more cards culled from the monstrous 1990 target dodgers set that was given away at dodger stadium over the course of a few different games back in 1990. the set features a card for just about every player and manager to don the uniform in a big league game during the first 100 years of the franchise's existence (they joined the national league in 1890).
elias sosa
sosa is one of my guys - a member of the 1977 nl champs and the 1978 topps dodgers. he is best remembered for surrendering the second of reggie jackson's three home runs in game 6 of the 1977 world series.
ad gumbert
gumbert takes us way back to 1895 and 1896. he appeared in games for brooklyn in each of those seasons - they were known as the grooms in 1895 but switched back to bridegrooms in 1896, according to baseball reference. gumbert was 11-20 on the mound for brooklyn, but hit .343 at the plate during his tenure.
norm larker
larker's best season came in 1960 when he finished second to dick groat in batting average among national leaguers. he was lost to the colt .45's in the expansion draft prior to the 1962 season, and was the first first baseman in houston franchise history.
johnny miljus
miljus pitched for the robins in 1917, 1920, and 1921, compiling a record of 7-4 over that time. he later pitched for the pirates in the 1927 world series against the yankees. after pitching 4 scoreless innings of relief in game 1, he uncorked two wild pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 4, one of which allowed the series winning run to score as the yankees swept.
manny mota
another member of the team of my youth and the 1978 topps dodgers. mota has worn the dodger uniform longer than anyone else - as a player from 1969 through 1979 (plus two more late season appearances in 1980 and 1982), and as a coach from 1980 through 2012 and into the first few weeks of the 2013 season. i am guessing that the team will retire number 11 at some point in the future, even though mota is not in the hall of fame.
bud podbielan
bud's real name was clarence, and he was 7-7 for the dodgers during his time in brooklyn which lasted from his debut in 1949 until he was traded to the reds during the 1952 season.
reggie williams
both reggie williams that have played major league ball have suited up for the dodgers, but this is reginald dewayne williams. reginald bernard williams didn't appear as a dodger until 1995. this reggie williams was actually the team's primary center fielder in 1986, appearing in 128 games.
i'll probably be back with more of these next week. stay tuned.
3 comments:
Wish the Indians would do that.
The Target Dodgers set does not include "every" player to suit up with the Dodgers during the regular season over the first 100 years. The full set, as I understand it, is 1105 cards. On average, a team would reach 1105 different players somewhere around 55 years or so, 60 at most. A quick look at the checklist reveals no Charlie Osgood, certainly, and no Casey Stengel nor Larry or Norm Sherry so far as I can tell. I just chose those folks at random; I couldn't begin to tell you who else is missing from the set. It may be picking a nit, but its like fingernails on a chalkboard to me when someone says the set features every Dodger player. It doesn't.
thanks for the comments guys.
stubby - i updated the post to reflect your comment, although the checklist i have does include casey stengel and the sherry brothers. no osgood, though.
baseball reference currently lists 1715 players to have suited up for the dodger franchise, although from what i can tell, that includes about 54 that played prior to brooklyn joining the national league, and about 450 that have played for the franchise exclusively since 1990. that would mean that there are just over 200 players omitted from the set.
maybe at some point i will compare the bbref roster to the checklist and figure out exactly who is missing.
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