sunday morning target dodgers

here's a full sheet's worth of cards from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  these 15 guys were all on the same sheet.  thanks as always to baseball reference for providing information regarding these players, most of whom i was unfamiliar with.  that's my favorite part about this set - looking into the past at players whom i knew little about, and there are some pretty sad tales to be told regarding some of these players.

hugh casey

quick - what is hugh casey best known for?

yes, casey was the pitcher who struck out the yankees' tommy henrich to apparently end game 4 of the 1941 world series and secure a dodger victory evening the series at two games apiece, except that mickey owens was unable to catch the pitch.  as such, the inning was extended with the yankees scoring 4 times to take the lead and eventually win the game.  i always heard of this play referred to as mickey owens' dropped third strike, but i haven't seen the video for a long time so i don't recall just how bad of a pitch it was.

other than that world series in which he suffered two of the losses, casey had a nice career for the dodgers.  he earned two wins agains the yankees in the 1947 world series, and overall was 70-41 for the dodgers from 1939 through 1948 (he missed three seasons during that span while serving in the military).  sadly, casey committed suicide in 1951 at the age of 37.

sam crane

crane's brooklyn career consisted of 3 games played with the robins in 1922 - the final 3 games of his career.  he later was convicted of murder and served time in a pennsylvania penitentiary.

lindsey deal

deal's dodger (and major league) career was comprised of 7 plate appearances in 4 games during the 1939 season.  he was 0 for 7 with two strikeouts.  he played only one game in the field, but it was a complete game as the center fielder, and he was perfect in his three fielding chances.

john gaddy

i find gaddy to be an interesting case.  his lone major league experience came with the robins in 1938.  he made two appearances, both as a starting pitcher, and both in the back end of late season double headers.  he was the winning pitcher in both games, one a complete game.  he gave up only one earned run over 13 innings pitched in those games, and i was left to wonder how he could have two wins in two games if he pitched 9 innings in one and 4 in the other. well, the reason he was able to win his first start despite pitching only 4 innings was that the game was shortened to six innings, most likely due to darkness i would imagine, although the first night game at brooklyn had been played earlier that year.  i'm not sure what happened to gaddy after that, but i hope the team gave him a good look in 1939 based on his performance as a big leaguer.

frank gatins

gatins played for the superbas in 1901.  he appeared in 50 games, hitting .228, before he was released in july.

george haddock

gentelman george was born on christmas day, 1866 and later grew a darn fine moustache.  he pitched for the brooklyn grooms in 1892 and 1893, and is the last pitcher in franchise history to win at least 29 games in a season (he was 29-13 in 1892).

 mike hartley

hartley's big league career began as a dodger in 1989, making him one of the last players to qualify for this set.  he returned to the big leagues in 1990, going 6-3 while pitching primarily in relief, although he did throw his lone career shutout that season.  he was 4-1 for the dodgers in 1991 when he was dealt at the trade deadline to the phillies for roger mcdowell.

still bill hill

hill pitched in two games for the superbas in 1899.  one as a starter - he pitched a complete game and so earned the victory - and one as a reliever - he finished the game and would have earned the save if such a statistic existed back then.  i am not sure why, other than the obvious rhyming pleasure, hill was known as 'still bill'.

sam leslie

leslie sandwiched two-plus seasons with the dodgers in the mid-1930's between two stints with the new york giants.  as a dodger, he hit .311 over 384 games played.

sadie mcmahon

john joseph mcmahon joined the bridegrooms in 1897.  he was 0-6 in 9 games, but threw 5 complete games in 7 of his starts.  he is enshrined in the delaware sports museum and hall of fame.

don miles

miles was a member of the 1958 los angeles dodgers - their first season on the west coast.  unfortunately for miles, all 8 of his appearances came on the road.  he had 4 hits in 22 at bats, and that was all she wrote as far as his big league career was concerned.

red sheridan

sheridan's big league career included a total of 5 appearances - 2 in 1918 and 3 in 1920 - all for the robins.

elmer steele

steele pitched for the dodgers during the latter half of the 1911 season. he was without a decision in any of his five dodger appearances.

joe tepsic

tepsic was a world war ii vet who chose to sign with the dodgers instead of the pittsburgh steelers, perhaps due to the fact that he was guaranteed a big league roster spot despite his lack of experience.  as it turned out, tepsic's big league career was limited to the 15 games in which he appeared for the dodgers in 1946.  he was used largely as a pinch runner and pinch hitter, getting only one appearance in the outfield.  he was 0 for 5 at the plate with two runs scored.

i'll have more of these things next week, i am pretty sure.