sunday morning target dodgers - gonna fly now

well, i dug out a few more sheets from the 1990 target 100th anniversary giveaway set to scan and show off.  as for the subtitle of the post - you can probably guess that there is a rocky (or two) coming up.  with that, here are 14 more members of the dodger franchise fraternity from one of those sheets - the 15th guy being a double dipper who will get a post all to himself later today.

rube bressler

bressler began his career as a pitcher for the 1914 athletics, and converted to the outfield while with the reds later that decade.  by 1921, he had given up the mound for good.  bressler joined the robins in 1928 and patrolled the outfield as their left fielder for four seasons, during which time he hit .302 in 457 games.

jim brewer

that's a nice shot of brewer in dodger stadium, with the 'three sisters' palm trees in the background.  brewer was one of the best relievers in dodger history, with 125 saves over 12 seasons with the club, starting in 1964.  he pitched in three world series for the dodgers, and was an all-star in 1973.

rocky colavito

here's the first rocky on the sheet.  a former american league home run champ, colavito played for the dodgers in 1968 for just over 2 months.  during that time, he hit .204 with 3 homers and 11 rbi. after playing in just 40 games for them, the dodgers released colavito and he finished out his career with the yankees.

bill crouch

crouch was 4-0 in his rookie season with the 1939 dodgers. he pitched in 6 games, starting 3 and completing each of them.  had his career ended there, i would bet that he and his father, also bill crouch, would have been the only father/son big leaguers to throw complete games in each of their major league starts (dad had one start and one complete game in 1910 for the browns).  alas, the dodgers traded crouch to the phillies where he made 5 starts in 1941 and completed only one.

tom daly

daly joined the bridegrooms after three seasons in the national league just as the brooklyn franchise joined the senior circuit in 1890.  he remained with the club for 12 years, although he missed the 1897 season.  daly was the team's primary second baseman for much of that time, playing in a total of 1096 games and batting .294 for brooklyn.

cecil espy

espy was the white sox' first round draft pick in 1980. i remember this because the la times made a big deal about the 1980 draft due to crenshaw high's darryl strawberry being picked first overall.  in reviewing the draft results, i noticed that espy was taken with the pick immediately prior to the dodgers' selection of ross jones (kelly gruber was the player taken right after the dodgers selected jones).  espy never played for the chisox, however, as he was dealt to the dodgers prior to the 1983 season for rudy law.  espy debuted in the big leagues during the '83 campaign as a september call-up.  he saw action in 20 games as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner, and late inning defensive replacement, although he did start one game near the end of the season.  espy was back in the minors for the 1984 and 1985 seasons, and was then traded to the pirates in the bill madlock deal late in '85.  he didn't return to the majors, however, until he was with the rangers in 1987.  maybe that's when the picture used on his card was taken.

enzo hernandez

i've written about enzo before, and there's not much else to say since he only appeared in four games as a dodger in 1978. i'll just note that he was one of three dodgers to wear number 3 in 1978 - glenn burke and rudy law being the others.

dave j. hickman

dave here went by jim, as his middle name was james.  i am guessing that target used the dave to distinguish this guy from the other jim hickman who played for the dodgers.  you can tell that this one was a member of the 1916 robins thanks to the uniform he is wearing, and in fact, hickman was a robin from 1916 through 1919.  he hit .218 during that time while playing a fair amount of outfield, but he did not appear in the 1916 world series against the red sox.

joe oeschger

oeschger finished his 12 year major league career with a stint with the 1925 robins.  he pitched in 21 games, and had a record of 1-2 with a 6.08 era.  his name was already familiar to brooklyn fans, as oeschger was the pitcher for the braves who threw 26 innings against the robins on may 1, 1920 - a feat  also achieved by the robins' pitcher that day, leon cadore.  oeschger took his place next to cadore on a card commemorating the feat in the 1961 topps set.

charlie perkins

perkins was 0-3 with an 8.51 era for the 1934 dodgers. he pitched in 11 games, 2 of which were starts.  he had previously pitched in the majors for the 1930 athletics who won the world series, although perkins did not appear in the fall classic.

ken rowe

rowe was one of two rowes (don was the other - no relation) to appear on a 1963 topps rookie parade card.  he pitched in 14 games for the dodgers that year, putting up an era of 2.53 while splitting his two decisions.  rowe did not appear for the dodgers in the 1963 world series, and his contract was purchased by the orioles in 1964 bringing his dodger career to an end.

preston ward

ward was the dodgers' first baseman on opening day in 1948.  jackie robinson had moved to second base, opening the door for ward, a 20-year old rookie.  after a decent start (he was hitting right around .300 at the end of may), ward struggled in june and his average fell to .260 toward the end of the month.  he was sent down and gil hodges took over at first, and the rest is history.  after some more time in the minors, ward was picked up by the cubs, and he wound up playing in the majors for several years with the cubs, pirates, indians, and a's.

brad wellman

wellman spent the first five years of his big league career (1982-1986) with the giants, but signed with the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 1987 season. he managed to make it into three games as a dodger that year, appearing once as a second baseman, once as a shortstop, and once as a third baseman.  overall, he was 1 for 4 with an rbi as a dodger, and he signed with the royals after the season's end.

lave winham

winham pitched in one game for his hometown brooklyn superbas in 1902.  he lasted 3 innings, facing 15 batters and allowing 2 (unearned) runs.  the next year, he was pitching for the pirates in what would be his second and final big league season.  you don't see too many fedoras on baseball cards.

i will be back next week with another installment of these things, so don't fret.