garvey cey russell lopes

one year from their destiny - the 1978 topps dodgers in 1977 (part 1)

2012-01-30T07:55:00.001-06:00

1977 was the year i first started following baseball and the dodgers in particular. it was also the first year i opened a pack of baseball cards. one pack was all i opened that year before spending all my allowance on packs of cards in 1978.

here's a look at what the 1978 topps dodgers were doing in 1977. starting with johnnie b. baker.

with newly acquired rick monday in center, the dodgers moved dusty to left in 1977. he wound up having a great year, with 30 home runs, 86 rbi, a .291 average and an ops of .876. it took dusty all season to get to 30 homers, joining teammates steve garvey, ron cey, and reggie smith as the first foursome in history to each belt 30 in a season. baker's 30th came on the last day of the season, and was one of 3 solo home runs the dodgers hit off of jr richard in the 6th inning. glenn burke followed dusty's blast with one of his own (manny mota had homered earlier in the inning), and legend has it that burke gave dusty the first 'high-five' prior to his at bat.

baker hit .357 in the nlcs against the phillies in the 1977 postseason. he had 2 home runs and 8 rbi and was named mvp of the series. in the world series against the yankees, baker he hit another homer and drove in 5 runs while hitting .292 in the dodgers' 6-game loss.

the penguin hit 30 home runs and drove in 110 in 1977. both were career highs.

cey started the all-star game at third for the national league for the 3rd time in 4 years and finished 8th in the national league mvp voting. in the midsummer classic, he was 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout, but he hit .308 when it counted - in the nlcs. against the yankees, cey was just 4 for 21, but he did have a double and a home run to his credit in the series. cey also set a major league record for rbi's in the month of april with 29 in 1977.

terry forster pitched in the national league for the first time in his career in 1977

even though topps still had him as a member of the white sox, forster had been traded to the pirates in december of 1976 with goose gossage for richie zisk. in pittsburgh, forster went 6-4 with a save and a 4.45 era. he made 33 appearances, including 6 starts. the best thing about being in the nl was that forster got to bat again. he had 27 plate appearances in 1977, and hit .346 with a double, a triple, and an rbi. he struck out only 4 times and had a sacrifice for good measure. after the season, he became a free agent and signed, of course, with the dodgers.

mike garman was another guy improperly depicted by topps in 1977.

he was acquired in january by the dodgers along with rick monday. garman gave tommy lasorda another option in the bullpen, and he responded with 12 saves in 49 relief appearances. he sported a nice 2.73 era, and had an even record of 4 wins and 4 losses. garman made 2 scoreless appearances in each the nlcs and the world series. in fact, he earned the save in game 3 of the nlcs - the 'black friday' game.

steve garvey swung for the fences in 1977.

that's what the back of his 1978 topps card says, and i believed it when i saw his stat line of 33/115/.297. tommy lasorda asked garvey to hit more home runs so he did, while sacrificing his average a bit. he got only 192 hits in 1977 and hit below .300 - both oddities in his stats as we look back on them today. had he reached each of those milestones in 1977, garvey would have had 7 straight seasons with at least 200 hits and 8 straight with an average of .300 or better. garvey repeated for the fourth season in a row as the national league's all-star game starter at first base and its gold glove recipient while finishing 6th in the league mvp voting for the second time in a row. in the postseason, garvey hit .308 in the nlcs (although he went without an extra base hit) and .375 in the world series, where he had an ops of 1.025 thanks to a double, triple and home run.

ed goodson played his final big league season in 1977.

he saw limited action at first and third over the course of the season, and made by far the majority of his appearances as a pinch hitter. overall, goodson hit just .167 with a homer and 5 rbi. that last home run of his career came in a june game against the braves in which goodson pinch hit for mike garman to lead off the top of the 9th inning with the scored tied at 2. charlie hough came in to replace goodson in the pitcher's spot and shut down atlanta to earn the save. goodson made two pinch-hit appearances in the postseason, one each in the nlcs and world series. in what would be his final at bat as a major leaguer, goodson struck out in game 6 of the fall classic against mike torrez. the dodgers released goodson during spring training in 1978, and although he signed with the indians shortly thereafter, he never again appeared in a big league game.

burt hooton turned his record around in 1977

he went from 11-15 in 1976 to 12-7 in 1977, and also lowered his era to 2.62 - down from 3.26 the previous year. he made 31 starts and also made an appearance in relief, recording a save in a july game against the padres. hooton threw a 4-hitter against the mets in may, allowing an unearned run while striking out 11 batters, and also had a 2-hit shutout against the astros in his second-to-last start of the season. in teh playoffs, hooton had just one start and was relieved after getting just 5 outs in game 3 (the 'black friday' game). his next start came in game 2 of the world series, and he pitched well - allowing one run while striking out 8 yankees and going the distance for the win. hooton also started game 6, giving up reggie jackson's first of three home runs in the game while being tagged with the series ending loss.

like hooton, charlie hough turned his record around in 1977

unfortunately, hough had a winning record in 1976. in '77, hough went 6-12 with a 3.32 era. he saved a career high 22 games for the blue, and even made his first big league start. it came towards the end of the season against the giants. hough went five innings for the win, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out 5. not too bad. in the postseason, hough appeared in one nlcs game and two world series contests. he allowed only 1 run in 5 innings of work against the yankees, but that run came as the third reggie's three home runs. you know, the one that went to deeeeeeeeeeeep centerfield? that one.

tommy john continued his incredible comeback in 1977

in only his second season back from surgery, john won 20 games for the first time in his career and threw 220.1 innings over 31 starts and wound up second in the nl cy young voting to steve carlton. john had 11 complete games and 3 shutouts to his credit to go with his 2.78 era. he had a stretch of four straight complete games in july and august, capped off with back-to-back shutouts - a 2-hitter against the reds and a 4-hitter against the braves. john had missed the dodgers' playoff run in 1974 due to his injury, so 1977 was the first time he appeared in the postseason. he took advantage of the opportunity, starting 2 games in the nlcs and allowing only 1 unearned run in 13.2 innings pitched. in the fall classic, john started game 3 at home but took the loss.

lee lacy split his playing time in 1977 between second base, left field, right field, and third base

as he put together a line of 6/21/.266 in 75 games and shared space on his card with a lurking ed goodson. he had some success as a pinch-hitter, too, like his three-run home run off of tug mcgraw in the bottom of the 8th inning of a game in july which proved to be the game winner. he was 1 for 1 in the nlcs as a pinch-hitter, and 1 for 2 with a rbi in the world series in that role, although he was also 2 for 5 with a ribby as a starter against the yankees.

tom lasorda has appeared in these evolutionary posts as a player, a coach, and now for the first time as a manager.

he took over for walter alston with just 4 games left in the 1976 season, as you will recall. in the offseason, lasorda contacted each of the players and told them what he expected of them in 1977. it turns out he got what he wanted, as the team won 98 games, 10 games ahead of the big red machine. lasorda became one of the few managers to win a pennant in their first season, and was named the upi and ap manager of the year as a result. for some reason, he was mic'd up in the world series, and his exchange with doug rau (including an appearance by davey lopes) is a classic lasorda recording.

davey lopes appeared on two cards in the 1977 set,

thanks to his league-leading 63 steals in 1976

although he didn't lead the league for a third straight year, lopes did steal 47 bases while upping both his batting average and on-base percentage by about 40 points to .283 and .372, respectively. he hit a then-career high 11 homers (4 lead off and 1 walk off) and scored 85 runs. in the postseason, lopes had 3 rbi against the phillies and 2 against the yankees, but stole only two bases and was caught the same number of times. he did come to the mound to try to squelch the argument between tommy and doug rau during the world series, and that counts for something.

part two coming tomorrow when i'll cover the rest of the big blue wrecking crew...

la brea tar pits? seriously, pinnacle?

2012-01-29T09:55:00.005-06:00

alongside such dodger mainstays as vin scully, tommy lasorda, don drysdale, and sandy kofax (yes, pinnacle does not subscribe to the well known fact that there is a 'u' in 'koufax'), pinnacle in 1997 decided to add a few more things that people might associate with the dodgers. take a look at eric karros' poorly centered card to see if you can read some of them.

actually, try delino deshield's card, which is a little bit easier to read.

dodger blue. the lakers. hollywood. i suppose those make sense if you are playing word association. but mixed in with those, although not entirely on one line, is the phrase 'la brea tar pits'. now, i have been to the la brea tar pits, and they are pretty cool, but that would be pretty low on my list of things i associate with southern california, let alone the dodgers. disneyland. magic mountain. lax. the sunset strip. malibu. heck, the price is right is more socal to me than the tar pits.

another thing that bugs me about 1997 pinnacle are the backs. here's the karros back

now, the deshields card, like the karros, is in landscape format with the foil printing on the left side. then how come when i turn the deshields card in the same way i turn the karros card the back is upside down?

pinnacle's homage to 1953 topps? perhaps.

that lurking lasorda

2012-01-24T07:55:00.001-06:00

sometimes, tommy lasorda shows up where you would least expect him. like fielding grounders behind a rookie first baseman on eric karros' 1993 upper deck sp card.

other times, he's congratulating players as heroes returning to the dugout like tim wallach on wallach's 1994 upper deck card

or trying to impart some knowledge to bob ojeda on his 1992 upper deck card

although, if i were ojeda, i'm not sure i would take the advice of a guy who was 0-4 on his career. other times, he appears in name only, like on roger mcdowell's 1993 upper deck card.

of course, he also fills out cards all on his own as seen on this 2003 upper deck vintage card.

hopefully there are some card photographers getting ready to head to spring training. i'd take a boring posed photo with tommy lurking in the background any day.

jesse's got himself a post

2012-01-23T07:55:00.028-06:00

thanks to his status as a dodger double dipper!

[this is the thirty-first installment in the double dippers posts. here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, and jay johnstone.]

orosco first came to the dodgers in 1988, just in time for his second world series title in 3 years. here's his 1989 score card.

orosco teamed with jay howell to lead the dodger bullpen to the fruits of victory in 1988, but he was one and done - leaving la for cleveland as a free agent.

after three seasons with the indians, orosco was traded to the brewers, as evidenced by his 1994 topps card:

after milwaukee, it was five seasons in baltimore and one in saint louis before orosco returned to the dodgers. here's his 2002 topps traded card

orosco stayed for two years this time, appearing in 91 games for the dodgers. by this time, he had already passed hoyt wilhelm and dennis eckersley to claim the top spot on the career games pitched list. orosco split the 2003 season between the padres, yankees and twins, and although he signed a contract with the diamondbacks after the season ended, he didn't make it back to the majors.

here's to you jesse orosco - another dodger double dipper!

twinkie, twinkie little star

2012-01-22T11:55:00.001-06:00

rod from padrographs sent me a package recently filled with twinkie goodness. unfortunately, not the hostess kind with cream filling, but cards of minnesota ballplayers are ok too. here's a looksie:

2011 topps joe mauer insert of some sort.

i like the persian rug background. it really ties the card together. as we all know, joe struggled mightily in 2011 due to various injuries. i'm hoping he bounces back in 2012.
here's another mauer - this one from 2011 topps gypsy queen

that's a nice framed parallel. anyway, mauer's time missed meant that the twin faithful were subjected to the offensive mis-firings of drew butera, seen here on a 2010 bowman chrome card.

this is one of the reasons they signed ryan doumit and invited pretty much every available catcher to spring training this year.
rod also included some allenn & ginter, including former twin jim thome

and now former twin jason kubel

i found the kubel card interesting because the twins always seemed to play up kubel as a dakota boy. i did not realize that, while he was born in south dakota, he played high school ball in california.
here's a nice card of an idaho farmboy, harmon killebrew, on a 2011 topps heritage then and now insert

bautista only has about 420 home runs before he catches up to the killer.

finally, here's a 2011 topps lineage tsuyoshi nishioka.

it may be difficult to believe, but his 2011 season may well have been a bigger disappointment than that of mauer or justin morneau. now he has jamey carroll to compete with for a job.

thanks for the cards rod!

autographs of the little known

2012-01-14T07:55:00.032-06:00

whether meant to be checklist filler or prospecting investments, i have never really been a fan of bowman's attempts at providing cards of players in single a. by the time it all started in the early '90's, i was losing touch with the dodgers' farm system and didn't know who the top prospects were in aaa, let alone rookie ball. anyway, upper deck seemed to do the same sort of thing in the 2000's, and as a result, i have some cards of players whom i do not know. and not just cards, but relics and autos, too. like this 2003 upper deck spx andrew brown jersey and auto card.

i was surprised to learn a few months ago that brown actually made it to the majors with the indians and a's later in the decade. also surprised to learn that he was twice traded for milton bradley - first from the dodgers to the indians, and then from the padres to the a's. once again, i was surprised to find that he was still pitching professionally in 2010. nothing against brown, he was just never really on my dodger radar.

at least brown eventually pitched in the bigs. not so for orlando rodriguez, whom upper deck had sign at least 999 stickers for their 2004 sp authentic release

rodriguez made it as high as aaa in 2005 and was most recently pitching in the mexican league in 2010. he may have been injured along the way, as he apparently didn't pitch in 2004. hopefully signing all those stickers wasn't the problem.

and then, there were the scout autos. i know there was lots of consternation about these cards when they were distributed in 2008 bowman. i mean, who are more little known than scouts? still, i sought this one out.

ralph avila has been a scout for the dodgers since 1970, and was the first scout to make a presence in the dominican. he signed pedro and ramon martinez, raul mondesi, and others for the dodgers, and helped establish the baseball academy system that most teams use today. sometimes it's good to know about the little known.

and the yeager goes to...

