filling in the gilliams

this is jim gilliam's 1964 topps card

it's also his last topps card (as a player), and for good reason.  gilliam joined the dodger coaching staff following the 1964 season.  however, the team, and particularly the infielders (john kennedy and dick traczewski) that were supposed to replace gilliam faltered, and buzzie bavasi reactivated junior from the coaching squad.

gilliam played for two more years, helping the dodgers reach the world series in both of those seasons.  not that topps noticed.  so, here is a 1965 topps jim gilliam card that should have been

i used the photo from his 1962 topps card, which is a bit of a throwback, but topps has done that same sort of thing before.  the 1966 topps card that should have been

is very similar to one created by cards that never were.

i didn't do a back, but here is what would have been gilliam's final tribute - a 1967 topps card that should have been

it's not the best photo, but i liked the backdrop of dodger stadium.  it would have been nice to see dodger stadium in the background of some of those cards from the 1960's. topps did get the los angeles coliseum (the dodgers' home prior to moving to chavez ravine) on some 1959 cards, so why weren't they able to do the same for dodger stadium?

gilliam returned to coaching after the 1966 world series, and he appears on the manager/coaches cards in the 1973 and 1974 topps sets, but he should have had more cards as a player than he did.

a dodger memorial patch for mac

don mcmahon enjoyed an 18-year big league career as a reliever with the milwaukee braves, houston colt .45's, cleveland indians, boston red sox, chicago white sox, detroit tigers, and san francisco giants.  he began his major league service in 1957, and promptly helped the braves win the pennant as they went on to beat the yankees in the world series.  mcmahon pitched well in the fall classic, but the braves  lost all three of the games in which he pitched.  in fact, mcmahon's team lost every postseason game in which he appeared, which included the 1958 world series (the yankees beat mcmahon's braves), the 1968 world series (mcmahon's tigers still won the championship), and the 1971 nlcs (as a giant).  weird.  here's mcmahon's 1966 topps card.

in all, mcmahon pitched in 874 games (872 as a reliever), and had a record of 90-68 with 153 saves and a 2.96 era.  these numbers included service with the giants in 1973 and 1974 when he was also their pitching coach.  mcmahon remained the club's pitching coach through 1975 before taking the same position with the twins for three years.  he was back with the giants in the early 1980's, and then coached the indians from 1983 through 1985.  at that point, mcmahon was hired by the dodgers as their 'eye in the sky' scout who also threw early batting practice.  it was during a bp session at dodger stadium on july 22, 1987 when mcmahon suffered a fatal heart attack.

for the remainder of the season, the dodgers wore a black memorial patch on their right sleeves with mcmahon's nickname 'mac' in white letters.  here's the patch on one of the dodger relievers from that team, tim crews, courtesy of his 1988 donruss card

with a nice dodger stadium backdrop.

mickey hatcher's 1988 donruss card also shows the patch 

as does phil garner's 1988 score card

pedro guerrero (standing next to fernando valenzuela) is wearing the patch on this 1988 topps dodgers leaders card

and it's fernando's turn on this 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card

perhaps the best example of the patch is seen on glenn hoffman's 1988 topps card

which was the easy choice for my memorials binder.  until, that is, i came across this orel hershiser card from the same fleer box set as the fernando above.

a card featuring a photo from a dodger batting practice session seems appropriate for mac's memorial.

only 57 when he died, mcmahon was survived by his wife and six children and a mournful dodger organization.

the last dodger pitcher to win the mvp award was sandy koufax

by my count, there have been 10 pitchers who have won the national league mvp award.  three of them were dodgers - dazzy vance (ok, he was a brooklyn robin), don newcombe, and sandy koufax.  koufax won in 1963, and then finished 2nd in 1965 (to willie mays) and in 1966 (to roberto clemente in a very close vote).  

let's see some koufax cards in honor of the most valuable player award - the 2014 winners of which will be announced later today

here's koufax with his right-handed compatriot don drysdale making a tony cloninger sandwich on a 1966 topps league leaders card

and here's koufax sharing space again, although this time it's with ryan braun on a 2011 topps update diamond duos card.

here's a card from 2012 topps that recognizes his effort in game 1 of the 1963 world series

koufax struck out 15 yankees that day.  a few days later, he struck out 8 more to complete the dodgers' sweep.

i've had this short print of koufax from 2012 topps archives for awhile

there's next year's heritage design.

koufax had a couple of cards in 2014 topps allen & ginter as well - here's his pastime's pastimes insert

koufax's pastime is listed as 'actor'

which was not uncommon for the dodgers of the late 1960's/early 1970's.  the don drysdale and wes parker episodes of 'the brady bunch' were two of my favorites. those and the hawaii trip episodes featuring vincent price.

here's koufax's base card from this year's ginter

in his mvp season, koufax won the pitching triple crown with 25 wins, a 1.88 era, and 306 strikeouts.  he also led the league in shutouts and whip.  meanwhile, clayton kershaw led the league in wins and era in 2014, falling just 3 strikeouts behind stephen strasburg and johnny cueto. we'll see later today if kershaw joins dazzy, newk, and sandy as a league mvp.  i'm betting that he does.

more random cards from the scanned folder

i'm doing some spring cleaning (although it's still winter here) of my scanned folder.  enjoy the randomness.

