los angeles dodger managerial autographs managed

the los angeles dodgers have had only 9 managers in their 58-year history. compare that to the marlins, who have employed 13 managers (including two interim guys with just one game apiece) in their 23 years of existence.  all but one of the la dodger managers are still with us, and so obtaining autographs from each is not too difficult.

i've finally found the final piece to this collection, and so i will now display a complete set of la dodger manager autographed dodger cards.

1968 topps team (walt alston)

smokey passed away in 1984, so this card is obviously one that i purchased.  he first started managing the dodgers in 1954, and he won a total of 7 pennants and 4 world series, with 5 of those pennants and 3 of the world series titles coming in los angeles.  alston was at the helm for 2040 dodger wins - most all-time - and is enshrined in the hall of fame.  he gave way at the end of the 1976 season to tommy lasorda.

1978 topps tom lasorda

tommy signed this card for me through the mail, which was fantastic.  from the last four games of the 1976 season until his heart attack during the 1996 season, lasorda's dodgers won 1599 games, 4 pennants, and two world series titles, and lasorda himself was twice named the national league manager of the year.  he is second behind alston on the franchise's all-time managerial wins list, and he, too, is in the baseball hall of fame.  following the aforementioned heart attack in 1996, lasorda retired and bill russell took over.

1987 topps bill russell

like lasorda, russell signed this card (a final tribute) through the mail.  there is one card of him as a manager, and it comes from the 1997 mother's dodgers set.  i will try to get that one signed, but i don't believe ropes is signing through the mail anymore.  anyway, russell took over for lasorda in 1996 and led the team to a wild card berth. they were swept in the nlds, and were out of the playoff picture the following year which was russell's only full season at the helm of the club.  after 74 games in 1998, russell was fired by the fox regime about a month after the mike piazza trade.  it was the first time since leo durocher was relieved of his duties in 1948 that a dodger manager was fired during the season.  russell's 173 wins as the dodger skipper puts him 17th on the franchise list, and his winning percentage of .537 is good enough for 9th all-time (7th if we ignore interim managers clyde sukeforth and ray blades who won all three games they managed).  russell was replaced by glenn hoffman

1988 topps glenn hoffman

hoffman is (currently) the last of the former dodger players to manage the club.  he signed his 1988 topps card for me through the mail, and i may try to get him to sign a 1998 mother's dodgers card as well - it's the only one of him as a big league manager.  hoffman's dodgers finished out the 1998 season with 47 wins in 88 games, and those wins are the 25th most (out of 31) among the franchise's managers.  his .534 winning percentage puts him at 11th (or 9th), just a tick ahead of joe torre.  after the 1998 season, the fox boys were looking for a name, and they hired davey johnson to be the dodger manager.

2001 topps davey johnson

once again, the dodger manager in question signed a card for me through the mail.  johnson's debut as the dodger manager was a game for the ages.  on opening day, raul mondesi hit a 3-0 pitch into the stands for a game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the 9th, and then hit a two-run homer to walk-off the diamondbacks in the bottom of the 11th.  good times.  johnson wound up managing the team for two years, and the dodgers were 163-161 during his tenure (163 wins puts johnson 19th among the franchise's managers).  in 2000, they finished well behind the giants for second place in the nl west, and were 8 behind the mets for the wild card, and so johnson was fired after the season ended.  jim tracy was hired to take over.

2002 topps jim tracy

this is another through the mail autograph success, by the way.  tracy managed to manage the dodgers for five seasons, with the team winning 93 games and the nl west in 2004. although they lost to the cardinals in the nlds that year, they did win their first postseason game since 1988 (thanks to lima time!).  overall, tracy's dodgers were 427-384, and if it weren't for an awful 2005 season (you'll not be able to convince me that tracy wasn't trying to get fired that year - the second worst season for any la dodger team), his winning percentage would have been better. tracy ranks 6th all-time in wins for the franchise, behind five hall of famers, but he will probably be passed by don mattingly later this season.  the dodgers hired grady little to replace tracy following the 2005 season.

2007 topps grady little

i had to purchase this signed card.  

*update* little returned my ttm request after a fair amount of time with both his 2007 topps card 

and 2006 upper deck card 

signed.  very happy to have this success! *end update*

little's 170 wins in his two seasons as the team's manager puts him right between bill russell and davey johnson on the franchise's all-time list.  the dodgers won the wild card in 2006, but were swept in the nlds, and then finished 3rd in 2007.  little resigned as the team's manager after the 2007 season as it seemed apparent that frank mccourt wanted to hire joe torre to take over.

2009 topps joe torre

hall of fame manager torre, who signed this card through the mail, came aboard and led the club to two straight nl west titles and national league championship series berths.  the team faltered in 2010, however, and torre retired after that season. his 259 wins are 12th best among the franchise's managers, and his winning percentage is sandwiched by hoffman's and little's on the leader board. torre's bench coach, don mattingly, was picked to be his successor.

2014 topps heritage don mattingly

this card was the final card i needed for this post.  i had previously received a couple of signed mattingly cards through the mail with some help from reader cory, but i wanted a card of mattingly in dodger gear signed as well.  turns out i had to buy one.  mattingly is the current dodger skipper, and he has the team in first place this year, his fifth at the helm.  the team has won the nl west and made the postseason each of the last two years under mattingly, and they made it to the nlcs in 2013.  mattingly currently ranks 7th in managerial wins and tenure for the franchise, but should pass jim tracy in both of those categories by game 2 of the 2016 season.  after that, he's looking up at five hall of famers - alston, lasorda, wilbert robinson, durocher, and ned hanlon.  that's not bad managerial company.

a random sampling of dodger cards

you might recognize ron hunt

and paul popovich

from yesterday's first installment in the dodgers' second baseman evolution series.  the popovich especially, as his 1969 topps card shown above uses the same photo as his 1968 topps card which i used in the aformentioned post.  at least hunt's 1968 topps card at the top of the post is completely different from his 1967 topps issue that i showed yesterday, although his dazed and confused look doesn't make for the best card.

i've got too many cards scanned and ready to go that don't really have a purpose.  here's the guy who caught the last out of the 1981 world series, ken landreaux, on his 1987 donruss card

1987 was landreaux's final big league season (and he was with the dodgers until the end of the year), but neither fleer nor donruss issued a card of him in 1988.  donruss did issue a card of dave anderson in 1988, however

which made sense because he was still very active, although he lost the starting shortstop job that year to newcomer alfredo griffin, seen here on his 1988 score card

griffin hit only .199 in '88, but the dodgers won the world series, anyway.  two dodgers hit home runs in game 1 of the fall classic that year - mickey hatcher (shown here on his 1988 score card)

and kirk gibson (shown on a 1989 o-pee-chee sticker back)

gibby's was more dramatic, of course, and it probably took him ten times as long to round the bases than it did hatcher, who literally sprinted from home to home in the first inning.

another world series hero for the dodgers is tommy davis.  this 1993 ted williams card takes us back to 1963

when davis won the second of his back-to-back national league batting titles, but also hit .400 in the fall classic against the yankees.  he drove in the only run of game 3 in that series with a first inning single off of jim bouton - that was all don drysdale needed to set the dodgers up for a series sweep the next day.

raul mondesi, seen here on a 1995 fleer flair card,

never made it to the world series, but he was the first dodger player to go 30/30, and he did it twice.  he was my favorite dodger for a while, too.

i'll finish up this random post with jason phillips' 2005 topps chrome update & highlights card

phillips was one of jim tracy's 'ja(y)sons' of choice in 2005, along with werth, repko, and grabowski.  he spent time behind the plate and at first base that year, but left as a free agent after the season ended.

was that random enough for you?

the evolution of the dodger second baseman - beginning with jackie

just two positions left to review in my evolutionary posts.  this one is special to me because i spent most of my playing days at second base, and even though i was a steve garvey fan, i marveled at the dodger lineage at second base.  as a little leaguer, i traced it back from dave lopes to jim lefebvre to jim gilliam to jackie robinson.  i later learned that it wasn't quite that clean, but still.  at some point, it traces back to jackie, which is where i will start.  besides, it gives me a reason to show my 1952 topps jackie robinson card again, now freed from its plastic cage.

jackie robinson (1948-1952)

jackie was named the rookie of the year in 1947 when he was the dodgers' first baseman.  in 1948, brooklyn traded their second baseman, eddie stanky, to boston and gil hodges took over at first with jackie moving to second.  he stayed there for five seasons, winning the mvp award in 1949 and leading the league with a .342 average as well.

jim gilliam (1953-1957)

like jackie, gilliam was named the rookie of the year, but he won the award as the dodgers' second baseman in 1953.  that's his 1954 topps card - i unfortunately don't have a copy of his 1953 topps issue.  although gilliam also played some outfield in 1955 and 1956, he was the team's primary second baseman through 1957.  he finished fifth in the league mvp voting in 1956, when he hit .300 and helped the dodgers return to the world series.

charlie neal (1958-1961)

gilliam moved to the outfield in 1958 as the dodgers moved west, and so charlie neal moved from short to second.  he remained the dodgers' second baseman until he was traded to the mets following the 1961 season.  he made two all-star teams for the dodgers in his tenure as their second baseman, including the 1960 team as noted on his 1960 topps all-star card, and he also won the gold glove at the position in 1959.