2012-01-13T15:55:00.024-06:00

as i mentioned the other day, the lucky follower/promoter of my timeless teams blog would fall in at number 7 on the randomizer. so, come on down, mr. laws. you can check him out at my sports obsession, by the way.

send me your address again, if you would.

and thanks to everyone who is following, reading, and/or commenting. keep at it because i'll give away another auto from the set sometime next month. it's probably one of the best cards from the set in my opinion, as it scores high on the team, player, and photo fronts. it's petey.

so, if you need some 1981 world series co-mvp in your life, follow timeless teams. read timeless teams. and if so moved, comment on timeless teams. thanks!

the outfield wall in blue heaven

2012-01-13T07:55:00.018-06:00

first things first - i have updated last week's post on the dodger stadium bullpens to correctly identify the back walls as plastic, not metal. thanks to speigel for reminding me. i also
added a couple of cards showing the flora that currently adorns those blue walls. go back and check it out.

now that that is out of the way, we'll visit another part of the stadium that has seen it's share of changes. you all know i'm not referring to the bathrooms. no, it's the outfield walls of which i speak. for most of their existence, the walls were just blue. a nice blue in contrast to the orange and yellow benches in the pavilions.

(by the way, welcome to the blog, mr. bournigal. sorry it's taken me so long to feature one of your cards). see that 1995 topps stadium card? nice colors make for a pretty card.

i began to notice in the early 90's, although it may have been happening for who knows how long before that, that the dodgers would adorn the outfield wall with championship banners on opening day. if you look closely at the back of this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams (shameless plug) card, you can see the big white banners.

there would be six in all - 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, and 1988 - evenly spaced from left to right field.

that was all temporary, though, and the walls would go back to being just blue. then, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, the dodgers began to use the wall as a canvas for some really great murals. murals that recognized dodger hall of famers one year, cy young award winners another year, or world championships another, as seen on devon white's 1999 fleer si card.

the white sox and cardinals and braves have all done something similar. i think it is permanent at the cell and new busch stadium. i like that kind of nod to the past. like a good rug, it can really pull the room together.

in 2003, out of town scoreboards were added to the walls near each bullpen. here's hee seop choi's 2004 fleer ultra card to provide some proof.

2004, of course, is when frank mccourt got to town, and he had no use for wasting outfield wall space on murals celebrating the history of the franchise or even just providing a nice color backdrop. no, he needed to sell advertising space. right julio lugo?

right. that reebok ad isn't too obnoxious, i guess. except at night, when the signs are lit. here's ryan theriot's 2011 topps card to show what i mean.

yes, that's dodger stadium with theriot airbrushed into cardinal red. at least topps put him in away grays.

i know that revenue is important and that most, if not all, other teams sell space on their outfield walls. maybe, just maybe, however, the new owner could tone it down a bit. or at least roll out the banners for old time's sake.

steve yeager finds a home on friday

2012-01-11T19:55:00.001-06:00

24 followers (actually 23 since for some reason i am following the timeless teams blog, too) and 3 links hyping the blog (that i know of) prior to january 8. thanks to everyone for the support.

remember, there's a steve yeager auto at stake!

here's the list of folks as i will enter them into random.org

dan
arpsmith
steelehere
ringo73
matthew r
mariner1
dodgerbobble
hackenbush
mrmopar
james
jeff laws
robert
matthew glidden
captain canuck
section 36
fanofreds
night owl
baseball dad
nick
play at the plate
dante jakupovski
flywheels
tom
stealing home (thanks for the link)
jeff laws (more thanks)
mrmopar (you too)
night owl (and you as well)

if you don't follow publicly, or if you linked to the site prior to the 8th, let me know and i'll add an entry for you. regardless, the randomness will happen sometime friday afternoon. in honor of mr. yeager, the 7th name will get the card.

stay tuned, and thank you for your support!

at the end of 2011, some of my first 2011 cards

2012-01-09T07:55:00.006-06:00

as you can tell by the title, i had planned to run this post last year. that's because i had hoped to clear my scanned folder of the trades i had received in 2011 to start the new year. i failed.

these dodger goodies came from rhubarb runner in exchange for some twins, i imagine. trade posts are not usually the most interesting posts out there. i'll try for interesting.

we'll start with former dodger, casey blake

it will be interesting to see if blake is rejuvenated by the thin air of colorado

2011 topps opening day clayton kershaw

it will be interesting to see how many opening day starts kershaw makes for the dodgers

2011 topps james loney

it will be interesting to see how james loney starts the season in 2012. like he did in 2011? or as he finished in 2011?

2011 topps russell martin

it will be interesting to see if martin continues to have nice looking cards now that he's a yankee. at least we know he will have more cards, anyway.

vicente padilla

it will be interesting to see whether padilla signs with anyone. supposedly, he is pitching lights out in winter ball.

2011 topps andre ethier '60'

it will be interesting to see if ethier is healthy, and whether ned extends his contract.

2011 topps duke snider '60'

it will be interesting to see what glut of brooklyn dodger inserts topps gives us this year.

2004 upper deck eric gagne awesome honors

it will be interesting to see if gagne gets any hof votes when he appears on the ballot in 2014.

2005 donruss throwback threads ron cey

it is interesting that donruss believes the penguin played first base. not in that infield!

thanks rr! i have some more twins ready to go!

ok, i lied. here are a few more double play cards

2012-01-08T15:55:00.018-06:00

just clearing the queue before the tourney starts, although we've seen most of these before. just not with the autos!

i really like this 1973 topps card. i hope it does well. that's dick green lying in the dirt. he was nice enough to sign the card for me, further cementing it as one of my favorite dp cards

even though tony perez was safe at first.

here's mickey morandini's 1997 topps card which he signed for me

dodger stadium and mitch webster goodness!

here's red sox/dodger hybrid bill mueller's 2006 topps card

mueller didn't get a chance to turn many dp's when he arrived in la since he spent most of his time at 3rd before he got hurt.
here's a card of him actually wearing a dodger uniform - his 2006 upper deck card

finally, no auto, but a 1986 topps jerry royster card that looks like it could have been part of an early to mid 1970's set

ok. no more double play cards until we kick off the tournament. i'm serious.

no more double plays!

2012-01-07T12:55:00.029-06:00

i am almost done with double play cards - at least in terms of weeding out the pretenders from the contenders for the upcoming 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament. i still need to finish the seeding. my goal is to get this going before 2012 cards start pouring out. anyway here are a few more that i am considering.

1991 o-pee-chee marty barrett

landscape with a soiled bottom. not bad.

1995 score gold rush rafael belliard

decent air.

1996 pinnacle sportflix alex rodriguez

yes kids, he used to play shortstop. very well, in fact.

1997 upper deck had a bunch. here's mark lewis

spring training pivot

mark loretta

two future dodgers! one had a big hit and one a big fizzle

chris snopek

with a bonus shot on the back

john valentin

chili looks to be a long way away from the base.

randy velarde

big mac comin' at you! on the back too!

walt weiss

i think there will have to be an honorable mention award in the tourney named after walt weiss. he has a bunch of nice dp cards. kurt stillwell too, maybe.

2010 topps ozzie smith sp

graceful.

1997 pinnacle delino deshields

not graceful

1999 fleer tradition eric young

a turn so nice, the cubs player lowers his head in respect.

ok, that's enough. look for the tourney later this month.

the bullpen aesthetic

2012-01-06T07:55:00.034-06:00

corrugated metal is all the rage these days in decorating. at least at chipotle. not blue corrugated metal, though. or, in the case of the bullpens at dodger stadium, blue corrugated plastic. check out what the dodger stadium bullpens used to look like, courtesy of orel hershiser's 1994 upper deck card

and john wetteland's 1990 topps card

how utilitarian. mike williams' 1993 topps card gives us a good view of the big blue corrugated plastic wall.

these days, there is plant growth covering the back of the bullpens so we can't see the plastic anymore. see? look behind clayton kershaw on this 2011 topps insert.

actually, this card is a good before/after shot as you can see the back wall of the left field (dodger) bullpen behind koufax, and the visitor bullpen is behind kershaw. here's another view, courtesy of kershaw's topps 60 insert from last year

nice work topps!

still, i am not sure when this happened, as the bullpens don't make it on to baseball cards anymore (except for those kershaw inserts this year), and the last time i was at the ravine (2006), i didn't bother to notice.

there was a big stink made prior to this season when the twins removed the fir trees from behind the centerfield fence at target field. billed as a nod to the northern forests of the state, apparently they bothered some of the hitters, so now there's just that big black wall. sometimes, there's nothing wrong with utilitarian.

[i edited this post after speigel reminded me that the bullpen walls were hard plastic. and, i found those kershaw cards in my scan folder. makes for a better post]

joe torre curries favor with a dodger fan

2012-01-05T07:55:00.005-06:00

i am a steve garvey fan, but for now, i find joe torre's attempt to own the dodgers a tad more appealing. that is because i can be bought. sure garvey has returned my ttm requests, but his partner in the dodger ownership endeavor, orel hershiser, has left me 0 for 2. well, as of christmas eve, i am 1 for 2 with joe torre.

i sent him a couple of cards c/o the dodgers way back in 2009 when he was still managing the club. reader and dodger auto hound had told me that torre was a pretty good signer some days (in person) but he wasn't too sure about ttm. sure enough, i have not seen those cards since.

then last season, with torre essentially replacing bob watson in the mlb offices, i sent a couple more cards, this time to new york. i was hoping torre would follow watson's lead and sign the cards and maybe even include his business card. about 6 months later, i received them in the mail.

here's his 2009 topps card

and his 1978 topps card

bookends to his managerial career, actually. that's pretty cool.

it's also cool because it means that i now have an autographed card from every dodger manager from walter alston to don mattingly. i'll have to get a post together sometime. in the meantime, i'll wait for the bulldog to sway my non-existent vote.

thanks joe!

scraping the bottom of the box

2012-01-04T07:55:00.034-06:00

box bottom cards are sweet. they're like those soup bowls for kids that have a cartoon on the bottom so if you eat all your soup, you get a smiling monkey staring back at you. except, of course, you know the cards are there before you even rip into the box if you just flip it over.

of course, a box bottom card has its disadvantages as it may get scraped and scratched and otherwise defaced, like this 1989 topps don sutton card.

still, the sutton card is desirable and significant to dodger collectors, as it is the only 1989 card sutton got from topps in 1989. yes, he had a 'final tribute' in 1989 score, but because he was released by the eventual world champs in august of 1988, topps bumped him from the checklist.

it's similar to the 2008 'year in review' insert card that topps gave to david wells, even though he didn't get a card in the flagship set due to his retirement.

i may be the only person who lamented the lack of a 2008 topps david wells card.

back to the box bottoms. i think 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee was the last set to have box bottom cards. well, back in the day, o-pee-chee followed topps' lead, and as a result they gave sutton some box bottom love as well.

now that's good box bottom. those canadians take care of their boxes, eh?

the reason sutton got one of these cards, reserved in those days for players reaching certain milestones, is that he made the 750th start of his big league career, second to only cy young.

he wound up with 756 starts, and is now third on the list with nolan ryan taking over the number 2 spot. joining sutton on the bottom of these boxes was his skipper, tommy lasorda

lasorda was so honored thanks to the 1000th managerial win of his career

tommy got a box bottom in 1990, too, as he managed his 2000th game. although it looks like they were scraping the bottom of the box, er - barrel, for copy on this card. what does his pitching for the a's in 1956 have to do with winning games as a manager? maybe they were going to combine his wins as a pitcher with those he achieved while managing and then remembered he didn't win any games as a big league pitcher. oh well, at least topps deemed sutton and lasorda worthy of the box bottoms and for that i am grateful.

this other time, at dodger stadium...

2012-01-03T07:55:00.015-06:00

...the braves came to town in august of 1996. thanks, upper deck, for doing it right in your 1997 set. here's the crime dog in dodger stadium

and his teammate marquis grissom, also in chavez ravine

two future dodgers in their future home park! mcgriff scored a run and was thrown out at home, so if he is indeed rounding third in the photo on his card, it would have come from one of those moments. grissom is getting a 'bead' on a flyball off the bat of either chad curtis or juan castro, based on the boxscore at baseball reference.
the backs of the cards are also pretty cool

there's tom prince! i think this brings the total of cards prince appears on as a dodger to two. the game the previous day went 18 innings, and mike piazza caught 14 of them. prince relieved him and got the start the next day.

grissom's back is also full of dodger stadium goodness

although there are no lurking dodgers. man, this is what documentary could have been...

a card so nice, he signed it twice

2012-01-02T07:55:00.020-06:00

today is the day i kick off the 'timeless teams' blog. don't forget to follow and/or hype the site on your blog by 1/8/12 to earn an entry/entries into a drawing for a steve yeager auto from the set. now that the shameless plug is complete, i'll show you another of my cards from the 'common' autograph parallel set.

it's don sutton, a member of the 1977 dodgers featured in the set

i like the blue sharpie contrasting with the black and white image and complementing the blue bottom border. sutton was 14-8 for the dodgers in 1977, and was the starting and winning pitcher in the all-star game.

we also get treated to dodger stadium on the front of the card, as well as the back

there's something else cool about the back. for whatever reason, sutton decided to sign it as well. two autos for the price of one! awesome! i'm not sure if sutton did this for other cards as well, but would love to find out.

and don't you worry, richard p. mcwilliam. i am enjoying my autographed card!

i love you guys, but enough!

2012-01-01T08:45:00.001-06:00

so, next month 2012 topps is released. my new year's wish is that we see some new blood with the short prints and the vintage legend type inserts. i really wish gil hodges had been elected to the hall of fame so that topps might have been motivated to use him to represent the dodgers instead of roy campanella, duke snider, jackie robinson, and pee wee reese.

nothing against those four hall of famers, but enough is enough. there are other players, topps. i know that we have seen sandy koufax get a bunch of cards in 2011, which is great, and steve garvey and don sutton were used as well in some of the insert sets, but there is no denying that topps seems beholden to the four brooklyn hall of famers. here's a sampling of what we've seen in the last couple of years, in addition to the four kimball champion mini inserts from 2011 topps shown above.

roy campanella was part of the topps '60' insert set this past year

as well as the 'lost years' insert set.

as a fan of 'cards that should have been', this was by far my favorite insert set. i hope topps expands it to a bigger insert set in 2012. here's the 'original' back to what should have been campy's 1954 card

then there was topps marquee

and back in 2010, we saw him on a million card giveaway

and a turkey red insert in the update set

he also got a vintage legends card, 2001 style

that's three inserts in the update series. that's a lot.

the duke was similarly featured in recent sets. here's his 2011 topps marquee card

and then there is this 2011 topps tribute card

like campy, snider was part of the 2011 topps '60' insert set

that's enough of the duke - let's move on to jackie

not sure why, but topps added the jackie robinson special inserts/parallels/whatever to 2011 topps heritage, as well as a 'news flashback' card recounting his election to the hall of fame

he also was featured in the '60 years of topps' insert set from 2011 topps

back in 2010, he was part of the topps 'tales of the game' insert set

and had a cool redemption card in 2010 chrome

here's his triple threads card

and his vintage legends insert card from topps update

you get the idea. that's why i'll just show one pee wee reese card - his 60 years of topps card from 2011 topps update

it's even got jackie lurking in the background.

let's see some new (dodger blue) blood in 2012!

a cavalcade of legends - one of which can be yours!

2011-12-31T09:05:00.005-06:00

hey there! don't forget that in a couple of days i will launch my 'timeless teams' blog - a celebration and critique of upper deck's 2004 legends set, featuring 300 base cards, on-card autos, fold-out relics, numbered parallels and more. become a follower today!

and, if you follow and/or hype the site on your blog between now and 1/8/12, you will be added to a drawing to win this steve yeager auto from the set.

or maybe one just like it - i have 2 and am not sure which one i scanned. just be sure to become a follower and/or let me know about a link to the site in one of your blog posts on or before the 8th. if you do both, you will get two entries.

just for fun, here are just a couple of the other dodger autos i have from the set, each of which will be featured at some point on the new blog.

jesse orosco - the subject of a future dodgers double dipper post

and alejandro pena

timeless teammates from the 1988 dodgers' timeless team!
and, just for good measure, here's another former dodger, terry forster, showing off the bronze parallel

with a back showing the 'old' anaheim stadium - before it was 'disney-fied'

so - check out the site. it'll be better than a big tub of goo.

the 1978 topps dodgers who were, in fact, dodgers in 1976. at least according to topps.

2011-12-30T07:55:00.001-06:00

the dodgers did indeed 'get dusty baker from braves' as his 1976 topps traded card proclaims.

as i mentioned yesterday, dusty hit only four home runs in his debut season as a dodger, but he perservered and rebounded very nicely in 1977.

the penguin was going nowhere in 1976

that is to say, the dodgers weren't in need of a new third baseman, nor were they interested in losing the one they had, despite the fact that topps used a hatless photo of cey on his 1976 card, with the team name conveniently obscured. cey hit only two fewer home runs in 1976 (23) than he had in 1975 (25), but his rbi total was down by 21. still, he made the all-star team again, although he lost the starting vote to pete rose.

steve garvey didn't miss out on starting the all-star game in 1976

in fact, he tripled in the game's first run after rose led off the national league's first inning with a single. he then scored the winning run two batters later on a george foster groundout. like cey, garvey's power numbers were down in 1976 - even more significantly so. he managed just 13 home runs with 80 rbi. he still had 200 hits and hit .317, however, and finished 6th in the nl mvp vote. he also stole a career high 19 bases and continued his consecutive games played streak by playing in all 162 games.

one of the guys who lacked playing time thanks to garvey's streak was ed goodson, featured as a dodger on a topps card for the first time in 1976

goodson was acquired from the braves in the dusty baker trade, but was airbrushed into a dodgers' hat in time for the flagship set's printing. it's as if topps knew goodson wasn't going to play much first base as a dodger, as they show him as a third baseman even though he spent most of his playing time as a first baseman the previous two seasons. topps was right, though, as walter alston used goodson mostly as a third baseman. he made only 3 appearances at first base, along with 2 as an outfielder. two of his three home runs hit in 1976 were as a pinch-hitter.

burt hooton's first full season with the dodgers came in 1976

after winning 18 games for the dodgers following the trade from the cubs in early 1975, hooton went 11-15 in 1976. his era rose to 3.26 and his whip was up a tick to 1.16, but his record was more due to the fact that 8 of his losses came in games in which hooton allowed 3 earned runs or less. in total, he made 33 starts, and had 8 complete games with 4 shutouts, including a pair of two-hitters.

charlie hough was still in the dodger bullpen in 1976

he appeared in 77 games and had 18 saves to go along with his 12 wins. he also threw 9 wild pitches. hough averaged about 2 innings per appearance, and had 2 5.2-inning stints in 1976.

it was nice of topps to make a card for tommy john in 1976

especially with dodger stadium as the backdrop for the photo. john had missed the entire 1975 season thanks to his ligament replacement surgery. he came back in april of 1976, and wound up pitching 207 innings. his record was 10-10, but he also posted a 3.09 era with 6 complete games and 2 shutouts. for his troubles, john was awared the 'hutch' award, given to the player who embodies the 'fighting spirit' of fred hutchinson. he also was named the national league's comeback player of the year.

lee lacy was a comeback player of a different sort in 1976

shown above as a dodger in the 1976 base set, lacy got the traded treatment later in the year thanks to the deal that sent him to the braves in the dusty baker deal

however, lacy was traded back to the dodgers during the 1976 season with elias sosa for dr. mike marshall. lacy's season was pretty evenly split between the two teams, as were his stats except that all three of his home runs were hit for the braves.

i suspect one of the reasons the dodgers re-acquired lacy was that davey lopes appeared in only 117 games for the dodgers in 1976

still, he led the league in stolen bases for the second straight year, guaranteeing him a second card in the 1977 set, so long as topps continued to make cards for league leaders. speaking of extra cards, lopes was given a record breaker card in the 1976 set thanks to his streak of successful stolen base attempts.

it's too bad that his record breaker wasn't card number 1 in the set. that way, lopes' cards would have bookended the set. he also sat atop the pyramid on the nl stolen base league leader card

at least topps had him turn his head for the photo. i like how they used the shortstop logo (with a ball) on the card. check out bill russell's card below to see what i mean.

manny mota's 1976 topps card was a preview of 1981 donruss

thanks to a dark photo and wrigley field as a backdrop. for the fourth year in a row, mota's playing time diminished. he appeared in 50 games in 1976, and played in the field in only 6 of them. he hit an even .300 as a pinch-hitter (12 for 40 with 6 walks and a sacrifice fly).

the bell curve of doug rau's career peaked in 1976

he won a career high 16 games and had a personal best 2.57 era in 32 starts. he threw 8 complete games and had 3 shutouts with a couple of 3-hitters.

rick rhoden got a card of his very own in 1976

he deserved it, too, as he was 12-3 with a 2.98 era in 26 starts. he had 10 complete games and 3 shutouts with two of those being 3-hitters like rau. rhoden was named to the all-star team for the first time in his career, and pitched a scoreless inning in the game. after allowing a single to mickey rivers, rhoden got carl yastrzemski to ground into a double play and then retired rod carew to end the inning.

here's bill russell, who came back from injury to play in 149 games for the dodgers in 1976

russell played pretty well, hitting .274 with 5 homers. he made the all-star team for the second time in his career, and grounded into a double play in his only at bat.

don sutton did not make the all-star team in 1976.

but he did win 20 games (21 to be exact) for the first and only time in his career. 20 of those wins came as a starter, and the other came in his only relief appearance of the season. it looks like he was used in relief around the all-star break as a way to get him some work and avoid a longer layoff. anyway, his 21-10 record, along with his 3.06 era, 15 complete games, 4 shutouts, a 2-hitter, and 161 strikeouts were good for a third place finish in the cy young voting. it was his fifth straight season in which he placed in the top 5 in the voting for the award. although he never won the cy young, he did win the lou gehrig award in 1976 for his sportsmanship on and off the field. i guess in the clubhouse didn't count, or else steve garvey didn't get a vote.

finally, we have steve yeager showing off his neck that bill russell's bat tried to puncture later in the season

that injury, suffered in the on-deck circle, led yeager and dodger trainer bill buhler to come up with the catcher's throat protector. while he wasn't tinkering in the workshop, yeager was playing in 117 games behind the plate for the dodgers. he hit 11 home runs on the year, but more importantly threw out 40% of the runners who tried to steal against him.

here's the evolutionary tally so far:

23/27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured by topps in 1976

total appearances:

baker 6 (1971-1976)
cey 5 (1972-1976)
davalillo 12 (1963-1974)
forster 5 (1972-1976)
garman 5 (1971-1973, 1975-1976)
garvey 6 (1971-1976)
goodson 4 (1973-1976)
grote 13 (1964-1976)
hooton 5 (1972-1976)
hough 5 (1972-1976)
john 13 (1964-1976)
lacy 4 (1973-1976)
lasorda 3 (1954, 1973-1974)
lopes 4 (1973-1976)
martinez 6 (1971-1976)
monday 10 (1967-1976)
mota 14 (1963-1976)
oates 5 (1972-1976)
rau 4 (1973-1976)
rhoden 2 (1975-1976)
russell 7 (1970-1976)
smith 10 (1967-1976)
sosa 3 (1974-1976)
sutton 11 (1966-1976)
yeager 4 (1973-1976)

teams represented so far:

