the 1978 topps dodgers in 1990

there were only three members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured in the 1990 topps set.  a slimmed down tom lasorda was one of them.

he was also the only one to be featured in a dodger uniform.  lasorda brought the team back over .500 in 1990, leading the dodgers to a record of 86-76.  unfortunately, the team finished in second place in the nl west, 5 games behind the eventual world champion cincinnati reds.

as in 1989, lasorda received a box bottom card in 1990

this one was in recognition of his 2000th game managed in the majors, which occurred on august 2, 1989.  the dodgers beat the giants in that game, 7-4.

charlie hough was still going strong for the rangers in 1990

in what would be his final season in texas, the 42-year old hough went 12-12 with a 4.07 era in 32 starts. for the first (and only) time in his career, hough allowed more non-intentional bases on balls (117) than he recorded strikeouts (114).  he also led the league in batters hit by pitch with 11.  following the season, hough became a free agent and signed with the chicago white sox.  he left texas as the franchise's leader in many career pitching categories, and is still on top of the heap when it comes to starts, innings, wins (and losses), strikeouts, and complete games, but not walks thanks to bobby witt.

rick rhoden was the third and final 1978 topps dodger to make an appearance in the 1990 set.

rhoden became a free agent after the 1989 season ended, and didn't sign with anyone for 1990.  it was nice of topps to give us a final tribute, complete with his career stats on the back

they weren't the only card company to do so, however.  donruss wasn't on board, but fleer was

and they went so far as to add his triple-a stats on the back

i was so pleased to find rhoden cards in 1990, that i was duped into picking up a 1990 fleer canadian version of the card as well

the only difference is the copyright line on the bottom of the back

no french to be found!

here's upper deck's entry for the rhoden final tributes

with only 5 years of stats

rhoden went on to become a successful golfer on the pro-am/celebrity tours.  i believe he is now looking for an opportunity to return to baseball in some capacity. here's hoping.

while i was happy to see rhoden in the set, i was disappointed that tommy john was not given the same courtesy.  that means i'll be making a card that should have been for him, including some really small font on the back. until then, here is the yearly tally of appearances to date:

baker 17 (1971-1987)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 17 (1971-1987)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 19 (1972-1990)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 16 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1990)
lopes 16 (1973-1988)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 10 (1972-1981)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 23 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners)