sunday morning target dodgers - featuring not the spanish armada, but rather mexico's almada

it's sunday. that means more cards from a sheet from the 1990 target dodger giveaway set.  15 cards to be exact.  no, actually 14 because one of these guys gets a double dipper post later today.

mel almada

almada, an outfielder from sonora, mexico (although he went to high school in la), joined the dodgers during the 1939 season and played in 39 games for them during that campaign.  one of those games was the 23-inning tie between the dodgers and the braves, in which almada was 0 for 9 while playing the entire game in centerfield.

stan andrews

andrews was a catcher for the braves who also appeared in the 1939 23-inning contest (he struck out as a pinch-hitter in the 7th inning).  he later joined the dodgers for four games in the 1944 season and returned for 21 more in 1945 before heading to the phillies to finish out that season and his career.

marv breeding

speaking of finishing careers, breeding's came to a close after he joined the dodgers during their 1963 championship season.  he was acquired from the senators in july of '63 for ed roebuck and hit .167 in 20 games as a dodger over the remainder of the season.  although he continued to play in the minors through 1968, breeding never made it back to the majors.

tom brennan

brennan was taken by the indians with the 4th overall pick in the first round of the 1974 draft. he debuted for the tribe in 1981 and pitched for them until joining the white sox in 1984.  for the 1985 season, he joined the dodgers and was 1-3 in 12 games.  he did get his only big league hit while wearing dodger blue that year, although he did not pitch in the postseason.

chuck dressen

dressen managed the reds for a few seasons in the 1930's and then didn't get another chance at managing until he took over the dodgers in 1951.  he led the team to the playoff with the giants, but finished second in the national league thanks to the shot heard 'round the world.  in 1952 and 1953, dressen led the team to the pennant, although the dodgers were not able to beat the yankees in the world series either year.  after that, dressen wanted a long-term contract, while walter o'malley only believed in one-year deals.  so, walter alston took over and dressen moved on.  he did serve as a coach on alston's squad later in the decade, but more importantly, managed the senators, braves, and tigers before passing away during the 1966 season.

joe ferguson

one of my favorite double dippers, ferguson broke in with the dodgers in 1970, and played catcher and outfield for them until he was traded to the cardinals for reggie smith during the 1976 season.  ferguson returned to the dodgers in 1978 when rafael landestoy was dealt to the astros.  perhaps ferguson's greatest play was when he, as a right fielder, cut in front of jimmy wynn in game 1 of the 1974 world series to catch reggie jackson's fly ball and then nailed sal bando at the plate to prevent the a's from taking a two-run lead.  of course, ferguson also struck out to end that game.

weldon henley

henley had been with the philadelphia a's for three seasons before the superbas took him in the 1906 rule v draft.  in 1907, henley appeared in 7 games for brooklyn, all as a starter, and went 1-5 with a 3.05 era and 5 complete games.

duster mails

mails pitched for the robins in 1915 and 1916, and went 0-1 each season.  he did not appear in the 1916 world series for the robins, but did pitch against them in the 1920 fall classic as a member of the indians.

al maul

maul pitched for the 1899 superbas as part of a 15-year major league career.  the 1895 era champion was 2-0 for brooklyn in just 4 games pitched.

bob mcgraw

mcgraw pitched for the robins in the 1925, 1926, and 1927 seasons, although he only pitched in one game for brooklyn in 1927 before being traded to the cardinals.  he was 9-16 in 34 games for the robins during his time in brooklyn.

gene michael

michael was one of the players (bob bailey being the other) that the dodgers received from the pirates in exchange for maury wills following the 1966 season.  he played for the dodgers for just one season, however, before his contract was purchased by the yankees.  in that season, michael hit just .202 in 98 games at shortstop.  michael spent 7 seasons with the yankees and one with the tigers before retiring as a player, and later became a manager and general manager for the yankees.

german rivera

interesting that rivera is listed as an infielder on his card when he played nothing but third base for the dodgers in 1983 and 1984, his two seasons with the club.  in that time, rivera hit .266 in 107 games.  he was dealt to the astros for enos cabell in 1985.

myron white

i told myron white's dodger story before, since he was a member of the 1978 club who had a 7 game big league career.  there's not much more to say than that.

dick williams

williams, the hall of fame manager, played for the dodgers from 1951 to 1956, except for their championship season of 1955 which he spent in the minors.  he was selected off of waivers during the 1956 season by the orioles and went on to play for the indians, red sox, and a's, along with some return trips to baltimore before retiring as a player and moving on to managing.  as a manager, williams won four pennants and two world series.