17 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies)

the 1978 topps dodgers who weren't quite dodgers in 1976

2011-12-29T07:55:00.007-06:00

when topps issued its 1976 set, there were still a few players who would become dodgers in the 1978 set who had yet to make the move to la. or, in one case, topps had yet to show that he had made it to the west coast, as was the case with dusty baker.

baker had been traded to the dodgers in november of 1975. a couple of the players involved in the trade (jim wynn, ed goodson, and tom paciorek) are featured in the set as members of their new teams, but dusty and future teammate lee lacy were not. his first season in la was statistically disappointing, as he hit just .252 in 112 games. he missed some of july and most of september and wound up hitting only 4 home runs all year.

terry forster was spending his final year with the white sox in 1976

two years removed from being one of the top relievers in the american league, forster actually started 16 of the 29 games in which he pitched for the chisox in '76. he finished with a 2-12 record and a 4.37 era with just one save on the year. he was on the move after the season, but not to the dodgers.

mike garman was also on the move after the 1976 season, but first, he spent the year pitching for the cubs

garman had been acquired by the cubbies in an october, 1975 trade. during his lone season with the cubs, garman went 2-4 with a save in 47 games. he also made the final two starts of his career.

jerry grote was still with the mets in 1976

he played in 101 games, sharing time behind the plate with ron hodges and john stearns. he hit .272 with 4 home runs and then contemplated retirement due to back issues.

while he wasn't retired, ted martinez didn't appear in the big leagues in 1976

he was released by the a's in may of 1976 and signed with the reds shortly thereafter. he spent the season with their aaa affiliate and was selected by the dodgers in the december, 1976 rule 5 draft.

before he was traded to la with mike garman, rick monday was patrolling the cubs' outfield in 1976

and his final year on the north side of chicago was pretty good. he set his career highs in runs (107), home runs (32) and rbi (77) while hitting .272 in 137 games. not bad power numbers for a guy hitting leadoff. three times he hit two home runs in a game, including once against the dodgers (off of future teammates don sutton and charlie hough).

johnny oates was still in philadelphia in 1976

providing backup to bob boone and tim mccarver. he made it into 37 games and hit .253. he made one appearance in the 1976 nlcs against the reds, and went 0 for 1. after the season, he was traded to the dodgers for ted sizemore.

reggie smith split his 1976 season between the cardinals and the dodgers

although smith hit three home runs in a game against the phillies in may, the cardinals traded smith after 47 games and a .218 average to the dodgers for joe ferguson. as a dodger, smith hit .280 with 10 home runs and secured the right field position and the three-hole in the batting order for himself.

like reggie smith, elias sosa spent only half of his 1976 season in la

he started the year with the braves, going 4-4 with three saves in 21 appearances. he was traded to the dodgers in june, and was 2-4 with a single save in 24 games for los angeles. he also lowered his era by a couple of runs.

tomorrow we'll look at the guys who were in place, sort of, according to topps in 1976.

lewallyn due time

2011-12-28T07:55:00.001-06:00

dennis lewallyn, a dodger from 1975-1979, is currently working for the cubs as their minor league pitching coordinator. that's where i sent a couple of cards last season, hoping that he would sign them for me. a few months later, i was happy to see them back in my mailbox. here's his 1978 topps card that should have been

he also signed his 1982 topps card, his lone mainstream card as far as i am aware.

these two cards go well with another lewallyn autograph i have. it was on the inside cover of a 1976 dodgers' photo album i picked up a few weeks ago

lewallyn wasn't featured in the album, so that's why the inside cover is signed instead of a photo. a nice group of autographs, likely signed 35 years apart.

thanks dennis!

this card is bullshirt

2011-12-27T07:55:00.029-06:00

there was so much potential for frank robinson's 1973 topps card. it would have been one of the first dodger cards to feature in-game action, and more importantly, would have been his only regular base topps card showing him as a member of the dodgers. as thankful as i am for the 1972 topps 'traded' card, i would have liked to have a good ol' regular base card with frobby's stats on the back. that's why i am annoyed with topps that they only airbrushed out 'dodgers' on his jersey. it would have been better had they found a head shot and airbrushed the heck out of it, like they did for bill singer.

anyway, i was once again perturbed in 2002 when i picked up this card from topps' american pie release

couldn't they have at least put the 'dodgers' script back on his chest? actually, using a picture of him in an angels uniform would have made more sense since the jersey piece is certified by topps to be from a uniform robinson wore during the 1973 season.

so, there are still too few cards with frank robinson as a dodger, although i did recently discover this 1980-88 baseball immortals card

who knew? this card makes sense only if duke snider's card from the set shows him as a met, or if they would have shown steve carlton as a twin or giant had the set continued to be expanded into the 1990's. at any rate, it's nice to see 'dodgers' on frank robinson's shirt.

jay johnstone came, saw, conquered, left, and later returned

2011-12-26T07:55:00.038-06:00

after facing the dodgers in the 1978 world series as a member of the yankees (he appeared in two games without an at bat), and splitting the 1979 season between new york and san diego, jay johnstone was signed by al campanis as a free agent. we were rewarded with a nice 1980 o-pee-chee team and text variation, and a year later got this run of the mill 1981 o-pee-chee card.

as a dodger, jay performed a bunch of pranks on teammates and manager tommy lasorda, but came through on the field when it counted. he hit .307 in 120 games in 1980, and after a lackluster showing in the 1981 regular season, he went 2 for 3 with a big two-run pinch-hit homer in the 1981 world series against the yankees. after an appearance on solid gold with teammates steve yeager, rick monday, and jerry reuss, johnstone returned to the dodgers for the 1982 season. a couple months in, however, he was released. fortunately for fans of practical jokes everywhere, the cubs took a chance and signed johnstone to a contract.

here's his 1983 o-pee-chee card

but, we all know that if there is any card that should be used to represent johnstone's time with the cubs, it's his 1984 fleer card

in his two-plus seasons as a cub, johnstone hit .257 in 236 games. he also hit the final 16 home runs of his career, the last of which was a pinch-hit job off of hall of famer phil niekro. the cubs, who were making their run towards the playoffs, released johnstone in september and he failed to latch on with another team until the following winter. that's when the dodgers came calling again, and brought johnstone back, giving him dodger douple dipper status.

here's his 1986 topps card (no o-pee-chee for jay, unfortunately)

it also serves as his final tribute, as 1985 was his final season in the big leagues. it's also a card that johnstone signed for me through the mail last year

here's to you, jay johnstone, another dodger double dipper!

i still believe

2011-12-25T07:55:00.011-06:00

"only" twice in my lifetime have the dodgers won the last game of the baseball season. i was 10 in 1981, and 17 in 1988 - the last time the dodgers were in the world series.

we are in the midst of the longest world series drought since the team moved to the west coast, and my baseball related christmas wish is that 2012 be a banner season for the dodgers. however, seeing the parts that ned has added recently, i think i will be happy with a new owner and a shot at 2013.

merry christmas!

it's a wonderful life! (and a giant thanks to a giants fan)

2011-12-24T15:55:00.026-06:00

"that's right. that's right. atta boy clarence."

this 1973 topps jimmy stewart card came to me courtesy of reader and giant fan jim from northern california, who has sent me cards a few times. the last package came several months ago, and i am just now going to show off some of the bounty. the shame. they were mostly cards i needed for my 1973 set.

here is one of the best examples of the 1973 set. tito fuentes

there are parts of 5 different players on the card, and although we can't see tito's headband, we are treated to a lot more thanks to topps' inability to crop their images.
here's another giant, showing off a sign of the times - it's garry maddox and his muttonchop sideburns.

bernie carbo also has some sideburns

plus, he can't be bothered to tuck in his jersey. his polyester pullover jersey. that was progress?

here's mike corkins

who appears to be suiting up for the padres inside a maximum security prison. is this the first baseball card with a trash can featured on it?
the backs of the cards can be equally entertaining, like duke sims' card

looks like senator mccarthy was working at topps in 1973. i wonder if sims was called in for questioning. here's the front of duke's card

as well as that of luis tiant

tiant looks pretty happy; perhaps he is thinking of smoking a cigar

i wonder if cameron crowe saw this and came up with the idea for jeff spicoli's van.
here's a svelte looking mike torrez

who apparently dropped some pounds

that's pretty crazy. if only torrez sold insurance or cars or real estate in the offseason, then maybe topps would have had something better to say in the cartoon.
finally, jim sent this - a nefarious 9 need at the time - a 1975 topps mini maury wills mvp card

alongside some other guy.

thanks jim for the cards!

candy

2011-12-24T07:55:00.001-06:00

no, they're not sugar plums (whatever those are), but they are still sweet visions of candy for this christmas eve. i sent some cards down to puerto rico for candido maldonado to sign, and he came through for me.

here's his 1983 fleer card

with dodger stadium as a backdrop. candy was hot stuff coming out of the minors, and was given every opportunity to win a starting spot in the outfield. here's a 1984 topps card signed by the candy man

maldonado spent the 1984 season as the dodgers' primary right fielder, and then moved over to center field in 1985. speaking of which, here's his 1985 topps card

at first i wondered if topps used photos from the same at bat on both his 1984 and 1985 cards. they didn't, as candy has sleeves in 1985 that weren't there in 1984. plus, it looks like the photo for 1984 was taken in montreal based on the uniforms of the players in the dugout, while the photo on the 1985 card makes it look like we are seeing into the dodgers' dugout. is that shea stadium?

i remember it being hard for me to believe that candy hit only 11 home runs as a dodger in his time in la, although i was quickly learning that pcl numbers coming out of albuquerque didn't necessarily translate to the big leagues. after the 1985 season, the dodgers traded maldonado to the giants and he went on to put up the power numbers we waited for in la.

thanks candy!

for richert, for the dodgers. twice.

2011-12-23T14:55:00.044-06:00

[this is the twentyninth installment in the double dippers posts. here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, and mike devereaux.]

lefty pete richert signed with the dodger in the late 1950's and made his big league debut for them in april of 1962. topps was kind enough to let us know on his 1962 card that he was, in fact, a 1962 rookie

richert split his time between the starting rotation and the bullpen from '62 through 1964, and although he pitched in 20 regular season games in 1963, he did not appear in the world series that year against the yankees. while i am not sure if he was on the postseason roster or not, it is worth noting that the dodgers used only 4 pitchers that series - 2 complete games by sandy koufax, another by don drysdale, and an 8.1-inning effort by johnny podres who was relieved for less than a full inning by ron perranoski. a year later, richert threw his first career complete game for the dodgers (a 2-hitter) against the mets in september of 1964. a few months later, he was dealt to the senators in the frank howard/claude osteen deal.

after two all-star seasons as a starting pitcher in washington, richert was traded to the orioles. here's his 1970 topps card as proof

the orioles wound up putting richert in the bullpen full-time, and reaped the rewards. with richert helping to close out games, baltimore appeared in the world series three straight years from 1969 through 1971. richert made exactly one appearance in each series, with his 1969 appearance being the most memorable. in game 4 of the series, richert was called upon in the bottom of the tenth inning wit nobody out and two men aboard. jc martin attempted a sacrifice, but richert's throwing error allowed jerry grote to score, and the mets won the game to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead. things were better for richert and the o's in 1970, as he earned a save in game 1 of that fall classic when he relieved jim palmer with two outs in the ninth, a one run lead, and pete rose on first, getting bobby tolan to make the final out of the game.

after the 1971 season, richert was traded back to the dodgers in the frank robinson deal, and his status as a double dipper was established. he stayed for two seasons, and grew some nice sideburns as seen on his 1974 o-pee-chee card

by the time the 1974 season rolled around however, richert was in saint louis pitching for the cardinals.

in other news, richert is a good signer, and i have been on the receiving end of his kindness a couple of times. here's a 1962 topps card (looks like a green tint variation) that he signed for me

as well as a 1964 topps card

a 1973 topps card

and a 1974 topps card

he also signed one of his 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams cards

i'm glad he doesn't hold any ill will towards 1969.

as a reminder, my 'timeless teams' blog kicks off on 1/2/12. i'll get to richert and his teammates a few posts in.

here's to you (and thanks), pete richert - a dodger double dipper!

one time, at dodger stadium...