1961 topps nl batting leaders

that's quite a collection of players - two hall of famers, plus dick groat and the dodgers' norm larker.  groat hit .300 or better a few other times, but 1960 was the only season that larker surpassed that mark, missing the league title by just one hit. still, to be featured on a card with willie mays and roberto clemente is a pretty good consolation.

1966 topps derrell griffith

a young robin williams makes an appearance.  or, if you prefer, glenn quamire.  giggity.  griffith played in parts of four seasons for the dodgers, who won the pennant in three of those years, but he did not appear in any postseason games.

1979 hostess burt hooton

hooton was coming off a 19-win season and a second place finish in the cy young voting when this card came out.  still, i was paying more attention to tommy john, don sutton, and bobby welch fan at the time.

1981 topps steve garvey (back)

i'm not sure why i scanned the back of this card, but look at that run of hit totals from 1974 through 1980!

1985 topps mike scioscia

bracing for impact, no doubt.

1995 score cory snyder

technically, this card is a final tribute, although the corndog did spend some time in the minors with the red sox and padre organizations after the strike ended in 1995.  1994 was the last time he saw big league action, however, and he did it as a dodger.  the highlight of his final season was easily his 3-home run/7 rbi game against the pirates in april.

2004 leaf certified materials don sutton 'k force'

i used to watch 'battle of the planets' which had g-force protecting us from the evil of zoltar and planet spectra. too bad this wasn't a 'g force' card - sutton is currently 7th all-time in k's, but 3rd all-time in g's (games started, that is).

2005 fleer ultra eric gagne

gagne broke the dodgers' cy young drought in 2003 - they hadn't had a winner since 1988, which was the longest drought in franchise history.  they had been the only team to have a cy young award winner in each decade until they were shut out in the 1990's.  just like they were shut out in world series appearances that decade for the first time since the 1930's.

2005 fleer ultra milton bradley gold medal edition

that's one heckuva rounded corner!

card show recap, part one. with a contest!

over the course of a few posts,  i am going to recap the card show i went to last saturday.  at the end, i will list all the cards i purchased and ask for guesses as to how much i spent.  i am comfortable with what i spent, i am just curious as to what you all think.  the closest guess will win some cards from a team of their choice.  i will also ask for guesses on each post.  again, the closest will get some cards from a team of their choice.  these will all be pre-1980 cards, unless you are a fan of the rockies, marlins, rays, or diamondbacks.

let's start with the first dealer i went to.  this was the guy that sold me the koufax rookie last year.  he had a bunch of stuff that he picked up at the national on his vintage bargain table.  plus, he offered to buy folks a hot dog and soda.  you see, he sends out emails prior to the shows he attends locally, and noted at the bottom of his most recent (and lengthy) email that he would treat those who actually read the whole thing to a hot dog and soda.  i mentioned it after we settled up on cards, but declined the offer since it was only about 9:30 in the morning.

here's what i took from his loose vintage bargain table

1956 topps johnny temple

1956 topps eddie o'brien

because they are double play cards.  that temple card is sharp.  at first, i was certain that i already had the o'brien card.  then i realized that it looked familiar because bob lemke used it to create the 1956 topps bill mazeroski card that should have been.

1959 topps frank torre

maybe for a trade?

1963 topps tommy davis

1963 topps dave stenhouse
1963 topps chuck cottier
1963 topps bud zipfel
1966 topps mike brumley
1966 topps dp combo - schofield and lanier
1966 topps jim lefebvre

1966 topps don mossi

1966 topps don mcmahon

1966 topps clete boyer
1966 topps gene mauch
1966 topps howie koplitz

most of those cards are for patp.  the tommy davis might be an upgrade for me, and i just can't leave a 1966 topps jim lefebvre card on a bargain table (although i did leave about 5 others there in the stack).  and the don mossi, well, it's the ears!

1961 topps harry bright
1961 post jim gilliam

my first 1961 post card.  not the only one i picked up that day, however.

