meanwhile, 46 years later...

the dodgers are in town for the second time since the 1965 world series.  fleer reminded us in 1970 that the dodgers threw three shutouts (claude osteen and sandy koufax (twice)) against the twins in that fall classic.

it's unlikely that will happen this time, as the dodgers starters haven't been faring all that well lately.  still, i'll be at tonight's game - chad billingsley vs. nick blackburn - but i'll miss the ted lilly/brian duensing duel on tuesday.  hopefully, i'll be back at target field on wednesday to see rubby de la rosa take on scott baker.  it would have been nice to see kershaw, but displaced dodger fans can't necessarily be choosers.

the last time the blue crew was in town (2006), i dutifully went to all three games.  the dodgers came in to town in first place and left a game and a half back.  it was pretty embarrassing, as joe mauer went off and the twins swept the dodgers. 

forget the shutouts, i just want a win!

fall classic game 3 preview

whodathunkit.  in game 3 of the 1953 world series, carl erskine struck out a record 14 batters (they happened to also be yankees, oh happy day) en route to a 3-2 victory.  the feat was immortalized here on a 1970 fleer world series card

in his other two starts that series, oisk struck out just a total of 2 batters in 5 innings of work.

here's hoping that a similar number of giants 'grab some bench' tonight.

world series imposter!

i somehow acquired a few 1970 and 1971 fleer world series cards as a kid. while not licensed, fleer got away with using cartoons of some pretty recognizable faces. then,  a few months ago at the local card show, i found most of the dodger cards i was missing. or so i thought. 

here's the 1971 version of the 1916 world series

featuring brooklyn pitcher jack coombs.  coombs was the winning pitcher in the only game brooklyn won in the series.  he had previously won games in the 1910 and 1911 fall classics for the athletics, hence his 'terrific series record'.  speaking of series records, here's the 1970 take on 1916:

babe ruth.  he pitched a 14 inning complete game.  brooklyn's pitcher, sherry smith, also pitched a complete game, although his was only 13.1 innings.  ruth had only 5 at-bats all series and was held hitless.  he did drive in the first boston run in the 14 inning game with a ground out.  i should mention that the dodgers were actually the robins back then.

on to 1920, 1970 style 

and 1971

no dodger (or robin) love from fleer.  just spitballer stan coveleski and grand slammin' elmer smith.  curiously enough, this was one of the series that took 5 games to win.

we'll skip the dodgers' appearance in the 1941 series (previously posted here), and check out the 1970 homage to the equally depressing 1947 matchup against the yankees.

al gionfriddo, a mid-season acquisition, robbed joltin' joe dimaggio of a game 6 tying home run, forcing game 7. the dodgers lost, of course, but gionfriddo turned dimaggio into a dirt kicker, and that was tough to do.  according to fleer, kirk gibson's home run wasn't the only time 'the impossible has happened' for the dodgers in the world series.

the dodgers and yankees were back at it in 1949, with 1970 fleer giving us this

allie reynolds and preacher roe back to back 1-0 complete games.  don newcombe pitched game one for the dodgers and had matched reynolds until tommy henrich led off the bottom of the 9th with a home run to win the game.

here's the 1971 card:

in which roe's effort gets all the glory.

the dodgers were back for more yankee punishment in 1952 and 1953.  here's the 1971 card for the 1953 series

the yankees hit 9 home runs as a team (berra, collins, mantle 2, martin 2, mcdougald 2, woodling) and the dodgers hit 8 (campanella, cox, furillo, gilliam 2, hodges, shuba, snider).  the yankees also won 4 games to the dodgers' 2.

finally, 1955 arrived.  the 1970 card

shows johnny podres, who won game 7 with a 2-0 shutout, and the 1971 card shows a smiling duke snider

who hit 4 home runs in the series.  duke had also hit 4 in the 1952 series.

the dodgers lost to the yankees in 1956, but the silver fox was smiling again on the 1971 card for the 1959 series against the white sox

while the 1970 version chose to highlight chuck essegian

and his two pinch-hit home runs.  he was 2 for 3 in the series with a walk which means his ops for the series was 3.417!  he certainly made the most of his only career post season appearance!

the dodgers' winning way continued in 1963 as seen on the 1970 card

with moose skowron taking out some aggression against his former team.

two years later, the dodgers were back, this time against the twins, who get the cartoon on the 1971 card

that's ok though, the dodgers won the series.

they weren't as lucky in 1966, though when the orioles shut them out in 3 of the games.  here's the 1971 card comemmorating that series:

i guess a caricature of jim palmer or moe drabowsky would have been too difficult.

1966 was the last dodger appearance in the world series prior to 1974, so that's the end of the line for the 1970 and 1971 sets. 

then, as i was getting the cards set up to scan, i noticed this on the back of one of the cards

dangit.  and it wasn't even the 1966 series.  it was the back of the 1965 card.  so, i picked up a 1980 fleer world series card by mistake.  that year, fleer reprinted the card fronts, put stickers on the back, and added the years that were missing up to 1979.  nice of the dealer to mix it in with the vintage.

luckily, i was able to find a real 1971 card for the 1965 world series.  see?  here's the back:

much better than seeing that bird again!

there are two sides to every story

take the 1941 world series, for example, as depicted by fleer in their 1970 issueand their 1971 release.in game 4, the dodgers were one out away from tying the series at two games apiece with hugh casey (who had lost game 3 the day before) on the mound. with a one-run lead and two strikes on tommy henrich, catcher mickey owen failed to catch the third strike, allowing henrich to reach first base. joe dimaggio followed with a single, and charlie keller (aka king kong) doubled them both home. after another run scored, the dodgers went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, and the yankees wrapped up the series the next day.

the 1970 card is all about the passed ball, while the 1971 card instead focuses on the overall batting heroics of keller who hit .389 with 5 rbi in the series.

either way you slice it, the yankees won and the dodgers were still 14 years away from tasting the sweet fruits of victory.