2011-12-23T07:55:00.003-06:00

raul mondesi hit a ball down the left field line in the bottom of the 6th inning, and joe randa of the pirates

couldn't quite get there in time. mondesi doubled, went to third on an error by the left fielder, and was stranded by wilton guerrero.

nice card, though.

garvey like it's your birthday

2011-12-22T07:55:00.030-06:00

today is steve garvey's 63rd birthday. i am not sure how i feel about that, in the sense that if my boyhood idol is 63, i must be getting on in years too. anyway, it was a great day for me when i found that the garv signed through the mail. i've had a few successes with him, sending a donation to his foundation (palm desert baseball) once, and going through a paid signing another time. most of my attempts, however, have been freebies. so, on his birthday, here are some of the 'gifts' the nl iron man has given me.

here's the 1970 topps card i created

nicely signed, but no number inscription. that was one of the cards i sent with the donation. i think it looks great.

here's my second favorite garvey card, his 1974 topps

this was the actual card that i used to carry around in my wallet, just like bob costas did with a mickey mantle card.
another one of my faves, his 1981 topps card

and his 1979 topps card, with marc hill lurking.

and, of course, i sent a 1983 o-pee-chee card, too

not sure why he signed that one vertically.

and then there was his 1983 fleer card

no more wire hangers!

i also picked up a 1976 topps card

in a lot somewhere. a little more sketchy than the others, but may well be legit. i am pretty much out of the ttm game these days, (although i have a bunch of successes yet to share) so popeye is probably done signing for me. besides, he probably needs a nap.

just kidding garv! happy birthday and here's to many more. thanks for signing my cards!

a call to order

2011-12-21T15:55:00.031-06:00

i recently completed a trade with the angels in order. i sent him some angels, he sent me some dodgers. let's see how i made out by checking out just a few of the cards i received.

here's a 1994 topps mike piazza card

i was full of anticipation for this card back in early 1994 (or was it late 1993?) and was beyond disappointed. it is essentially the same photo topps used for piazza's 1993 topps traded card, and lacks any sort of 'pop' in terms of color. so disappointing.

although it could have been worse. here's a 1994 leaf studio piazza.

that's worse.

speaking of worse, check out this 1997 pinnacle piazza card

adding insult to injury, the strongest man in socal not only tagged out the astros runner, but he is also punching the poor houstonian in the nuts.
here's a 1996 leaf hideo nomo checklist card that i had not seen before

when i flipped it over, i realized why.

all those crazy marty cordova collectors have been hoarding these cards.
i also received a 2009 topps heritage mayo insert of manny ramirez

who apparently has applied for reinstatement. i wonder who is advising manny. i would have told him to serve his suspension last year even if he really thought he wanted to retire. now he has to sit out 100 games before he can come back when he could have had that out of the way. what a dumb strategy.

there was also a 1998 pinnacle inside 'stand up guys' insert featuring various body parts of four of the dodgers five consecutive rookies-of-the year (sorry holly). here's the side with eric karros and mike piazza's backsides

and here's raul mondesi and nomo's front sides. mostly.

so, i had to go out and get the other card to complete my stand up dodger quad

this card seems to feature a mythological beast - a fabiotaur - half nomo, half karros

i also picked up another card from the insert set featuring nomo and what i assume to be greg maddux.

i thnk randy johnson was on the other side with another pitcher whose name escapes me at the moment. anyway, this was a great trade. i got some cards that inspired me to go out and buy more cards.

nothing out of order about that!

the evolution of the right fielder, part 3

2011-12-21T07:55:00.031-06:00

we pick up with the departure of raul mondesi and the arrival of shawn green

shawn green (2000-2003)

green had put up big numbers for the blue jays in 1999 (42/123/.309) so i was a bit disappointed when he played in all 162 games for the dodgers in 2000, but did just 24/99/.269. it reminded me of darryl strawberry's first (and, as it turned out, only decent year in la), but i shouldn't have worried. green posted back-to-back years of over 40 home runs in 2001 and 2002. his power numbers were down in 2003 - i believe he had injured his shoulder - but he still played in 160 games. take that, mike marshall! i should mention that green and i have something in common - we both were in attendance at game 1 of the 1988 world series, but, unlike him, i didn't leave early.

the dodgers moved greenie to first base in 2004 and juan encarnacion turned up in right.

juan encarnacion (2004)

encarnacion was acquired by the dodgers via a trade with the marlins in december of 2003. he started 77 games for the dodgers in right before he was traded back to the marlins in july of 2004. that was the deal that jim tracy openly lamented, as the dodgers gave up encarnacion, guillermo mota, and paul lo duca for brad penny and hee-seop choi. encarnacion was hitting only .235 at the time with 13 home runs, so i think tracy was more upset at losing his starting catcher.

drew (2005-2006)

encarnacion's departure and the failure of any interim right fielder to claim the job opened up the spot for free agent jd drew. drew came aboard after a lone season in atlanta in which he finished 6th in the mvp voting. his first year in la was forgettable as he played in only 72 games for the blue, and hit only 15 home runs. manager jim tracy deployed his crew of 'ja(y)sons' (repko, werth, and grabowski) to fill in for the missing drew. jd rebounded nicely in 2006, playing in 146 games, hitting 20 home runs, and driving in 100 for the only time in his career. he also hit one of the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in that late season game against the padres. of course, scott boras had negotiated an out clause in his contract after two years, and drew took it and headed to the red sox.

andre ethier (2007-2011)

with drew gone, the dodgers simply moved andre ethier over from left field, and he's been there ever since. in his 5 years as the dodgers' rightfielder, ethier has averaged 146 games, 35 doubles, 20 home runs, and .288 at the plate. his home run numbers are lower than expected over that span because of his 2011 season when injury hampered his power.

so, there you have it. in three parts, the dodger rightfielder has evolved from carl furillo to andre ethier. here's hoping it doesn't evolve any further for a while.

filling in the blanks with some 1975 topps cards that should have been

2011-12-20T15:55:00.031-06:00

well, there weren't too many missed opportunities when it came to the dodgers' infield and topps in 1975. steve garvey got his due on an mvp card and the nlcs recap card, and ron cey, bill russell and davey lopes didn't do much to deserve any cards other than their base cards. there weren't any other subsets that screamed 'gcrl' either. but, thanks to steelehere's suggestion, i do have a 1975 topps card that should have been - a steve garvey 'highlights' card necessitated by his write-in candidacy and mvp performance in the all-star game.

here's the back

it is modeled after the hank aaron highlight card

although i chose not to use the all-star 'star', since garvey got that on his base card. here's the back of the aaron card just to be complete about it.

i thought it turned out pretty nicely.

while i was at it, i thought of another card possibility. in the world series subset, all but one of the cards celebrate the a's (which makes sense, as they won the world series 4 games to 1). ron cey lurks on one of them, and the lone 'dodger' card of the group features joe ferguson and walt alston most prominently. that's all well and good, but how about highlighting the biggest play from game 1, even if the dodgers wound up losing the game? here's a card with steve yeager holding the ball triumphantly after tagging out sal bando courtesy of joe ferguson's throw from right field.

we even get bill russell and davey lopes in the background! much better than the reggie jackson image that topps featured for their game 1 recap.

here are a few more cards that should have been, including a couple of burt hooton 'traded' cards that i made for the facebook page '1975 topps traded'.

he is 'happy' to be in dodger blue, apparently. here's an 'action' shot i took from a dodger postcard

altering the back was easy, since there was no team affiliation listed on the backs of the 75's. here's his regular topps back

i just added a 't' like they did in 1974.

the dodgers sent geoff zahn to the cubs in the deal, so here's his card that should have been

here's his real 1975 topps card, with a picture taken just outside the dodger dugout

i used zahn's 1976 topps card for the image

the other player in the deal was eddie solomon, and i made a card for him, too.

that is a combination of his 1978 topps card and zahn's 1976 card (the cubs uni). i should have scanned the 1978 card at a higher resolution, apparently.
for the record, here is solomon's actual 1975 topps card

and, just to get it out of my 'scanned' folder, here is a 1975 topps gaylord perry card i made as well.

if you're on facebook, stop by the 1975 topps traded page and say hello. tell them gcrl sent you.

does anyone want and/or need this card?

2011-12-20T07:55:00.003-06:00

i picked up a diamond giveaway code somewhere along the line, and this is what i unlocked.

the offers haven't really tickled my fancy. anybody want to trade?

the evolution of the right fielder, part 2

2011-12-19T07:55:00.003-06:00

we begin part 2 (here's part 1 if you missed it or want a refresher) with perhaps one of the greatest right-handed hitters in dodger history, who was eventually traded away and revealed to be a 'clubhouse cancer'. come to think of it, we'll end part 2 the same way.

pedro guerrero (1981-1982)

petey took over for the injured reggie smith in 1981, although he wound up finishing the season as the dodgers' third baseman. guerrero's .300 season (an all-star season, at that) helped the dodgers advance to the postseason, where he was playing third in the nlds against the astros, too. he hit only .176 in that series, although he did have a big solo home run in game 4 to give the dodgers the lead. he was worse in the nlcs against the expos while playing right and center, but came up big in the world series where he was one of the triumvirate of mvp's as the dodgers beat the yankees.

in 1982, guerrero had his first monster season. he hit 32 home runs, drove in 100, stole 22 bases, hit .304 with a .914 ops and finished 3rd in the mvp voting. however, with the loss of ron cey in the offseason, guerrero was moved to third base for 1983, opening the right field door for...

mike marshall (1983, 1985-1989)

man, i was ready for marshall. he had won the aaa triple crown in 1981 with some monster numbers, and was hitting .388 in albuquerque when he was called up for good in 1982. now with a full-time gig in right, i was looking forward to some huge big league numbers. what we got was pretty good. in 1983, marshall produced a line of 17/65/.284, and capped his season with a 10th inning walk-off grand slam against the reds in september. then, after a year in left, marshall went 28/95/.293 in 1985. he had some ups and downs the following four seasons as the dodgers' primary right fielder, but had a big up in game 2 of the 1988 world series. he drove in 3 runs with a triple and a home run to keep the momentum going that kirk gibson had created in game 1. after the 1989 season, the dodgers traded marshall to the mets. before that, however, another dodger minor league wonder patrolled right field.

candy maldonado (1984)

while mike marshall spent his sabbatical in left field after the loss of dusty baker, candido maldonado played right. he hit .268 with 5 home runs in 116 games in 1984, before joining in the game of musical outfielders and moving to center in 1985.

hubie brooks (1990)

so, the dodgers traded marshall to the mets for juan samuel after the 1989 season, and then signed another former met to play right field for them in 1990. brooks came in and hit 20 home runs, drove in 91, and had an average of .266. and, for the third season in a row, struck out exactly 108 times. then, for the second year in a row, the dodgers traded their primary right fielder to the mets and signed a former met to take his place.

darryl strawberry (1991-1992)

it was christmas in november when the dodgers signed strawberry. his first season was decent - 28 home runs, 99 rbi, .265 average in 139 games, and he made the all-star team for the eighth straight year (and final time in his career). he helped the dodgers win 93 games in 1991, although they finished a game behind the braves in the standings. they were actually up 1 game with 4 to play, but lost 3 in a row to lose the nl west crown. i recall some griping in the local rags about strawberry's performance in the last couple of losses, as he was just 1 for 8 with 3 strikeouts.