jim gilliam (1962-1963)

with neal in new york, jim gilliam returned to the position in 1962, which is the year that the bell brand card shown above was issued.  he finished 6th in the mvp voting in 1963 as the team's second baseman, but once the world series came along, he moved to third base and dick tracewski played second in the dodgers' four game sweep of the yankees.

nate oliver (1964)

oliver was a second year player in 1964 when he hit .243 in 99 games and played more second base than any other dodger.  tracewski and gilliam also spent time at the position that season, but oliver started 97 contests there.  in 1965, however, he played second in only 2 games at the big league level.

jim lefebvre (1965-1966)

another dodger second baseman to win the rookie of the year award, lefebvre (shown on his 1965 topps rookie card) hit .250 with 12 homers en route to the honor.  he did better in 1966, hitting 24 homers with a .274 batting average while being named to the all-star team for the only time in his career.  he also began playing some third base, and spent most of the 1967 season at the hot corner.

ron hunt (1967)

hunt was acquired by the dodgers after the 1966 season from the mets in the tommy davis trade.  topps was abel to get him into the 1967 set as seen above, although the card is a bit of a high number (525).  he spent the 1967 season in los angeles before being traded to the giants prior to the 1968 campaign.  during his stint with the dodgers, hunt started 89 games at second base batting .263 while hitting 3 homers and driving in 33 runs.

paul popovich (1968)

with hunt going to the giants, the dodgers turned to popovich, an offseason acquisition from the cubs, to man second base in 1968.  his 1968 topps card there identifies him as an infielder, and he lived up to that billing by playing second, short, and third in '68.  still, his 80 starts at second base is what qualifies him for a spot in the team's evolutionary chain.  he hit only .232 on the season, and was traded to the expos early in the 1969 season, meaning that the merry-go-round of dodger second basemen would continue...

jim fairey was a dodger double dipper

[this is the sixtyfirst 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, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, and johnny cooney.]

jim fairey.  i've featured him on the blog a couple of times before, and both times, his 1968 topps rookie card figured in.  might as well make it three for three.

fairey obviously shares the space with jack billingham, although he did get a card of his own in 1969.  by then however, he was with the expos as his first stint with the dodgers ended after 99 games played in 1968 and a .199 batting average to show for it.

fairey played for the expos through the 1972 season and into spring training of 1973.  he was released by the team in late march that spring, and was picked up by the dodgers.  here's his 1973 topps card, which was printed too soon to capture his return to the dodgers.

fairey's four years in montreal resulted in 290 games played and a .245 batting average, by the way.  if only topps had put fairey's card in the last series, maybe they would have taken the time to make some changes to his uniform.  perhaps it might have looked like this

actually, it probably would have looked worse.

fairey only played in 10 games for the dodgers in 1973, but he did cement his status as a double dipper, so at least that's something.  his low game count was obviously not enough to warrant inclusion in the 1974 set, but i went ahead and made this card that should have been anyway.

the photo comes from the great steve's baseball photography pages, and would have fit right in with the 1974 set, i believe.  even though the photo is from 1968 (fairey wore a different number during his second go-round with the dodgers).

i do have one other card of fairey's that really was made, and that is his 1990 target card

here's to you jim fairey - another dodger double dipper!

the evolution of the shortstop - from reese to russell

only three positions left to address in these evolutionary posts - first, second, and short.  let's check the 6 in dodger history.

for me, dodger shortstops begin with…

pee wee reese (1941-42, 1946-56).  aside from the time he spent serving our country in world war ii, pee wee was a mainstay at short for the dodgers.  here's his 1954 bowman card

pee wee came over from the red sox organization in 1939, but only appeared in the majors as a dodger. during his time as the team's primary shortstop, he appeared in over 2000 games, scored over 1200 runs, had over 2000 hits, and reached base another 1100 or so times by walks.  he helped lead the team to 7 world series (all against the yankees), and hit .272 in 44 postseason games, the most by any dodger.  pee wee went with the team to los angeles, but shifted to third base in 1957, opening up the shortstop position for

charlie neal (1957)

i know that's neal's 1955 bowman card, but i hadn't shown it yet on the blog.  neal played shortstop in 100 games during the dodgers' final season in brooklyn.  he hit .270 with 12 homers, but was moved to second base when the team went west.  that means that neal replaced two dodger legends in the field in two consecutive years.  it also meant that the team had a new primary shortstop in los angeles...

don zimmer (1958-59)

yes, i know that's don zimmer's 1955 topps rookie card that i am using to mark the los angeles dodgers' first primary shortstop.  actually, pee wee reese was the first dodger to play shortstop in la, but zimmer replaced him in the team's second game and wound up playing in 114 games at the position in 1958.  the following year, zimmer appeared in 88 games (70 starts) at short so he gets the positional nod here over the other dodger to start 70 games at the position in '59, maury wills.

