sunday morning target dodgers

here are 14 more cards (all from the same sheet) from the 1990 target dodgers set.  you know what that means, the 15th card on the sheet will get its own post later today.  let's see what baseball reference call tell me about these folks.

i'll start with the star of the sheet, carl furillo

a nice photo selection for skoonj there.  probably one of the more candid cards in the set.  furillo, of course, was the right fielder for the dodgers during their 'boys of summer' days.  he led the national league with a .344 batting average in 1953.

al epperly

epperly made his big league debut as a cub in 1938.  he pitched in 9 games compiling a record of 2-0.  he didn't appear in the majors again until 1950 when, as a dodger, he pitched in 5 games without recording a decision.

neal 'mickey' finn

neal 'mickey' finn's real name was cornelius francis finn.  he made his big league debut with the brooklyn robins in 1930 and played with the team for three seasons.  he played mostly second base for the team, and appeared in a career high 118 games in 1931.

larry french

this is a guy i know about.  he finished up his 14 year big league career with the dodgers in 1941 and '42.  before that, he pitched for the pirates and the cubs, for whom he appeared in the 1935 and 1938 world series.  in the 1935 fall classic, french took 2 losses, and was the game 6 pitcher for the cubs who made it through 8.2 innings before giving up goose goslin's series winning base hit.  as a dodger, french helped the club to the 1941 world series after pitching in just 6 games for brooklyn following his arrival off of the waiver wire in august.  i had heard about french before because of a postseason oddity that year - he pitched in two games against the yankees, recording three outs by facing just one batter.  in game 3, he came in with one out and runners on first and third in the eighth, but got bill dickey (who had homered off of french in the 1935 world series) to ground into a double play.  the next day, french entered the game with two outs in the 4th inning and phil rizzuto on second. rizzuto proceeded to run the yankees out of the inning (caught stealing, i presume), and french had his third out of the series by retiring just one batter.

dick gray

gray, who played for the dodgers in 1958 and 1959, is best known for being the first third baseman in los angeles dodger history, and for hitting the first home run in los angeles dodger history.  he also had the misfortune of being traded to saint louis during the 1959 season, and so did not get a chance to play in the first world series for the los angeles dodgers.

hunkey hines

hunkey's real name was henry, by the way.  he played in two games for the brooklyn grooms in 1895 (the only big league games of his career), so it's pretty cool that there is a photo of him in uniform.  he was 2 for 8 with 2 walks in those games, for a nice lifetime obp of .400.

jim hughes

hughes pitched for the dodgers exclusively as a reliever from 1952 until may of 1956 when his contract was purchased by the cubs.  in that time, he appeared in 143 games including a league best 60 in 1954. as the dodgers' "fireman", had there been an official statistic, hughes would have led the league in saves that year as well.  after he retired from baseball, he became a more traditional fireman in chicago.

frank kitson

kitson was with the superbas from 1900 through 1902, amassing a record of 53-37 in those three seasons.  baseball reference notes that he 'jumped' from brooklyn to detroit after the 1902 season, and  so was a teammate of ty cobb when the georgia peach joined the club in 1905.

elmer klumpp

klumpp played in 5 games for the dodgers during the 1937 season, going 1 for 11 with 2 rbi.  his only other big league experience had come in 1934 when he played in 12 games for the senators.

alejandro pena

if you were to name dodger pitchers who led the league in era, i am sure you would get koufax and kershaw, but what about johnny podres, dazzy vance, kevin brown, and don sutton?  or alejandro pena, who led the national league in era in 1984?  it's too bad a shoulder injury late in that season pretty much ended his career as a starter, although he did have success as a reliever over the remainder of his career.

ted savage

savage played for the dodgers for just one season - 1968.  he hit .206 with a pair of home runs, the first of which was a pinch hit blast.

tom seats

seats pitched for the dodgers in 1945 after seeing big league action with the tigers in 1940.  in his lone year with the dodgers, he appeared in 31 games, starting 18, and threw 6 complete games, 2 of which were shutouts.  his record was 10-7 with a 4.36 era, but the most interesting thing i found about seats is that on september 3, 1945, he won both ends of a doubleheader.  after pitching a shutout against the braves in the first game, seats returned to pitch a scoreless 10th in the nightcap and earn the win when the dodgers scored in the bottom of the inning.

daryl spencer

spencer was acquired by the dodgers in 1961 and split time between third and short for them until he was traded away early in the 1963 season.  all told, he played in 144 games as a dodger, with 10 homers.  his first two home runs as a dodger were of the walk off variety, including one against juan marichal and the arch-rival giants.

nick willhite

i have told the tale of nick willhite, dodger double dipper before.  it's the perfect segue to the next post which features the 15th player from this sheet of cards who also double dipped.  stay tuned...