1992 was supposed to be better, but he missed a lot of time due to injury, as was the case in 1993. still, strawberry made more starts (39) than any of the other 9 players the dodgers used in right in 1992. then, in 1994, he failed to show up for the freeway series and was found to have entered rehab.

cory snyder (1993)

in strawberry's absence, the corndog took over most of the right field responsibilities in 1993, making 107 starts there to go along with his other appearances all over the diamond. he helped the dodgers get back to .500 after their historically bad 1992 season, but was only a temporary stopgap as the dodgers had rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul ready to go.

raul mondesi (1994-1997, 1999)

mondesi won the rookie of the year award in 1994, and spent the next 3 seasons continuing to kick ass in right field. he led the league in outfield assists in 1994 and 1995, and won gold gloves in '95 and '97. 1997 was the year he became the first dodger to reach 30/30, and he matched the feat in 1999 when he returned to right from a year as the dodgers' centerfielder. 1999 was also the year when he hit the most dramatic opening day home run since saxy's leadoff job in 1988. in fact, he had 2 dramatic home runs that day. first, with the dodgers down 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth in davey johnson's first game as manager, mondesi came up with two outs and two men on base. he launched a 3-0 pitch into the bullpen to tie the game, and then, in the 11th, he hit a 2-run walk-off to win the game. still, he was seen as tempermental and was traded to the blue jays in the offseason for shawn green.

gary sheffield (1998)

before we get to green (in part 3), we need to recognize that gary sheffield roamed in right for the dodgers in 1998 while mondesi was patrolling center for a season. or, at least part of a season, as that all happened after the mike piazza trade went down in may of '98. as a dodger, sheffield played in 90 games in 1998, and hit .316 with a .979 ops. his next three seasons (as the dodgers' leftfielder) were monsters, but he had worn out his welcome and was traded to the braves, just as pedro guerrero was traded to the cardinals in 1988.

it's coming...

2011-12-18T09:15:00.005-06:00

1/2/12

follow. link. share. add to your rss feed. write an op-ed piece for your local paper. enjoy.

please and thanks.

i like this card

2011-12-17T08:25:00.001-06:00

it's a 1993 upper deck sterling hitchcock card

it reminds me a bit of the 1978 topps ron guidry and don gullett cards. those were nice. even if they were yankees.

rick sutcliffe

did not look as graceful.

biggio gets his due

2011-12-10T08:55:00.002-06:00

his double play due, that is. like walt weiss and kurt stillwell, craig biggio has a bunch of cards showing him making the double play turn at second base. here are a few.

i put these two cards, 1997 topps and 1997 new pinnacle, together, thinking that maybe they were from the same play in which biggio jumps over the bulky giant, barry bonds.

i don't think they are the same play, since both guys are wearing shorter sleeves on the topps card.

here's the back of biggio's 1997 upper deck card, with mark parent sliding in at wrigley

being in the nl central, there were a lot of cubs/astros matchups at wrigley. in fact, the only non-dodger game i have been two at wrigley featured those two juggernauts.

here's biggio's 1998 donruss card with another cub sliding in

1998 donruss must be underrated, because i like this card yet i don't think i have posted any other '98 donruss cards. i'll have to see if the rest of the set (or at least the dodgers) are as nice as this card.

biggio also turned double plays in san diego, as shown on his 1998 upper deck card - front

and back. duck, wally joyner!

fast forward a couple of years, and here is another turn, this one at riverfront. 2002 fleer maximum and 2002 upper deck authentics (in which upper deck used its own 'vintage' design instead of stealing one of topps'). pretty sure this is the same play

although i am too lazy to prove it.

some of these may make it into the 'greatest double play card of all-time' tournament, coming soon...

free paul konerko

2011-12-09T07:55:00.001-06:00

no, i don't mean to say that he should be released from the south side or anything like that, i mean that i got this card - a 1998 upper deck blue chip prospect insert

for free. sort of. it was a bonus card from sportlots. it used to be that the points you accrued with every order and every feedback given could be redeemed for cash to be used on future orders. now you have to choose from some pretty bad cards. wilson betemit rookie, anyone?

the konerko card i got isn't too bad, although it took a good chunk of my points. i had never seen any of these cards before. some of the other players in the insert set include alex rodriguez, derek jeter, vladdy, todd helton, and miguel tejada. plus some middle of the road guys like aaron boone and livan hernandez. and then there is also todd dunwoody. that would not be a bonus.

anyway, it turns out i could have bought the card for $4 online. from sportlots.

here's to you, my $4 bonus card.

more dirty balls

2011-12-08T07:55:00.006-06:00

just a quick hit today. a while back i showed off my jackie robinson and roy campanella short prints from 2011 topps. since then, i've acquired the rest of the dodgers, such as sandy koufax

pee wee reese

and duke snider

from series 2, all with the dirty balls. for pee wee and the duke, topps abandoned the familiar 'b' logo and went with a script. then topps stuck another koufax into the update series

but used a new ball. and, they rotated the seams.

wouldn't it be nice to see a gil hodges in 2012 topps?

gil hodges didn't get the call

2011-12-06T07:55:00.001-06:00

sadly, boy of summer gil hodges was not elected to the hall of fame yesterday. congratulations to ron santo, of course, but hodges was the one i was really pulling for. hopefully the dodgers will still, at some point, retire number 14 in his honor.

i assume that the person on the phone with hodges in the photo i used to create a 1970 topps card that should have been was president nixon after the amazing mets won the 1969 world series.

it's too bad hodges didn't get the call from the hall prior to his passing in 1972, and even worse that his family has yet to receive the call in the time that has passed since. yes, i am biased and not necessarily rational, so i think he belongs.

of course, hodges had an actual card that really was as part of the 1970 topps set

but it was rather uninspired. hodges began his managerial career with the senators (here's his 1965 topps card)

after the mets traded him to washington in may of 1963. hodges was an original met in 1962 and then played in 11 games for the 1963 team prior to the trade. there is a 1964 topps card showing hodges as the senators' manager, but it's a high number which i do not own. instead, i whipped up a couple of 1964 topps cards that should have been to celebrate hodges' career as a player - final tribute sorts of things. a close-up

or the more obvous spring training shot

i am not 100% sure whether those photos are from his playing days as a met or not, but based on the photo used for topps' 1968 hodges card

i'll go with yes. he looks ancient in that photo, and that was from before he even managed a single game for new york.

here's to you, gil hodges, a hall of famer in my book.

keep it fimple

2011-12-03T10:15:00.001-06:00

before there was mike piazza, there was another mustached catcher wearing number 31 for the dodgers. remember jack fimple?

the dodgers had acquired fimple in the december, 1981 rick sutcliffe trade with the indians, and he made his big league debut in 1983 when steve yeager went down with an injury. he played in a few more games for the blue in 1984, but stayed in the minors for all of 1985. when he returned to the big club in 1986, ed vande berg had claimed number 31, and fimple went to bobby castillo's old number - 37.

fimple ended his career with a short stint in an angels' uniform in 1987. i don't remember a whole lot about fimple, although i absolutely love that 1984 donruss card of his. i do think i recall that he hit a home run for the dodgers late in the 1983 season with a broken finger. well, he used a bat, but his finger was broken at the time. a quick check of baseball reference shows that he did hit both of his career home runs in 1983, both against the reds at riverfront. sadly, there is no stat column for broken digits to confirm my memory. oh well, at least i have fimple's card to look at.

let's get retired in here

2011-12-02T07:55:00.024-06:00

topps lineage didn't do much for me. i prefer my retired dodgers in sets of their own, i suppose. like topps' aptly named 2003 release, topps retired. i believe there are rules today against sets like that, but back then i could revel in my retired dodgers, including steve garvey as 'not a padre'. i am certain i have the garvey from the set, and likely a couple of the parallels, but i am not sure that i have the maury wills or the tom lasorda. i do have the other dodgers, including ron cey

that's an early photo of the penguin in vero beach used for the primary shot on the card. the inset is from a few years later with his mustache in full force.

here's don sutton

whose photos are both early in the career images. it's odd to see sutton without his hat on a baseball card, but i suppose topps had pretty much every player doff the cap just in case they were traded back then. i can't imagine al campanis giving up on sutton in the late 60s or early 70s.
here's johnny podres

as he exits a penitentiary, apparently. i would guess the big photo is from the late 50s, while the inset is from circa 1965.
i also picked up the podres auto a few months ago

players like podres look funny in chrome. i don't think it was meant to be for players of his era.

and then there is don newcombe

i love that he was included in the set, but sad to see him as a redleg. apparently, topps only had the one photo of him from his time in cincy. still, it's nice to see newk in a modern set, and i am sure there were some reds collectors who were pleased to not get another tony perez card. actually, perez was a red in this set, too. but you get the idea.

a century for smokey

2011-12-01T07:55:00.002-06:00

100 years ago today, walter emmons alston burst onto the scene. smokey, as he came to be known at some point, went on to manage the dodgers for 23 years, winning 7 pennants and 4 world series. before that, he made exactly one plate appearance in the big leagues, and it came as a saint louis cardinal in 1936. alas, he struck out, and was soon sent back to the minors.

alston's overall record as a manager was 2040-1613, and he was inducted into the hall of fame in 1983. sadly, alston passed away the following year.

here's a 1968 topps dodger team card that i picked up somewhere along the way, with what is purported to be alston's signature.

the funny thing about that is that the 1967 team (the team shown on the card) was the worst performing team alston managed. they finished in 8th place in the national league that year, with a .451 winning percentage. not that the actual 1968 team was much better, as it also finished in 8th with 76 wins, a 3-game improvement over the previous year.

here's to you, smokey! happy birthday, wherever you may be.

john edward kennedy

2011-11-27T10:15:00.022-06:00

this time of year, thanks to the events in dallas in 1963, our thoughts are inevitably directed towards president kennedy. the other day was the 48th anniversary of his assassination. there was another john kennedy living in washington dc at the time of the president's death, but he was just a ballplayer. as a kid growing up in the 1970s, it was hard for me to think of one without the other coming to mind. it's still like that today.

a year after the assassination, kennedy the ballplayer was traded to the dodgers in the frank howard deal. this john kennedy, john edward kennedy, to be exact, was kind enough to sign a couple of cards for me earlier this year. here's his 1965 topps card

and his 1966 topps card

kennedy did not play particularly well for the dodgers, hitting below .200 over his two seasons with the club, but he did appear in the world series both years. the dodgers sent kennedy to the yankees in april of 1967, and from there he went to the pilots/brewers and the red sox to round out his career.

thanks jek, for the autographs. and know that at least once a year, this fan is thinking of you.

more through the mail successes to be thankful for

2011-11-26T11:15:00.019-06:00

since one shouldn't be thankful just on thanksgiving, here are some more through the mail successes i am thankful for. especially the first one, since it took me a couple of tries - it's stan musial's personal issue postcard

the first time i tried ttm with stan the man, i got the postcard, but it was unsigned. the second time, i waited for a while and was happy to see this show up. awesome success.

here's bobby valentine, a guy who has signed for me before

i wanted this card signed since it is a nice dodger stadium card with bobby v airbrushed into his angel uniform

i sent cards to davey johnson a couple of times. the first time, i did not receive anything back. then, last season, i sent him a couple of cards c/o the nationals. he signed one - his 1978 topps card

which is nice. if i had to choose one, i would prefer this one over the 2001 topps card i sent, even though that is a dodger card.

i showed off my 1978 topps lance parrish card on thanksgiving. he signed a couple of other cards for me, too, including his 1984 donruss card and his

1989 upper deck card

parrish now charges $15, and i haven't decided whether to send him a dodgers police card (his only dodger issue) to sign.

one guy who won't be signing any dodger cards is orlando hudson, who did sign a 2010 topps update card for me

for which i am thankful. hopefully hudson is healthy next year, although i don't necessarily want the padres to be competitive.

like parrish, i previously showed my 1978 topps rick wise card that the red sox righty signed for me. here's the bonus 1976 topps that he threw in

along with the note he wrote and signed

nice guy.
finally, i am even thankful for the non-autograph responses. robin yount sent back a form letter post card

along with a pre-printed hall-of-fame postcard

the only true successes that i have seen on sports card forum are for people living in wisconsin. i had a sconie send a card to yount about a year ago, and haven't heard back yet. here's hoping!

thanks to all the ballplayers who sign for the fans, it is appreciated!

black friday

2011-11-25T14:45:00.012-06:00

i don't plan to do any shopping today, although there is a card show in the northwest twin cities metro. here are some cards i picked up at a card show last spring, appropriate for today i suppose.

