sunday morning target dodgers

let's see what we can learn in this installment of cards from the 1990 target dodger set.  all 12 of these cards are part of the same sheet.  the 13th, 14th, and 15th cards on the sheet belong to a trio of dodger double dippers - ron negray, who got a post of his own recently, george smith, and johnny cooney whose double dipper posts will come later today.

billy barnie

billy was the manager of the brooklyn bridegrooms in 1897 and the first 35 games of the 1898 season.  in addition to having a fine moustache, baseball reference credits barnie with the creation of the coaches boxes and also notes that he 'discovered' hall of famer king kelly.

wayne belardi

belardi was a first baseman who made his big league debut with the dodgers in 1950 at the age of 19.  he also played for the dodgers in 1951, 1953, and 1954 before being dealt to the tigers during the '54 season.  later traded to the kansas city a's, he had the misfortune of being traded to the yankees prior to the 1957 season where he was blocked by moose skowron among others.

jim faulkner

faulkner is shown on his card wearing new york giants' gear.  that makes some sense, as he pitched for them in 1927 and 1928.  his brooklyn career consisted of just two appearances for the robins in 1930 and a total of one-third of an inning pitched. he retired the only batter he faced in his first dodger appearance, but allowed all three of the batters he faced in his next outing to reach base and score on a hit, a walk, and a home run.

charlie hough

knuckleballer hough pitched for the dodgers from 1970 until july of 1980.  he went on to become the winningest pitcher in texas rangers history, and he also sits atop their leaderboard in starts, innings pitched, complete games, and strikeouts.  as a member of the 1978 topps dodgers, we will see more of him on the blog in the future.

mickey hughes

hughes was an original brooklyn franchise player.  after two seasons with the bridegrooms in the american association, hughes pitched in 9 games for the team in their first season in the national league, 1890.  he was 4-4 with 6 complete games, but returned to the american association with the philadelphia a's later in the season.

orlando mercado

the dodgers acquired mercado from the detroit tigers in may of 1987.  he was called up at the end of the season and saw action in 6 games as a late inning replacement for alex trevino and mike scioscia.  his 7th (and final) appearance as a dodger came in game 162 of the 1987 season, with mercado getting the start and playing the entire game.  he was 3 for 4 at the plate with a double and an rbi.

ed rakow

rakow pitched in 9 games for the dodgers in 1960.  he allowed a home run to the first batter he faced in the big leagues - future dodger daryl spencer.

pete reiser

reiser might well be the star of the sheet.  pistol pete won the national league batting title as a 22-year old dodger in 1941 with a .343 average.  he also led the league in runs scored, doubles, triples, slugging percentage and times hit by pitch.  he was known to play with abandon and suffered several injuries as a result - most famously due to running into the outfield fences trying to chase down fly balls.  he left the dodgers after the 1942 season to join the military, but returned in 1946.  the injuries, including one suffered to his shoulder during his time in the armed forces, reduced his effectiveness at the plate, and the dodgers traded him after the 1948 season.

lou ritter

ritter spent his entire career with the superbas, spanning the 1902 through 1908 seasons.

johnny rizzo

rizzo joined the dodgers prior to the 1942 season.  in what would be his final big league season, he hit .230 with 4 home runs for brooklyn.

steve sax

saxy was the 1982 national league rookie of the year and, after the departure of steve garvey, became my favorite dodger.  he stuck around la until he helped win the 1988 world series and then left for the yankees.

jerry standaert

standaert played for the robins in 1925 and 1926.  in 66 games during the 1926 season, he hit .345.  he finished his career with the red sox in 1929.

more to come next week...