maury wills (1960-66)

how awesome is that 1962 bell brand maury wills card, by the way?  wills actually took over at short in june of 1959 and helped the dodgers get to the world series (and win) for the first time since 1955.  he manned the position for 7 and a half seasons before he was dealt away to the pirates.  during those years, wills earned an mvp award and led the league in steals six straight years.  he also set a record that will never be broken (unless the owners get really greedy and expand the season) by playing in 165 regular season games in 1962.  with wills traded to the pirates after the 1966 season, the door was opened for one of the players obtained in return to be the dodgers' shortstop

gene michael (1967)

although he only appeared in 83 games (66 starts) as the dodgers' shortstop in 1967, michael gets the nod over nate oliver, dick schofield, bob bailey, and tommy dean as the most used shortstop on the dodger roster in 1967.  he hit just .246 with 7 rbi, and his contract was purchased by the yankees after the season ended.  michael went on to be their primary shortstop for several years, while the dodgers went out and picked up someone else to fill the void.

zoilo versalles (1968)

i guess versalles had impressed the dodgers in the 1965 world series, as they traded bob miller, ron perranoski, and john roseboro to the twins to get him and mudcat grant.  unfortunately, versalles hit only .196 as the dodgers' everyday shortstop in 1968, and was taken by the san diego padres in the expansion draft after the season.  time for the dodgers to right the wrong that they had done a couple years earlier

maury wills (1969-1971)

yes, maurice morning wills returned to the fold by way of trade during the 1969 season.  an honorable mention goes out to ted sizemore, who started the season as the dodgers' shortstop, but moved to second base when wills was acquired, and wound up winning the nl rookie of the year.  wills was able to secure his spot as the team's primary shortstop in '69 by appearing in 104 games at the position, about 60 more than sizemore.  wills held on to the spot through the 1971 season in which he finished 6th in the league mvp voting.  while he was still with the dodgers in 1972, he was no longer the everyday shortstop, giving way to a converted outfielder...

bill russell (1972-1983)

ropes brought stability back to the shortstop position, holding on to the spot for 12 seasons.  he was named to three all-star teams during that run, and helped the dodgers win 4 pennants and 1 world series.  he was the shortstop of the team of my youth.  but, all good things must come to an end, and russell was eventually replaced as the everyday shortstop in 1984.  i'll get to that next time.

more through the mail successes to be thankful for

as i have done in previous years on the blog, i am taking some time today to be thankful for through the mail autograph successes.  it's nice of these players to have taken a bit of time and signed some cards for free, and i appreciate it.

jim fregosi was an early request in my ttm infancy. he signed a 1978 topps card for me, but when i came into a large lot of 1960's angel cards, i decided to go back to the well for a couple more autographs.  the former angel player and manager signed a 1968 topps card

and another 1978 topps card for me.

i had, up to this point, never asked any questions (other than 'would you please sign and return the enclosed cards' in a request, but i did ask fregosi about a black armband that the angels wore at some point during the 1962 season.  he didn't answer, but instead signed my letter of request.

i think i will try to ask don lee and lee thomas in future requests, unless anyone out there knows tha answer.  

thanks jim!

i also went back to ron fairly for a couple more autos.  i had previously received a 1962 topps and a 1978 o-pee-chee signed by fairly, but hoped to add a 1978 topps for my partially signed set, as well as a card from his expos days.  and so i did.

thanks ron!

ben oglivie also signed a 1973 topps card

and a 1978 topps card for me

i realized only around the time that i started this blog that i had been pronouncing his name incorrectly for about 30 years.  i would say 'ogle-vee' instead of 'oh-gli-vee'.  if you had asked me to spell his name, i would have swapped the 'i' and the 'l'.  i can spell 'yastrzemski' and 'mientkiewicz', as well as 'grudzielanek', but not 'oglivie' apparently.  

thanks ben!

as you may or may not know, most of my non-dodger ttm requests come from the 1978 topps set.  i have maybe about 250 cards signed from the set.  i am not really trying to complete a signed set, but i add to it when i can.  over the last few months, i have seen quite a few players from that set being added to the sportscardforum database.  that is good for me, as i have a bunch of doubles from the set that i can send out for autographs.

among the players who have signed for me in the last few months are:

jack brohamer

paul dade

jim mason

duffy dyer

john curtis

kiko garcia

chris knapp

ron schueler

dave revering

bill stein

and bob lacey

wait - what?  a 1982 topps card?  i had sent a '78 to lacey, but he returned a signed '82 instead.  no worries - i sent that off to patp and sent another '78 to lacey.  this time, there was no card confusion.

thanks jack and paul and jim and duffy and john and kiko and chris and ron and dave and bill and bob!

and happy thanksgiving to all!