2011 topps heritage chad billingsley black parallel

james loney, too

and, just for kicks, a green chrome parallel of hiroki kuroda

the green looks kind of mossy or algae-ish, kind of like when homer forgot to put chlorine in the backyard pool.

now back to the leftovers...

now that's something

2011-11-25T07:55:00.010-06:00

i sent some 'anything' to thorzul for this 'something' - a 2011 topps update rod barajas cognac parallel

fortunately for me, thorzul also included more something - this clayton kershaw cognac parallel

i had asked for it, but was beaten to the punch by night owl. i guess thorzul forgot and sent it to me instead. he and night owl have worked it out, so i don't feel bad, except that i should probably send some more 'anything' to thorzul. i'm not sure what i'll send, but i am sure i'll think of 'something'.

more 1978 topps through the mail successes to be thankful for

2011-11-24T10:45:00.000-06:00

i am thankful for many things, and in the narrow slice of my life that is this hobby, i am thankful for through the mail successes. in particular, i am thankful for dodger and 1978 topps successes. here are a number of the latter that i have received in recent months.

we'll start with hall-of-famer phil niekro, who signed (and inscribed) his base card

as well as his league leader card.

i sent phil $20 to cover his fee. it's hard to imagine a knuckleballer leading the league in strikeouts, but he did. he also led the league in wild pitches. the strikeouts weren't a fluke, though. niekro bested jr richard for the 1977 title by almost 50 strikeouts, and finished 2nd to richard by about the same margin in 1978.
here's wayne garrett, a guy that niekro struck out 9 times (and walked 10 times), although that's not a 1978 topps card

it's garrett's o-pee-chee card. i already had a topps card signed by garrett but found this extra opc card and figured what the heck.

back to topps, here's matt alexander

alexander played in the bigs over parts of 9 seasons. in four of those seasons, he got exactly 1 hit. in another, he had no hits, although to be fair, he didn't have a plate appearance that year. he had seasons where he was 1 for 5, 1 for 10, 1 for 30 (!), and 1 for 3. 1978 was his 'at-batless' year, and he spent it in pittsburgh as a pinch runner for the pirates.
billy almon

sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. that's what billy almon used to make me think of as a kid. you know, almon(d) joy's got nuts, mounds don't. i later learned that he was a number one pick overall.
ray burris was a 17th round pick who i remember as an expo

that's because he pitched against the dodgers in the 1981 nlcs. burris is currently a minor league pitching coach. i sent $5 for his autograph as he had requested. apparently his son is serving in afghanistan and burris is sending care packages to help the troops and the locals. thank you ray!
here's chris chambliss

i a turnaround of my wayne garrett experience, i had an o-pee-chee card signed by chambliss, but not a topps card. the seattle mariners hitting coach came through for me a second time, and i appreciate it.
here's larry christenson

i enjoy the mlb network. i don't watch it too much, but i know it's always there for me if the mood strikes. the other day, they were counting down the top 40 uniforms, and they got to the phillies' all maroon outfits. they were pretty garish, and apparently panned by all. anyway, from that show i learned that larry christenson was the starting pitcher the one and only time that those uniforms were worn.
here are a couple of double-ds from the red sox - denny doyle

and dick drago

drago was a red sox double dipper, having spent some time with the angels in between stints with the red sox. he also served up home run number 755 to henry aaron.
johnny grubb hit career home run number 30 off of drago

he finished his career with 99 round trippers.

larry gura got personal with his autograph

gura charges $2, i think. i was happy to pay it. gura was one of the better pitchers in the al from about 1978 through 1982. unfortunately, the royals released him early in the 1985 season, so he missed out on their world championship.
here's another lefty, john hiller

hiller was a lifelong tiger, which is nice. his story is pretty crazy, though, as he suffered a heart attack when he was 28 (1971) and was released by the team. they brought him back to pitch batting practice and eventually added him to their roster in 1972. he pitched well in the alcs that year, and then in 1973, he was the comeback player of the year with 38 saves and 4th place finishes in both the cy young and mvp voting.
jim kern also has a 4th place cy young finish to his credit, although it came with the rangers and not the indians

someday i will do a year-by-year jim kern card retrospective. it gets pretty hairy.
here's another phillie, randy lerch

lerch pitched in the 1978 nlcs against the dodgers (and lost) but is perhaps best remembered for hitting 2 home runs in the game that clinched the nl east for the phillies that year. he hit 3 of his 4 career home runs that season.
milt may went the light ballpoint route with his signature

but i am still thankful. may was apparently going to replace roberto clemente in the pirates' lineup in 1973 with regular catcher manny sanguillen moving to right field, but the pirates wound up sticking with sanguillen behind the plate and may was back to backing up. he later went on to become the regular backstop for the astros, tigers and giants.
hey - here's a 4-in-1 card, although it's signed just by one player, nationals' pitching coach steve mccatty

yes, this card was touched by the guy who is coaching stephen strasburg! mccatty played billy ball very well. in 1982, he finished second in the cy young voting after winning 14 games to lead the league in the strike shortened season. of course, he also had 16 complete games that year, and then pitched another one in the alds against the royals. as for the other guys, i just know that i will always remember tom hume as one of the people rescued from the top of the mgm casino in vegas when it caught fire in 1980.

here's another 4-in-1, this time signed by lance parrish

i got this signed before parrish started charging for autographs. i think ernie whitt signs through the mail, but i doubt i will risk it. parrish almost played for the dodgers, but i was not able to get his lone dodger release signed.
dave tomlin didn't play for the dodgers, either.

but he was 2-0 against them in 26 career games.

tom veryzer signed his card

and i lament the fact that i did not have an extra 1978 o-pee-chee card for him to sign - it's a nice team and text variation.
gary wheelock

made 17 of his 20 career appearances in 1977. he pitched in 2 games in 1976 and 1 in 1980 and that was it. i have a soft spot for gary as he was an anteater like me at uci. zot!
rick wise signed his card for me in exchange for $5

actually, it was $2.50 because he added a copy of his 1976 topps card when he returned my '78. wise had some good seasons for the phillies, cardinals and red sox in the late 1960's through the mid 1970's. unfortunately for him, he went to cleveland in 1978 and lost 19 games. like randy lerch, wise once hit two home runs in a game; it happened to be the same game in which he threw a no-hitter.
it looks like johnny wockenfuss

goes by john b. wockenfuss these days. wockenfuss spent 10 years with the tigers only to be traded away on the eve of their historic 1984 season. of course, without that trade, it is unlikely the tigers would have done as well, as detroit obtained cy young and mvp winner willie/guillermo hernandez in exchange for wockenfuss.
last, but not least, here's jim wohlford

wohlford's card is classic 1978 topps with yankee stadium as a backdrop. wohlford always struck me as a guy whose head was too big for his body. that assertion was based solely on this card. i have no real idea about his cranial proportions.

thanks to all the former players who took (and take) the time to sign. it is greatly appreciated.

happy thanksgiving!

1975 topps dodger 1978 topps dodgers

2011-11-23T15:45:00.112-06:00

here are the dodgers that were dodgers on their 1975 topps cards and then went on to be dodgers on their 1978 topps cards. make sense? we'll start with the penguin, ron cey

looking good in dodger stadium and with his all-star star on the card. cey was voted to start at third base for the national league again in 1975, going 1 for 3 in the game. on the season, he hit .283 with 25 home runs and he drove in over 100 runs for the first time in his career. he hit 2 home runs in 2 straight games in august, after having a walk-off job earlier in the month.

here's the garv

like cey, garvey gets the all-star star for the first time in his career, having been the write-in starter for the nl at first base in the 1974 midsummer classic. garvey also got two other cards in the 1975 set, one by way of his winning the 1974 national league mvp award

and another thanks to a double in the nlcs against the pirates

garvey was the starter for the nl in the 1975 all-star game as well, and he was 2 for 3 with a solo home run in the contest. he lost out in the game's mvp voting to the combo of bill madlock, who hit a 2-run go-ahead single in the 9th, and jon matlack who pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the win. in the regular season, garvey started his consecutive games streak, had 210 hits, a .319 average and won his second straight gold glove. his 18th and final home run of the season was a walk-off job against jr richard and the astros, in a rare dodger victory against the astros' right-hander.

knuckleballer charlie hough looks good in dodger stadium on his 1975 card

he was saddled with more losses (7) than wins (3) but had a good era of 2.95 in 38 games. he also managed 4 saves. hough allowed only 3 home runs, two of which were to the astros' cliff johnson.

tommy john got a card in the 1975 set

but didn't appear in any games that year, as he was rehabbing from ligament replacement surgery.

lee lacy played in 1975

and he played well. he spent time at second, short, and all three outfield positions. he posted a .314 average over 101 games and even hit the first 7 home runs of his career. after the season, lacy would become the first 1978 topps dodger to leave the dodgers as he was traded to the braves in the dusty baker deal. obviously, he would return.

here's dave lopes

lopes scored 108 runs and stole a league-leading 77 bases in 1975. that's cool because it guaranteed lopes a second card in the 1976 set. he also set a record by stealing 32 consecutive bases (he later extended the streak to 38), which would also be good for another card in the 1976 set.
manny mota won't get a second card in a topps set until 1980. here's his 1975 card

mota hit .265 in 52 games in 1975. of course, most of his plate appearances came as a pinch hitter, 49 of 59 to be exact. mota was 10 for 40 in that role, with 4 walks, 3 sacrifices, and 2 at bats in which he was hit by a pitch.
i am pretty sure mota pinch hit for doug rau at some point

nice to see those holman field bleachers, by the way. rau had one of his best seasons in 1975. he was 15-9 with a 3.11 era and 1.12 whip. he pitched a career high 257.2 innings and struck out a career hit 151 batters. rau also had a couple of 3-hitters and a 2-hit shutout on the season.

rick rhoden made his first appearance in a topps set in 1975

rhoden pitched in 4 games in 1974, winning his only decision. in 1975, he made 11 starts and 15 relief appearances, posting a record of 3-3 along the way. he pitched his first career complete game against the reds in september, beating them 5-2.
bill russell missed a good chunk of the 1975 season due to injury

he played in just over half of the dodgers' games, and hit only .206.

don sutton made 35 starts in 1975

he lowered his era by a third of a run to 2.87, but his record didn't improve in a corresponding fashion - he went 16-13 after his 19-9 1974 season. still, sutton's 1.04 whip led the league, and he finished in the top 5 in the cy young award voting for the 4th straight season. his season included a string of 6 straight complete games, including games in which he struck out 10 and 11 batters. prior to that streak, he also threw back-to-back complete games, one of which was a one-hitter against the reds. the only hit in that game was a 7th inning johnny bench home run.
steve yeager started 130 games for the dodgers at catcher in 1975

he hit .228 with 12 home runs and had over 100 hits for the only time in his career.

so, the past couple of posts have given us the 1978 topps dodgers, as they were in 1975.

here's the evolutionary tally so far:

23/27 members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured by topps in 1975

total appearances:

baker 5 (1971-1975)
cey 4 (1972-1975)
davalillo 12 (1963-1974)
forster 4 (1972-1975)
garman 4 (1971-1973, 1975)
garvey 5 (1971-1975)
goodson 3 (1973-1975)
grote 12 (1964-1975)
hooton 4 (1972-1975)
hough 4 (1972-1975)
john 12 (1964-1975)
lacy 3 (1973-1975)
lasorda 3 (1954, 1973-1974)
lopes 3 (1973-1975)
martinez 5 (1971-1975)
monday 9 (1967-1975)
mota 13 (1963-1975)
oates 4 (1972-1975)
rau 3 (1973-1975)
rhoden 1 (1975)
russell 6 (1970-1975)
smith 9 (1967-1975)
sosa 2 (1974-1975)
sutton 10 (1966-1975)
yeager 3 (1973-1975)

teams represented so far:

16 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants)

1975 topps non-dodger 1978 topps dodgers

2011-11-23T07:55:00.110-06:00

things are starting to come together. the players that will become dodgers in topps' 1978 set are starting to gather in advance of some trades that will send them to la.

first up in 1975, here's dusty baker.