1970 topps bill mazeroski
1971 topps tim mccarver

the maz might be an upgrade for my set, and the mccarver is for my 1971 topps set which i need to re-focus on.  plus i can consider this my 'good riddance' post to the retiring mccarver.

so.  what do you think those 19 cards cost me?  place a guess in the comments.  the second post will be up later tonight.

the evolution of the dodger third baseman, part 2

first things first - there is still 1 slot open (at least there was about an hour ago) in my inaugural group break.  go here and join the fun with some 1983 fleer stickers!

now then.  this is the second installment of the revolving door that was and is the dodgers' third base position.  the first group of guys can be found here.  the funny thing about this is that while i was able as a youngster to quickly link bill russell to maury wills to pee wee reese, and steve garvey to wes parker to gil hodges, and davey lopes to jim lefebvre to jim gilliam to jackie robinson, i couldn't figure out how to get from ron cey back to the brooklyn days.  this post helps illustrate young gcrl's confusion.

john kennedy (1966)

kennedy appeared at third base in 87 games for the dodgers in 1966.  he started 52 games there, and had only 32 complete games at the hot corner that year.  jim gilliam, the previous primary third baseman, appeared in only 70 games at third in 1966 (his final season).  gilliam also started there 52 times, and he actually had 1 more complete game than kennedy at the position.  i gave the nod to kennedy, though, because he had about 15 more innings at third than did gilliam.  besides, gilliam didn't have any cards beyond 1964 (a situation i should rectify).

after all that, kennedy hit only .201 in 1966 with 3 homers and 24 rbi in 125 games played.  he did get one of the few (17) hits that the dodgers managed in the 1966 world series against the orioles, but was dealt to the yankees prior to the 1967 season.

jim lefebvre (1967)

frenchy took over at third in 1967 after having made 34 starts there the previous year.  the 1965 nl rookie of the year made 89 starts there in '67 and hit .261 with 8 homers and 50 rbi over the course of the season.  in 1968, he was back to being primarily a second baseman.

bob bailey (1968)

acquired by the dodgers in the maury wills trade with the pirates, bailey had split time at third with lefebvre in '67 (he made 65 starts there in 1966) and wasn't technically the full-time third baseman in 1968 either.  he started 88 games there however, so that makes him the guy in my book.

oddly enough, bailey hit .227 (73 for 322) in both of his seasons with the dodgers.  he did manage to double his home run output from 4 in 1967 to 8 in '68, but he was taken by the expansion montreal expos after the 1968 season ended.

others to spend time at third for the dodgers in 1968 included lefebvre, paul popovich, ken boyer, luis alcaraz, and bill sudakis, who took over the majority of the playing time in 1969.

bill sudakis (1969)

sudakis appeared in 132 games in 1969 - all as a third baseman.  well, that's not correct - he had 11 appearances as a pinch hitter, but the rest of his games included 118 starts at third.  he hit 14 homers with 53 rbi and a .234 batting average.

it looked like maybe, just maybe, the dodgers had found their third baseman.  instead, sudakis split time between third and behind the plate in 1970, while another youngster took his turn as the dodgers' third baseman.

billy grabarkewitz (1970)

hey - a 1971 kellogg's card!  you can see that billy g earned breakfast cereal super star status thanks to his 1970 campaign.  he made the all-star team after a torrid start to the season, and wound up hitting .289 with 17 homers and 84 rbi when it was all said and done.  he appeared in 156 games, which included 95 starts at third base.  he also played some shortstop and second base, but injuries and the emergence of the other infielders severely cut into his playing time. as did the arrival of dick allen.  sorry - rich allen.

rich allen (1971)

allen (shown on his 1971 o-pee-chee card) gets the nod here over steve garvey by virtue of a single inning.  in '71, allen played 561.2 innings as the dodgers' third baseman while garvey served there for 560.2 innings.  allen made 65 starts at third and had two additional appearances there as well.  garvey started 60 of 79 appearances as a third baseman in 1971, but even though he made more appearances, allen logged more time.  barely.

overall, allen hit .295 with 23 homers and 90 rbi in 155 games.  after the season, he was traded to the white sox for tommy john, and went on to win the 1972 al mvp award - while playing first base.

steve garvey (1972)

it was weird for me as a youngster see a card of garvey with a fielder's glove on (that's his 1971 o-pee-chee card, by the way), but the dodgers were eager to get his bat into the lineup and third base seemed like a reasonable spot.  after allen was traded, garvey started in 73 of 85 games at third base. he appeared in a total of 96 games and saw action at first base in 3 of them for the first time in his career.  he hit .269 with 9 home runs and 30 rbi, but most significant, perhaps, are the 28 errors he made at the hot corner.  that made it clear that someone else needed to play at third, and the dodgers had just the guy for the job.

