 128 games for the a's.  he hit 11 home runs (including number 100 for his career which came courtesy of former teammate bobby castillo) and stole 28 bases.

steve garvey wasn't going anywhere in 1982

although his photo is also from 1980.  the garv didn't get an all-star card since he failed to start at first base for the national league for the first time since 1973, but he did get an in action card:

ah, the intense action of the swing follow through.  1982 was a contract year for garvey, and he didn't do himself any favors.  although he played in all 162 games, he had only 176 hits and his .718 ops was the lowest since 1971.  he did hit career home run number 200 during the 1982 season, and on september 13th, he capped off his dodger career with a 16th inning, walk-off home run for his final long ball as a dodger.  his 1968 hits as a dodger rank second among los angeles dodgers to willie davis, and he is 5th overall in franchise history in that category.   he hit more doubles (333) and drove in more runs (992) than any other la dodger, and only duke snider and zach wheat are above him on the all-time franchise doubles list.  carl furillo and gil hodges join snider and wheat in the top four spots of the all-time franchise rbi list.  finally, garvey left the dodgers for san diego with the fifth highest home run total in franchise history with 211.

garvey was eclipsed on that home run list by only one other los angeles dodger, and his name was ron cey (the penguin had 228 homers).  since then, eric karros has passed them both.  here's cey's 1982 topps base card

and an in action card of his very own.

hello, rick monday!  cey gets the most action out of any of the photos features.  in fact, you can see the progression of a swing if you look at the cards in the order in which i have presented them - smith, lopes, garvey, and cey.  cey also finished his dodger career in 1982.  he remains to this day the all-time los angeles leader in walks.  cey played in 150 games and hit 24 home runs in 1982.  before he was traded to the cubs during the offseason, cey hit a home run in his last game as a dodger.  against the giants, no less.

the fourth member of the infield, bill russell, got just one card in the set.

it looks a lot like reggie smith's in action card.  plus, there's a lurking pitcher on deck.  guess i'll try to figure out who it is.  hold on.  w know that the dodgers are on the road (gray uniforms), and we know the photo is from 1981 (left sleeve patch).  plus, the blue of the dugout roof fascia tells me that the dodgers are in new york (shea stadium, where the visitors sat in the third base dugout).  in the strike shortened season, the dodgers made only one visit to shea, and bill russell only appeared in two of the games.  on may 8th, russell did indeed hit in the 8th spot in front of the pitcher; however, that was a night game.  and, even though the pitcher was a left-handed batter (batting glove on right hand), it was fernando, and the on deck guy looks more like terry forster.  the next day, the dodgers and mets squared off in a saturday afternoon affair.  russell was once again in the 8-spot, and the starting pitcher was rick sutcliffe.  sut was a left-handed batter, and he was 0 for 1 in his lone at bat.  dave goltz also got an at bat that day, but goltzie was a righty-righty.  i'll go with sutcliffe as the lurker.

i thought at one point that it was possible that the lopes, garvey, and cey in action card photos all came from the same game as the russell photo, but rick monday did not play in any of the three games the dodgers played in new york in 1981.  pedro guerrero hit behind cey all weekend, and i don't know that monday would have been used as a pinch hitting decoy for petey.  so maybe the cey photo is from 1980?

moving on, here's dusty baker's base card

dusty also got some face time on the team leaders card that topps issued in place of the team card that had been part of their sets since 1956, except for 1969 i believe.

dusty followed up his .320 average with by hitting an even .300 in 1982 with 23 home runs, 88 rbi, and a second straight all-star berth, although he was 0 for 2 in the game.

terry forster got kind of washed out on his 1982 topps card

forster was all the way back in 1982, pitching 83 innings in 56 appearances.  both of those were highs for forster's tenure with the dodgers which ended after the 1982 season.  forster was 5-6 with 3 saves, and he criminally got only two at bats all season (he was 0 for 2) and his career batting average fell below .400.  after the season, forster signed a free agent deal with the braves.

burt hooton matched dusty baker as far as profile style photo on his base card

as well as appearing on the team leader card

his 2.28 era just barely bested jerry reuss' 2.30 mark in 1981, but his 4.03 era in 1982 was fourth-best among the four primary starters (fernando, reuss, bob welch, and hooton).  he was just 4-7 in 21 starts, but did throw two shutouts, including a one-hitter against the phillies in april.

here's rick monday in the foreground of a card for a change

mo hit .257 over 104 games for the dodgers in 1982.  he had 11 home runs and 42 rbi.  he had a two-homer game against the padres in june, and a grand slam against the giants in october.

finally, we have steve yeager

the yeager-meister hit .245 with a couple of home runs as mike scioscia's backup in 1982.  as far as the picture on his card goes, yeager caught both the saturday and sunday games of that three game series against the mets in new york during may of 1981, so this photo might be from the same game as the bill russell photo.  in reality, this photo should have been used for a steve yeager in action card so i could put it between the lopes and the garvey card to further complete the anatomy of a swing.

tomorrow i'll showcase the 1978 topps dodger players who had moved on from la prior to the release of the 1982 topps set.