baker spent his final year in atlanta patrolling right field. he hit 19 homers with 72 rbi and a .261 average. he twice hit two home runs in a game. the second time he achieved that feat, both home runs came at the expense of the pirates' jim rooker. baker didn't homer again for almost two weeks, when he took rooker deep once again. after the season, the dodgers would acquire dusty and ed goodson in a deal for lee lacy, tom paciorek, jim wynn, and jerry royster.
terry forster got two cards in the 1975 set. here's his base card

and here's the league leader card he shared with the dodgers' mike marshall

after a good year in 1974, forster missed a good portion of the 1975 season due to an arm injury. he pitched in only 17 games, going 3-3 with a 2.19 era and 4 saves. he also made a single start in his final appearance of the season, which was perhaps a sign of things to come for him in '76.
mike garman made a triumphant return to the topps set in 1975, this time on his own and as a cardinal

after the 1973 season, he was traded by the red sox to the redbirds, and he spent the 1974 season in the cardinals' bullpen. he was back there in 1975, too, and posted similar numbers. in both seasons, he appeared in over 60 games (64 in 1974 and 66 in 1976) and threw about 80 innings (81.2 and 79, respectively). he lowered his era from 2.64 in '74 to 2.39 in '75, but his record worsened as he went from 7-2 his first year in st. louis to 3-8 in his second year there. after the season, he was traded to the cubs, where he would stay until al campanis came calling.
i guess i was wrong when i said things were coming together, as ed goodson is still shown as a giant in the 1975 set, despite being traded by the braves to the dodgers after the season ended

it makes sense, though, because goodson wasn't acquired by the braves until june of '75 when they sent shortstop craig robinson to the no-cals. goodson was hitting .207 with a home run and 8 rbi at the time of the trade. after the trade, he hit .211 with a home run and 8 rbi. perhaps interesting only to me, both home runs came off of guys name gary (gentry and nolan).
jerry grote was celebrating mo-vember back on his 1975 topps card

grote followed up his 1974 all-star season by tying his career high in hits with 114, and he did it in just 119 games. as a result, he finished the season with a .295 average. as always, he fielded his position well and threw out 34% of the base runners who attempted to steal against him. one of his two home runs on the season came off of future teammate burt hooton.
speaking of which, here is hooton's 1975 topps card

in 1975, hooton only spent about a month in chicago before the cubs traded him to the dodgers. at the time, hooton was 0-2 in 3 starts with an era over 8. the dodgers got him for eddie solomon and geoff zahn, and he went 18-7 for them the rest of the way. hooton threw 12 complete games and had 4 shutouts to go along with his 2.82 era as a dodger. three of those shutouts were 3-hitters, and the other was a 2-hit gem. not a bad deal that trader al pulled off.
ted martinez did not play for the mets in 1975

he started the season with the cardinals after he was acquired by them in december of 1974. in may, after appearing in 16 games and hitting .190 for them, the cards sent martinez to the a's. he hit only .172 for oakland, but did get a spot on their postseason roster. unfortunately, their three-year reign as world champions came to an end as they lost to the red sox in the alcs. martinez was 0 for 3 in the series.
rick monday spent 1975 with the cubs, and therefore did not make the postseason

monday's home run total fell for the second year in a row, but he still scored 89 runs and drove in 60, which was a career high at that point for him.

johnny oates was another short-timer with the team he represented in the 1975 set

the braves sent oates to the phillies in may of 1975 with dick allen who had refused to recognize the trade that had sent him to atlanta. oates hit .282 in 1975, with all but 4 of his 81 hits coming with the phillies. he also hit a home run, the tenth of his career.
here's reggie smith actually in a cardinals uniform, unlike the image on his 1974 topps card

he's got a little oscar gamble going on, too. he had a good season, hitting 19 home runs and driving in 76 runs while topping .300 for the third year in a row with a .302 batting average. he was also named to the all-star team, and went 1 for 2 with a run scored in the national league's victory. smith replaced jim wynn in the 5th inning, and wound up hitting between steve garvey and ron cey in the lineup. who knew? one of smith's home runs came against the cubs and was hit off of geoff zahn in his first appearance after being acquired in the burt hooton trade. that's another little tidbit that is probably interesting only to me.
finally, we have another cardinal, elias sosa.

sosa is wearing reggie smith's hat from 1974, as he was acquired from the giants in a postseason deal. however, he was only a cardinal for a short time in 1975, as they sent him to the braves in a late may deal. he was 0-3 as a cardinal, and then went 2-2 with the braves. he also registered a couple of saves in atlanta. 1 of the 6 home runs he served up in 1975 was hit by former (and future) teammate, reggie smith.

when 1976 rolls around, some of these non-dodger 1978 topps dodgers will find themselves in dodger blue. stay tuned.

2011 was a good year for dodger stadium, on cardboard anyway

2011-11-22T07:55:00.024-06:00

we know that the fans stayed away from dodger stadium in droves as the 2011 season progressed, and i was no exception. of course, i was only in socal for a short time this summer and probably couldn't have made it to a game if i wanted to. still, i was able to enjoy chavez ravine vicariously through three different topps 2011 releases. first, here's a card from topps attax.

this is a recent photo - meaning it's from the mccourt era - as the new dugout seats are visible. there used to be a lot more foul territory.
next is a card from 2011 topps heritage

i like this card for a couple of reasons. it's an angle of dodger stadium that is not usually shown, and the text bars at the bottom of the card kind of replicate the different colored levels of dodger stadium seating.

lastly, there is the card from the topps dodger team set

now this is a view that we don't often see. it's almost more about downtown than the stadium. i would sometimes head up to the top of the park during a night game to check out the view behind the stadium, and this card reminds me of that, except that it's not a night card.

so thank you topps, for giving me three solid peeks at dodger stadium this year. it's better than 2010, when all you gave me was the coliseum

which, while quirky, lacks the style of the dodgers' permanent home.

here's to you, dodger stadium - a new owner and sellout crowds - as long as the dodger dogs are grilled and the organ is used more than the canned music, of course.

l.a. law

2011-11-21T07:55:00.019-06:00

rudy law is still involved with the dodgers, which is good to know. he found his way into tommy lasorda's doghouse at some point, and was shipped off to the american league. he returned to the southland at some point, and now makes various appearances around town representing dodger blue.

law was the first player i remember seeing in a minor league uniform on a big league card, thanks to his 1979 topps rookie card. that set had quite a few guys wearing their minor league hats, but i obviously think of law because he was a dodger prospect, sandwiched between pedro guerrero and joe simpson.

since this is pretty much a standard 'through the mail success' post, i'll cut to the chase. here are a bunch of cards that rudy law signed for me through the mail.

his aforementioned 1979 rookie card:

his 1981 donruss card

that may be my favorite of his cards. a nice bunt on a nice sunny dodger stadium day.
here's his 1981 fleer card

not sunny. and his 1981 topps card

beware the hatless pose, rudy! it means you're on your way out. and so he was. law was traded to the white sox during spring training in 1982. here's his 1984 donruss card

and finally, here's his card that should have been since he was a member of the 1978 dodgers

priceless. thanks rudy!

warning - overdue trade post - good thing this sushi doesn't spoil

2011-11-20T09:45:00.035-06:00

here are some cards i received in a trade with speigel, a fellow dodger enthusiast. leading off is a nice 2001 topps double play turn, courtesy of adam kennedy

the star of the card, however, is obviously dodger lurker fp santangelo. i don't think fp got a topps card of his own as a dodger, so it's especially appreciated.

1999 fleer si kevin brown

in transition. brown had signed his ridiculously long contract along with the private jet concessions when this card came out. how is it that i knew it would end badly for the dodgers, but the sheriff didn't? or was it still dan evans back then?

2007 bowman chrome spike lundberg

spike the dog, spike jones, spike jonze, spike mendelsohn... those are legitimate 'spikes'. not sure about this lundberg character.

2001 topps stars reggie abercrombie

abercrombie never made it to the bigs with the dodgers. they traded him away in 2004, and he surfaced as a major leaguer eventuallly for the marlins and astros.

1997 ud collector's choice wilton guerrero

sadly, not his brother vladimir. although, i also received this card

so i feel a little better. upper deck didn't have to show the whole continental united states, though, they could have just shown la and orange county. upon closer inspection, i see that they put a couple of dots in the southland. i guess that makes sense, but aren't rivals, by definition, in close geographical proximity to each other? it's not like vladdy and manny were rivals before they played for the angels and dodgers, right? i am overanalyzing a decently cool card. apologies.

last but not least, a 2010 bowman platinum clayton kershaw

lock him up, ned.

thanks speigel!

caught on tape

2011-11-19T18:30:00.001-06:00

i no longer buy packs. done. so, the topps update cards that i own mostly came from purchasing a team set/dodger insert lot on ebay. unfortunately for me, the matt kemp/jerry sands diamond duo card was not included in that lot. it was a card i wanted, and i had an order going in on sportlots, so i added it to my purchase.

it came in the mail a couple of weeks ago, along with a couple of other dodgers in a semi-rigid holder sealed with scotch tape. i will admit that i was careless in getting the cards out, and didn't notice that the tape was affixed to the card. i wound up tearing a nice little triangle to the right of sands.

i also use scotch tape sometimes to seal a team bag or maybe a toploader, but i am trying more and more to use painter's tape. however, i never use scotch tape across the top of a semi-rigid protector. there's no reason to.
i wound up picking up another copy of the card, free of tape.

now i can see the face of the thinker in the marlins dugout.

i'm still annoyed with myself. the card looks like one of those 1950's cards that was stuck in an album, except the tape induced tear is on the front instead of the back.

oh well. no use crying over ripped cardboard.

1984 fleer got along well with dodger stadium

2011-11-19T09:45:00.002-06:00

back in 1984, i got a sense of how yankee fans might have felt in 1978 with their stadium turning up as the background on so many cards of other teams' players. fleer photographers set up camp in chavez ravine and worked their craft. here's jim barr, standing in front of the screen behind home plate.

lee tunnell is standing in a similar spot, though not quite as close to the limits of foul territory behind the plate. he is distracted by something, perhaps a comely dodger usher in her skirt and fancy straw hat.

steve bedrosian is not the only, nor the first brave ( see len barker's 1984 fleer card) to be captured hanging out in dodger stadium

based on where he is standing, maybe lee tunnell was looking at bedrock and not an usher. weird.

terry forster returned to dodger stadium, sans chaff of wheat, on his 1984 fleer card

i understand that forster may be ill - here's hoping he's ok.

i don't know who scott holman is, but he gets an 'in action' shot on his card

similar to steve carlton's card. here's some more action, and another brave, it's bob horner

that glove belongs to steve yeager, mike scioscia or maybe even jack fimple.
the grinch, ed lynch, is almost smiling with the right-center field part of the pavilion behind him

much better than his 1987 topps card

lee mazzilli strikes a 1978 topps richie hebner pose, without the laid back smile

biff pocoroba, on the other hand, gets his squinty smile on

squinting, perhaps, to try to figure out what is going on behind manny sarmiento

someone should tell sarmiento that black mesh offers little protection when the photographer uses a flash. good thing he has an undershirt on.

here's the link to steve carlton's card i mentioned earlier. mike scott gets a similar look

while rod scurry celebrates movember in style.

finally, tom terrific looks terrific in dodger stadium.

i think seaver's 1982 fleer card also features the house that o'malley built. i don't know exactly how many cards in the 1984 fleer set feature dodger stadium as a backdrop, but i am sure there are more (i don't have a 1984 joe beckwith card scanned, but i know his card is one).

but fleer didn't stop there - they sent the photographers back out to dodger stadium to populate photos for their landmark 1984 traded set.
here's former dodger johnnie b. baker

who returned to the stadium in the enemy's clothing. boo, hiss.
ron darling may have been standing next to ed lynch

he and scott proctor are two pitchers i can think of quickly that wore number 44, traditionally a hitter's number. are there others?

ron hassey - finally a card not featuring a brave, met or pirate

it looks like there is a dodger lurking behind hassey in the visitor's dugout. i can't quite figure it out, but it might be gilberto reyes. there's a name from the ether.
future dodger ricky horton gets his squint on

his 1989 topps card had him revisiting the stadium, with a prettier background. i'll have to show that card soon.
back to the braves with brad komminsk

in all my visits to dodger stadium, i never made it to the stadium club restaurant (the windowed level behind komminsk). as a youngster, i didn't understand the draw to sitting in a restaurant instead of out in the sun with a dodger dog. i still don't, really.
speaking of which, the dude behind jerry martin has probably already eaten 2 dogs and downed a bud or two

he's also checking out an usher.
gerald perry

and gene richards strike similar (curious?) poses

they feel the heat, the heat between me and you. yes, i just worked a 'when doves cry' lyric into this post. not that any of you are still reading at this point.
here's one of the jeff robinsons.

not sure which one. i guess it's jeff d, since jeff m didn't break into the league until 1987.
former dodger rick sutcliffe paid a visit to the stadium when he returned from his banishment to the american league

security wouldn't let him get near tommy lasorda's office this time, however.

here's alex trevino, who in a couple of years would be wearing dodger blue, with maybe the nicest background of them all

palm trees!
finally, mike vail

wearing dodger blue in dodger stadium!

not a 'brut' sign to be seen anywhere. take that, yankee stadium.