ron cey (1973-1982)

another kellogg's card (that's cey's 1977 issue)!  the penguin took over at third in 1973 and didn't give the spot up until he was traded to the cubs after the 1982 season.  over those 10 seasons, cey never played anywhere but third, and he averaged 147 games per season, along with 23 homers and 84 rbi.  i'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

pedro guerrero (1983-1984 (first half))

petey was a guy without a position.  like garvey, the dodgers needed to find a way to get his bat into the lineup.  he had settled in right field after the injuries to, and eventual departure of, reggie smith, but with cey gone he was handed the keys to the hot corner.  he wound up starting at third in 156 of the 160 games in which he played, and he had a huge offensive year as well.  32 home runs, 102 rbi, and a .298 batting average got him his second all-star berth and a 4th place finish in the league mvp race.  he led the dodgers back to the playoffs, but they couldn't get past the phillies.

in 1984, guerrero began the season as the dodgers' third baseman, but he had hit only 6 home runs to go along with a .277 average when july rolled around, and he was moved back to the outfield.  so, the dodgers had two primary third basemen in 1984 - a different scenario than the platoons of the 1960's - but you'll need to wait for the third installment to find out who it was.

what if they held the biggest card show of the year and i didn't show up?

this weekend is the biggest card show of the year in the twin cities (outside of twinsfest).  it attracts vendors from all over the region and beyond (plus mr. mint at least once).  it's the show where one dealer had boxes of 1975 topps minis and there were vintage bargain bins all over the place.

i had planned to go tonight and pick up a 1956 topps duke snider card to complete my '56 dodgers team set.  that's because earlier in the week i picked up this beauty of a card:

a 1956 topps roy campanella card.  it is a really nice looking card - one i have wanted for a long time.

as far as the show goes, i don't think i will be able to swing it.  the past two years i have gone on friday night when it opens, and i know i can't be there tonight.  tomorrow, the likes of frank robinson, pete rose, cal ripken jr, johnny bench, and eddie murray are signing autographs, but i won't be able to be there then, either.  on sunday, there is a slim chance that i could get there shortly before the thing closes at 4, so i guess i will go with the same refrain that dodger fans used back during the early part of campy's career - wait 'til next year.

so instead of that duke snider card, i'll show some other vintage cards.  these are some of the cards that i've picked up over the last couple of years but haven't figured out how to fit into a post.  problem solved.

1960 topps bob aspromonte

this was one of the last few 1960 cards i needed.  it's numbered in the 500's (547) and usually goes for a few bucks.  i put it off for as long as i could.  i think i used some 'ebay bucks' to finally acquire it.

1961 topps frank howard 

that's the card of the reigning nl rookie of the year who was also a member of topps' all-rookie team, but hondo got jobbed out of his rookie cup (which was actually a trophy back in 1961).  teammate tommy davis has the trophy on his card, but for some reason, topps left it off of howard's.  i believe that he is the only member of the all-rookie team to not get the trophy on his card.

1962 topps duke snider

here's the silver fox on his final topps card as a dodger.  luckily for me, his 1963 topps card (which is a high number) lists him as a member of the mets so i don't 'have' to bother.  this is a nice card for duke to go out on - a pensive look from within the walls of the coliseum.

1963 topps johnny podres

i should be on the lookout for an upgrade here.  podres' card is one of the few (moose skowron's is another that comes to mind) dodger card from 1963 to have the blue bottom.  i like it better than the more prevalent green or red.

1965 topps john roseboro

roseboro's card has that weird blue border up top.  i've never seen one that was orange all the way around.  by the way, i am very excited for next year's heritage release.  very excited.

1966 topps willie davis

the 3-dog here is a high number (535), so it took me a while to track down at a price i was willing to pay.  the corners are a bit soft, but it fits in my collection nicely.  now if only i could find a photo of davis in an angels' uniform, i could get to making that final tribute card that he never got.

1970 topps maury wills

this card, of course, is wills' first official topps card as a dodger (he's on one of the 1959 world series recap cards in the 1960 set).  which reminds me - a while ago i posted all of the topps cards that should have been of the 1962 league mvp and asked if there were any similar cards folks wanted to see.  three people responded so i'll probably take a stab at making each of the cards that they requested.  they are:

a 1951 or 1952 card of artie wilson (padrographs)
a 1983 card of harold reynolds (mariner1)
a 1979 card of jim bouton (dayf)

but, since a 1968 topps deckle edge wills was at stake, i need to designate a winner.  random.org tells me that the card goes to...

...dayf.

i'll get something thrown together sometime soon.