sunday morning target dodgers

fourteen more from a sheet of fifteen (double dipping ray hayworth gets his own post later), courtesy the fine folks at twin cites based target who, for some reason, issued a set in 1990 featuring nearly all the players and managers to appear for the brooklyn/los angeles groom/bridegroom/superba/robin/dodger franchise.

let's kick this installment off with some mean muttonchops.

orlando alvarez

alvarez made his big league debut in 1973 as a pinch-hitter for charlie hough.  future dodger jerry reuss struck him out.  the next day, however, alvarez again was called upon to pinch-hit, and this time he doubled.  it would be his only hit as a dodger although he made two more pinch-hitting appearances that season, plus one in 1974 and four in 1975.  in fact, alvarez only played in the field as a dodger in one inning as a defensive replacement in 1974.  alvarez was traded to the angels on the eve of the 1976 season for ellie rodriguez.

george bell

no, not that george bell.  this bell was a pitcher who spent five seasons (1907-1911) in the majors, all with brooklyn.   the image on the card shows him in the 1909 superbas uniform, which matches the year that he had his only winning record (16-15).  the following year, bell led the league with 27 losses.  overall, he posted a 43-79 record in his career, with an era of 2.85.  the teams he played on just weren't very good.

john bolling

following a stint with the 1939 phillies, bolling pinch hit and played some first base for the 1944 brooklyn dodgers and did pretty well.  in 56 games, he hit .351 and made only 2 errors in 27 games spent in the field.  his season was cut short by military duty, and he chose to retire from baseball after a year in the minors following his service.

elmer brown

brown pitched for the superbas and robins during the 1913-1915 seasons.  over that span, he was 1-2 with a 3.66 era.

gilly campbell

campbell finished his major league career with the 1938 brooklyn dodgers.  he had previously played for the cubs and reds, and in 54 games as a dodger, he hit .246.  he spent the rest of his career in the minors, and while with the la angels of the pcl in the early 1940's, campbell had a small role in the film 'the pride of the yankees'.

ownie carroll

carroll, who had led the league in losses as a red in 1932, joined the dodgers for the 1933 season in a trade with the cardinals in which the dodgers gave up dazzy vance.  carroll went 13-15 with 11 complete games in 1933, and followed that up with a 1-3 record in 1934 when he was used primarily out of the bullpen.

cozy dolan

dolan played for the superbas in 1901 and 1902.  he led the league in games played, plate appearances, and at bats in 1902, hitting .280 in 141 games.  a converted pitcher, dolan played outfield and first base for brooklyn, although he did make a couple of appearances on the mound after leaving the superbas.  in 1907, during spring training with the boston braves, dolan contracted typhoid fever and passed away.  the braves wore a memorial black crepe bow on their uniforms that season - if only the t206 set had come out a year or two earlier, i might have been able to find a card with the bow for my memorials collection.

spider jorgensen

jorgensen made his big league debut on april 15, 1947 - the same day jackie robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball.  later in his career, jorgensen played for the new york giants in willie mays' first big league game.  in between, however, he put together a solid rookie campaign as the dodger third baseman, hitting .274 in 129 games.  an injury following the 1947 season limited jorgensen's playing time, and he appeared in only 86 more games for the dodgers before he was traded to the giants early in the 1950 season.  he retired following his release in 1951, and later became a scout for the cubs, signing mark grace among others.

tommy mccarthy

hall of famer mccarthy closed out his career with a single season in brooklyn.  playing for the 1896 bridegrooms, mccarthy hit .249 and stole 22 bases in 104 games.  he's probably one of the weaker hall of fame players - 1493 hits, .292 batting average - although he may have been recognized as a pioneer of the game as well.

jay partridge

partridge played for the robins in 1927 and 1928.  somewhere in there is a ornithological joke.  he hit .260 in 146 games as the robins' second baseman in 1927, but played in just 37 games the following year, hitting .247.

mike jeffrey ramsey

one of two mike j. ramseys to play for the dodgers, this one finished his big league career with 9 games as a dodger early in the 1985 season.  he hit .133 before being released in june, thus missing out on the opportunity to face his former club, the cardinals, in the nlcs.

harry riconda

during his lone season with brooklyn (1928), riconda appeared in a career high 92 games, hitting .224 with 3 of his 4 career home runs coming that season.  he was traded by the robins after the season to pittsburgh.

rosy ryan

ryan pitched in 30 games for the 1933 dodgers, all in relief.  a former starter for the formidable new york giant teams of the early 1920's, ryan was 1-1 for the dodgers in what would be his final big league season.

jimmy sebring

having previously played for the pirates and reds, sebring began the 1909 season, his fifth and as it would turn out, final season in the big leagues with the  superbas.  he hit .099 in 25 games before being released by the team.  he was signed by the senators and played in one more game that season.  during the following offseason, sebring died of bright's disease (nephritis) at the age of 27.  he is perhaps best known for hitting the first world series home run in history, taking cy young deep in the 1903 fall classic.